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Car­di­nal Robert Pre­vost, an Amer­i­can mis­sion­ary who spent his ca­reer min­is­ter­ing in Pe­ru and led the Vat­i­can’s pow­er­ful of­fice of bish­ops, was elect­ed the first Amer­i­can pope in the 2,000-year his­to­ry of the Catholic Church. Pre­vost, 69, took the name Leo XIV.

White smoke poured out of the Sis­tine Chapel chim­ney Thurs­day at 6:07 p.m. lo­cal time, sig­nal­ing that a pon­tiff had been elect­ed to lead the Catholic Church.