Who is the new Pope Leo XIV? Robert Francis Prevost, the first US pope

The prayers of the faithful gathered Thursday at Chicago’s cathedral were answered around noon local time. “Habemus papam!” they heard from the live television broadcasts covering the results of the conclave in Rome. And that pope turned out to be Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost. Born in the great Midwestern city, he chose the name Leo XIV, becoming the first American in history to ascend to the Chair of Saint Peter.

Prevost, who served as bishop of Chiclayo in Peru — a country with which he has been connected for 40 years over two separate periods totaling two decades — ultimately emerged as the frontrunner in a race where he had been gaining momentum in recent days, though it was far from certain that the chosen one would come from this part of the world. In the end, he received the votes of 133 cardinals in the fourth round, electing him to lead a Church of 1.4 billion faithful, 61.9 million of whom live in the United States.

Unlike most of his fellow countrymen, this Augustinian cardinal is multilingual and has spent much of his life outside the United States. His connection to Peru is so deep that he holds Peruvian citizenship.

After spending his childhood in the southern part of Chicago, one of the city’s most disadvantaged areas, he was ordained a priest in 1982 at the age of 27. He holds a degree in Mathematics from Villanova University, near Philadelphia, and earned a doctorate in Canon Law from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome — a city he knows inside and out.

In Peru, where he first arrived in the mid-1980s, he served as a missionary, parish priest, professor, and bishop (from 2015, after being appointed by Francis, until 2023). His work as a missionary was something his predecessor, Pope Francis, greatly valued. In the Andean country, he is remembered as a priest always willing to visit the poorest communities.

“We have to look together how to be a missionary Church, building bridges, dialogue, always open to receiving with open arms for everyone, like this square, open to all, to all who need our charity, our presence, dialogue, love,” said Prevost before the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square, which had erupted in joy about 20 minutes earlier upon seeing the white smoke.

Prevost also remembered the faithful from his former diocese in Chiclayo. It’s expected that the unusual blend of his two inheritances — U.S. and Latin American Catholicism — will be one of the defining features of his pontificate.

He speaks both Spanish and Italian, as he demonstrated on Thursday during his first appearance as pope, when he chose not to speak in English. Until Francis’ death, he held one of the most influential positions in the Vatican — since 2023, he had served as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, where he was known as “the Latino Yankee.”

That position, which includes the responsibility of selecting bishops, provides an excellent vantage point to closely observe the changes within the Catholic Church worldwide. In an interview with the Vatican’s official news website last year, he stated that “a bishop is not supposed to be a little prince sitting in his kingdom.” During that interview, he also expressed his firm belief in the importance of being close to migrants, whose defense has previously brought him into conflict with the administration of Donald Trump.

His appointment is seen as a continuation of his predecessor’s progressive spirit. He is expected to carry on some of Francis’ policies, though he does not share his open and extroverted personality. Those who know him well (and call him Bob for short) emphasize his moderate profile and his love for tennis and baseball (the Chicago Cubs proudly posted on X about counting him among their fans). They describe him as a discreet and reserved man who felt the call to the priesthood under the influence of his father, Louis Marius Prevost, of French and Italian descent, who was a catechist. His mother, Mildred Martínez, was a librarian of Spanish heritage.

It is unclear whether he will be as open with LGBTQ+ Catholics as Francis was. In a 2012 speech to bishops, he lamented that Western media and popular culture fostered “sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the Gospel,” according to The New York Times. He cited the “homosexual lifestyle” and “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children.”

According to the College of Cardinals Report, which reveals the ideological leanings of cardinals and has been closely studied in the days leading up to the conclave, Prevost is opposed to the ordination of women as priests, supports the promotion of a synodal Church open to dialogue, and has been ambiguous on the issue of same-sex marriage. He has not expressed any opinions on the proposed modernization that would make celibacy optional, the celebration of Mass in Latin, or the secret agreements between China and the Vatican.

Clerical abuse

He has also faced criticism for his handling of priests accused of sexual abuse, the great sin of the Church in the United States in recent decades. In 1999, he was elected provincial prior of the Augustinians of the Midwest. A year after assuming the role, he was accused of allowing a non-Augustinian priest, who had sexually abused minors, to live in a rectory in Chicago, just half a block from a Catholic school. Prevost denied that it was within his authority to make that decision.

In 2022, he was accused in Peru of failing to open an investigation into abuse allegations against two priests made by three women. The diocese denied the claims, and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith concluded, after an investigation, that the suspicions of a cover-up were unfounded. In recent days, as his name gained momentum, his supporters dismissed the resurfacing of this episode as malicious gossip.

Upon hearing the news, U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social: “Congratulations to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was just named Pope. It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!” Trump, who had clashed with him in the past, attended Francis’ funeral in Rome just a couple of weeks ago.

Catholicism is experiencing a surge in the United States, to which this appointment will most likely contribute. Vice President J.D. Vance is a convert to Catholicism, and former president Joe Biden was the first president to profess that faith since John F. Kennedy. Catholic schools also saw an increase in enrollments during the pandemic. The rise of the Hispanic population in the United States has also played a role in this growth.

Prevost, who is listed in an official 2023 registry as a Republican voter, contradicted Vance when the latter concluded on X that the Catholic faith was compatible with the deportation of immigrants. The new Pope responded by reposting an article that contradicted Vance, warning that his interpretation of Christianity was “wrong.”

How the White House and the Vatican will interact now that the leaders of both centers of global power speak the same language is one of the big unknowns for American Catholics. Until this and other questions are answered, the most common sentiment shared on Thursday among the faithful, not just those gathered at the Cathedral of Chicago, was that no one expected to see one of their own leading the Church. In Washington’s largest cathedral, an enormous U.S. flag was displayed. Parishes across the country filled up throughout the afternoon to celebrate the news — the beginning of the era of Pope Leo XIV — which took the world by surprise.

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