Robert Prevost has been elected as the new Pope, taking the name of Leo XIV before appearing before adoring crowds in St Peter's Square.

"Peace be with you" were Pope Leo's first words as he addressed a crowd of thousands.

After thanking his predecessor Francis and praying for world peace, Leo said: "Evil will not prevail... We are all in the hands of God.

"Without fear, united hand-in-hand we go forward, we are disciples of Christ."

Prevost has previously been in the limelight after clashing with US Vice President JD Vance.

Earlier this year he took to social media to slam Vance as "wrong" for his comments on Jesus's love.

Prevost wrote: "JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others."

In another Twitter post, he linked to an article titled "Pope Francis' letter, JD Vance's 'ordo amoris' and what the Gospel asks of all of us on immigration."

And just a few weeks ago he retweeted a post that said: "As Trump & Bukele use Oval to [laughing emoji] Feds’ illicit deportation of a US resident, once an undoc-ed Salvadorean himself, now-DC Aux +Evelio asks, “Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you stay quiet?”

This comes as Prevosts's predecessor, Pope Francis had been as outspoken as could be without naming names, when he criticised Vance in his February letter to US bishops.