The Christian Post's top 10 news stories of 2025 (part 1)

8. Pope Francis dies, Pope Leo XIV elected to replace him

Pope Francis, who had led the Roman Catholic Church since his election in March 2013, died on April 21 after experiencing persistent health problems. Francis’ death led to a papal conclave, where members of the College of Cardinals gathered in Rome to elect his successor on a secret ballot. 

While many high-profile officials within the Catholic Church were speculated as frontrunners to emerge as Francis’ replacement, the eventual choice to become the 267th Bishop of Rome was seen as somewhat of a surprise. After four rounds of voting, American-born Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected on May 8 as the new head of the Roman Catholic Church. Prevost, the first American pope in the history of the Roman Catholic Church, took the name Leo XIV upon his election.

Prevost, a native of Chicago, Illinois, has spent considerable time in Peru. In the 1980s, he spent a year engaging in ministry work in Chulucanas, Peru. He spent a decade as a community prior, formation director and professor in Trujillo, Peru. 

Prevost returned to the U.S. in 1999 to serve as a provincial in the Augustinian Province in Chicago. The province identifies its mission as to search “for God in our community by sharing our lives, goods and spiritual journey with each other and the people of God.”

After over a decade with the Augustinian Province, he returned to Peru in 2014, where he became the apostolic administrator of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru. He was appointed bishop of the diocese a year later, holding that position for eight years.

In 2023, Prevost was elevated to the role of cardinal. At the time of his election as pope, he served as the prefect of the Dicastery of Bishops.

Throughout his papacy, which has now lasted for seven months, Pope Leo XIV has made responding to the challenges associated with the development of artificial intelligence as a top priority. He has also expressed disappointment about what he described as “practical atheism,” which he defined as the reduction of Jesus Christ to “a kind of charismatic leader or a Superman.”

In remarks to the Vatican Diplomatic Corps a week into his papacy, Leo pointed to the family, “founded upon the stable union between a man and a woman,” as essential in the creation of “harmonious and peaceful civil societies.” He also stressed the importance of “striving to ensure respect for the dignity of every person, especially the most frail and vulnerable, from the unborn to the elderly, from the sick to the unemployed, citizens and immigrants alike.” 

Pope Leo XIV has also weighed in on American politics throughout the year, suggesting that “someone who says that I’m against abortion but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of [illegal] immigrants who are in the United States” is not pro-life and expressing his belief that “every country has a right to determine who and how and when people enter” while condemning what he referred to as the “extremely disrespectful” treatment of illegal immigrants in the U.S.

Ryan Foley contributed to this report.