After it was revealed on Thursday that Robert Francis Prevost had been elected pope, he addressed the world in Latin, Italian and Spanish — speaking directly to his flock in Chiclayo, Peru, where he also holds citizenship.

Just over two years ago, he’d been one of the church’s 5,400 bishops — a role with no global visibility.

A photograph of Leo XIV, who held a Mass for cardinals in the Sistine Chapel on Friday, was on display at Dios Rojas' chapel, where the doors have been flung open for the congregation.

Robert Francis Prevost, chosen as the new leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Roman Catholics and who has taken the papal name Leo XIV, is not widely known despite a long missionary career and senior roles in the Vatican.