The World from PRX

Vatican selects new pope to lead the Catholic Church

Full Episode
47:51

Newly elected Pope Leo XIV appears at the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, May 8, 2025.

Andrew Medichini/AP

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost of the United States has been elected the 267th pope. The 69-year-old is from Chicago, Illinois, and will be known as Pope Leo XIV. Also, after dozens of community kitchens providing desperately needed food to Palestinians in Gaza were shuttered this week, the US is asking aid groups to back a new Israeli aid plan run by US security contractors. And, a nonprofit group in rural Ghana is using cheap motorized tricycles to help pregnant women get to the hospital to give birth. Plus, two high school friends in eastern Turkey learn to make the “daf” — a shallow drum popular in Kurdish, Persian and Middle Eastern music.

Listen to today’s Music Heard on Air.

In This Episode

Cardinals select new pontiff
5:17
‘We can’t give up impartiality’: Relief groups face pressure to back Israeli plan for Gaza
7:58
How ambulance tricycles are saving lives in rural Ghana
Special Coverage
4:03
Kurdish drum makers keep the art of the ‘daf’ alive
3:50
Anxiety over transatlantic relations on 80th anniversary of ‘Victory in Europe’
4:35
UK trade post-Brexit
5:28
British TV dominates global market
0:50
Is Chinese dissident a victim of coercion or a fraudster?
6:11
Out of Eden Walk: Record-breaking heat in Japan is hurting rice farms
Special Coverage
7:18