US Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church on Thursday, taking the name Pope Leo XIV.

After serving as missionary and archbishop in Peru, Prevost presided over one of the most revolutionary reforms of Pope Francis’s pontificate, for the first time appointing women to an influential body involved in the nomination of bishops.

Prevost, 69, has spent most of his career as a missionary in Peru and became a cardinal only in 2023. He has given few media interviews and is a relative unknown on the global stage.

The late Pope Francis brought him to the Vatican in 2023 to serve as the powerful head of the office that vets bishop nominations from around the world, one of the most important jobs in the Catholic Church.

As a result, Prevost enjoyed a prominence going into the conclave that few other cardinals had.

A Chicago native, the new Pope is also a Peruvian citizen. Italian newspaper La Repubblica called him “the least American of the Americans” for his soft-spoken touch.

Prevost was also twice elected prior general, or top leader, of the Augustinian religious order, founded in the 13th century by St. Augustine. The order operates in 50 countries and has a special focus on a life of community and equality among its members.

Francis clearly had an eye on him for years, moving him from the Augustinian leadership back to Peru in 2014 to serve as the administrator and later archbishop of Chiclayo.

He remained in that position, acquiring Peruvian citizenship in 2015, until the late pontiff brought him to Rome in 2023 to assume the presidency of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

Pope Francis elevated the US cardinal to prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops during a consistory at St. Peter’s Square on September 30, 2023.

In that job he would have kept in regular contact with the Catholic hierarchy in the part of the world that counts still counts the most Catholics.

Ever since he arrived in Rome, Prevost kept a low public profile – though he was well known to the men who count.

Significantly, he presided over one of the most revolutionary reforms Francis made, when he added three women to the voting bloc that decides which bishop nominations to forward to the pope.

In early 2025, Francis again showed his esteem by appointing Prevost to the most senior rank of cardinals, suggesting he would at least be Francis’s choice in an any future conclave.

White smoke billowed from the chimney atop the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel on Thursday, signalling that the 133 cardinals inside have elected a new pope.

They picked a successor to Pope Francis on the second day of voting, but the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics will have to wait for the official announcement from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica to learn who he is.

A former permanent secretary in the Ebonyi State civil service, Boniface Mgebu was on Tuesday night attacked by hoodlums who injured him.

While he escaped death by whiskers, his car was set ablaze by the attackers and was watched to burn unto its skeleton.

Mgebu who currently serves as member of the Ebonyi State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC), was on his way from Abakaliki to his village in Ikwo Local Government Area when he was accosted by the brigands.

The incident occurred around 7 pm along the Obubura-Enyida road in Abakaliki Local Government Area.

The assailants, in a brazen move, set ablaze Mgebu’s Hilux Jeep, along with his cash, phones, and other valuables.

Speaking from his hospital bed at Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital (AE-FUNAI) in Abakaliki, Mgebu recounted the harrowing experience.

He explained that the attack was carried out by two armed men who had the intention to either steal his vehicle or abduct him.

Mgebu, narrating the incident,t said, “On my way from Abakaliki to my village, immediately I passed the junction before Polycarp Market in Izzi. I saw something like a mini roadblock. I slowed down towards the road. The next thing I saw was a young man who immediately and forcefully stepped into my driver’s side, struggling with the steering wheel with me.

“In the process, the second person opened the passenger door and entered with a gun, leaving me at the centre. I held the hand of the one who showed me the pistol. The other one was struggling to control the car’s steering and moving very fast to an unknown place.

“From the movement of the car, it was as if they noticed that some people had discovered that something was wrong. They now increased the speed of the car, and I was still struggling with the second person.

“The next thing I knew was that the car jumped into a ditch, and immediately, fire exploded. I don’t know if they ignited the fire or the car fuel ignited the fire. But how I survived and was brought to the hospital was a miracle.

“I have made entry at the Police Station in Abakaliki. Am also reaching out to my people, and calling on the State Governor to come to my aide in areas of my hospital bill and replacement of my car that was burnt to ashes with my vital properties inside the car that were also consumed by the fire.”