Pope Leo XIV, the first American Pope

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Post created on 4:32 pm

 

 

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost from the United States was elected pope on Thursday, becoming the first American pontiff in history. He is to be known as Pope Leo XIV.

A crowd tens of thousands erupted in prayer and emotion as Leo, successor to the late Francis, appeared on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica to deliver the first address of his ministry.

“To all people, wherever they are, to all peoples, to the whole Earth, peace be with you,” a smiling Leo told the crowd.

“Help us, and each other, to build bridges through dialogue, through encounter, to come together as one people, always in peace.”

“We still keep in our ears that weak, but always courageous, voice of Pope Francis blessing Rome,” he said, referring to the ailing Argentine’s Easter Sunday address, a day before his death.

Prevost was born in Chicago in 1955 to parents of Ecuadorian and French descent. He earned his first bachelor of science in mathematics from Villanova University in 1977. In his early days, he served as an altar boy. Clinching a master of divinity from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago in 1982, he was ordained a priest in 1982.

In 1984, he got a licentiate in canon law from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome, and in 1987, he added a doctorate in canon law from the same university.

After his ordination in 1982, Prevost joined the Augustinian mission in Peru in 1985 and served as chancellor of the Territorial Prélature of Chulucanas from 1985 to 1986.

He was in the United States as pastor for vocations and director of missions for the Augustinian Province of Chicago between 1987 and 1988.

He returned to Peru, where he spent the next 10 years heading the Augustinian seminary in Trujillo and teaching canon law in the diocesan seminary and was also prefect of studies.

Prevost also served in other capacities there, including as a parish pastor, diocesan official, director of formation, seminary teacher, and judicial vicar.

In 1999, he returned to Chicago and was elected provincial prior of the “Mother of Good Counsel” province in the archdiocese. Two and a half years later, he was elected prior general of the Augustinians and served two terms until 2013.

In 2014, he returned to Peru when Pope Francis appointed him apostolic administrator of the diocese of Chiclayo. He was elevated to bishop the next year and went on to serve as vice-president and member of the permanent council of the Peruvian Bishops’ Conference from 2018 to 2023.

He was appointed prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops in January 2023, a powerful position responsible for selecting bishops, a position he held the position till the passing of Pope Francis died April 2025. in September 2023, Prevost was elevated rank of cardinal.

Prevost has now taken the name Pope Leo XIV, in honour of Pope Leo XIII, who was elected pontiff in 1878.