Around the world, Catholics and non-Catholics alike reacted with stunned surprise to the news on May 8 that an American had been named Pope following the death of Pope Francis in late April. In a move that shocked many who had expected an Italian cardinal to be named, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost of Chicago was anointed as the 267th Pope, the spiritual leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. The new Pope took Leo as his papal name, becoming Leo XIV.