Leo XIV - Second Pope from the Americas

By Alisultan Sultanzade
May 8, 2025 22:09 Updated 21d ago
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Reuters

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, a Chicago-born missionary and Vatican official, has been elected pope, bringing decades of pastoral, academic, and global Church leadership to the papacy.

The first Augustinian Pope, Robert Prevost - now Leo XIV - is the second Roman Pontiff from the Americas after Pope Francis. However, unlike Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the 69-year-old Robert Francis Prevost is from the northern part of the American continent, though he spent many years as a missionary in Peru before being elected head of the Augustinians for two consecutive terms.

The new Bishop of Rome was born on September 14, 1955, in Chicago, Illinois, to Louis Marius Prevost, of French and Italian descent, and Mildred Martínez, of Spanish descent. He has two brothers, Louis Martín and John Joseph.

He spent his childhood and adolescence with his family and studied first at the Minor Seminary of the Augustinian Fathers and then at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, where in 1977 he earned a Degree in Mathematics and also studied Philosophy. 

On September 1 of the same year, he entered the novitiate of the Order of Saint Augustine (O.S.A.) in Saint Louis, in the Province of Our Lady of Good Counsel of Chicago, and made his first profession on September 2, 1978. On August 29, 1981, he made his solemn vows.

He received his theological education at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. At the age of 27, he was sent by his superiors to Rome to study Canon Law at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum). 

In Rome, he was ordained a priest on June 19, 1982, at the Augustinian College of Saint Monica by Monsignor Jean Jadot, then Pro-President of the Pontifical Council for Non-Christians, now the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.

Prevost obtained his licentiate in 1984; and the following year, while preparing his doctoral thesis, was sent to the Augustinian mission in Chulucanas, Piura, Peru (1985–1986). In 1987, he defended his doctoral thesis on "The Role of the Local Prior in the Order of Saint Augustine" and was appointed vocation director and missions director of the Augustinian Province of “Mother of Good Counsel” in Olympia Fields, Illinois (USA).

A fluent Spanish speaker, he spent over a decade in Peru as a missionary, educator, and judicial vicar, becoming a beloved figure in Trujillo and Chiclayo. His leadership extended beyond Peru—he was twice elected Prior General of the Augustinians, serving from 2001 to 2013.

Appointed bishop of Chiclayo by Pope Francis in 2014, he later held roles in the Peruvian Episcopal Conference and Vatican congregations. In 2023, he became Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, overseeing appointments of bishops worldwide.

Pope Robert I is known for his pastoral warmth, deep academic background, and dedication to the global South. His election signals a continuity with Pope Francis’s vision of a missionary and merciful Church.

Crowds in St. Peter’s Square erupted with joy as he stepped onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica and gave his first blessing as pope.

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