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Summary
- The Pope is Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago on 14 September 1955 and elected on 8 May 2025, the first pope from the United States and the first Augustinian pope.
- Canon law calls the Bishop of Rome the head of the college of bishops, the Vicar of Christ and the pastor of the universal Church on earth.
- Catholics trace the office to Jesus’s words to Peter in Matthew 16:18–19 and John 21:15–17; the Orthodox Church in America reads the rock as Peter’s confession of faith.
- Popes are elected in the Sistine Chapel by cardinals under 80, with a two-thirds majority; in 2025, 133 electors chose Leo XIV on the fourth ballot.
- Papal infallibility, defined by the First Vatican Council in 1870, covers only solemn definitions on faith or morals; the 1950 definition of Mary’s Assumption is the clear modern case.
- Benedict XVI resigned in 2013, the first pope to do so since Gregory XII in 1415.
- Vatican City covers 44 hectares and has been a sovereign state since the Lateran Treaty of 1929; the Swiss Guard has protected the pope since 1506.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- King James Version: Matthew 16:15–19 and John 21:15–17, BibleGateway.
- The Holy See, Biography of the Holy Father Leo XIV, vatican.va, read 18 October 2026.
- Leo XIV, Address to the College of Cardinals, 10 May 2025, vatican.va.
- Vatican News, Leo XIV is the new Pope, 8 May 2025, vaticannews.va; Conclave: How a Pope is elected, May 2025, vaticannews.va; and Pope Leo XIV to Cardinals (first Mass, 9 May 2025), vaticannews.va.
- Code of Canon Law, canons 330–367 (the Roman Pontiff, the cardinals, the Roman Curia), vatican.va, and canons 368–430 (canon 377 on appointing bishops), vatican.va.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 424, vatican.va; nos. 552–553, vatican.va; nos. 880–892, vatican.va.
- John Paul II, Universi Dominici Gregis, on the vacancy of the Apostolic See and the election of the Roman Pontiff, 22 February 1996, with later amendments, vatican.va; Benedict XVI, De aliquibus mutationibus, 11 June 2007, vatican.va (Latin; French translation vatican.va), and Normas Nonnullas, 22 February 2013, vatican.va.
- First Vatican Council, Pastor Aeternus, 18 July 1870, papalencyclicals.net.
- Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus, 1 November 1950, vatican.va.
- Benedict XVI, Declaratio, 10 February 2013, vatican.va; Holy See Press Office on his death, 31 December 2022, press.vatican.va.
- Cindy Wooden, ‘Patriarch of the West’ reappears as papal title in Vatican yearbook, Catholic News Service, 11 April 2024, catholicreview.org.
- Marco Mancini, Pope Leo XIV moves into papal apartment of Apostolic Palace, EWTN News / CNA, 14 March 2026, ewtnnews.com.
- Thomas P. Rausch, S.J., Papal infallibility is often misunderstood, America, 26 September 2022, americamagazine.org; and Catholic News Agency, What is ‘papal infallibility?’ (via Catholic World Report, 8 December 2025), catholicworldreport.com.
- Orthodox Church in America, Questions and Answers: On this Rock I will build my church, oca.org, and Infallibility, oca.org.
- The Westminster Confession of Faith, chapters 25 and 31, in the American revision kept by the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, opc.org; on the American revisions, Confession and Catechisms and the table of revisions, opc.org.
- Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, Volume V, John 21, Christian Classics Ethereal Library; author’s dates from ccel.org.
- The Catholic Encyclopedia (1911), Pope, New Advent; and the articles on Gregory XII, Celestine V and Pontian.
- The Holy See, Supreme Pontiffs (list of popes), vatican.va.
- Governorate of Vatican City State, Geography, Population (to 31 December 2024) and History, vaticanstate.va.
- Pontifical Swiss Guard, About us and History, schweizergarde.ch.
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