Following the death of Pope Francis, the conclave of cardinals that gathered at the Vatican wasted little time choosing a new pope: Robert Prevost, 69, astoundingly a Chicago-born American, who

Not only did Archbishop José H. Gomez welcome Jaime Casafranca, the consul general to Peru in Los Angeles who sat in the front pew during the Mass, but a purple-clad contingent from La Hermandad del Señor de los Milagros, a Peruvian ministry organization centered at nearby La Placita Church, was prominently in attendance as well.

Pope Leo XIV celebrated his first Mass with the cardinals in the Sistine Chapel on Friday, May 9. The pontiff, born Robert Francis Prevost, was elected on May 8 following a two-day conclave.

The new Pope, Leo XIV, has called for the Catholic Church to "desperately" counter a lack of faith in his first mass at the Vatican. Speaking on Friday, the day after he was elected the first US leader of the Catholic Church, he warned that people were turning to "technology, money, success, power, or pleasure" for security instead of the Church.

He who enters the conclave as a pope ... church and catholic traditions”, and had managerial skills. There would have been a sigh of relief for ‘conservative’ cardinals like Gerard Mueller from Germany when they saw Leo XIV appearing on the balcony ...