BBC News: The new Pope is Robert Prevost – the first American pontiff – and will take the name Pope Leo XIV.
Prevost, 69, steps out onto the balcony at the Vatican to huge cheers from thousands gathered below.
Pope Leo XIV then thanks the cardinals who elected him during the two-day Conclave.
Provost then switches to Spanish to thank his former diocese in Peru “where a loyal people has shared its faith and has given a lot”.
Switching back to Italian, the new pontiff calls on the crowd to pray to the Virgin Mary “together” for her blessing.
He then leads the people in a quick prayer, which is greeted by further cheering.
He pays tribute to his predecessor, Pope Francis, as he says he wants to deliver his own blessing to the people as Pope Francis did in his last appearance in St Peter’s Square.
After concluding his speech, the new Pope starts reading a religious passage in Latin paying homage to the saints and the Madonna.
Chicago-born Prevost is seen as a reformer and worked for many years as a missionary in Peru before being made an archbishop there.
