How Leo won

Cardinal Robert Prevost — now Pope Leo XIV — won over his colleagues in part by being the "least American" of the American cardinals, Axios' David Lawler reports.

• He also benefitted from being an acolyte of Pope Francis' but not a "photocopy," and from his reputation as a good listener and quietly effective administrator, his fellow cardinals revealed today.

🇺🇸 "I was surprised at how many of my colleagues asked me ... 'Do you know this Roberto Prevost?'" Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, said at a press conference alongside fellow North American cardinals.

• There was a longstanding belief that an American would never be selected pope because the U.S. is already a geopolitical superpower.
• But when it came to Prevost, the fact that he was an American was "almost negligible in the deliberations of the conclave, surprisingly so for me," said Robert McElroy, the archbishop of Washington.

🔺 Momentum shifted strongly in Prevost's favor during the second day of the conclave, cardinals said.

• "It wasn't that he got up and made this overwhelmingly convincing speech that just wowed the body," said Cardinal Wilton Gregory. "But I do believe he engaged quite effectively in the smaller group conversations."
• Multiple cardinals said they saw Prevost as a good listener and an effective administrator.

Go deeper.