The 133 Cardinal electors gathered in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel have elected Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as the 267th Pope.

Prevost, 69, will be known as Pope Leo XIV, and will be the first American pontiff to be elected leader of the Catholic Church.

The Chicago-born pontiff appeared on the balcony in St Peter’s Square amid a cheers from the more than 40,000 people gathered, emphasising on the message of peace and God’s love.

The new Pope addressed the crowd in confident Italian, briefly switching to Spanish when thanking his former diocese in Peru.

“I would like this greeting of peace to reach all your hearts and families… and people around the world. May peace be with you,” Pope Leo XIV said, as the square went silent.

But who is Pope Leo XIV?

The new pope was born in September 14, 1955, in Chicago, Illinois, United States, 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 with his family and studied first at the Minor Seminary of the Augustinian Fathers and then at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. It is at Villanova University in Pennsylvania where he earned a Degree in Mathematics in 1977, and also studied Philosophy. 

On September 1, 1977, Prevost 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.

Prevost received his theological education at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, before being sent to Rome to study Canon Law at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) at the age of 27. 

It was in Rome that Prevost was ordained a priest in June 19, 1982, at the Augustinian College of Saint Monica.

A Vatican report says Prevost obtained his licentiate in 1984. In 1985, he was sent to the Augustinian mission in Chulucanas, Piura, Peru where he served until 1986).

Prevost, Vatican records show, defended his doctoral thesis on “The Role of the Local Prior in the Order of Saint Augustine” in 1987. This preceded his appointment as the vocation director and missions director of the Augustinian Province of “Mother of Good Counsel” in Olympia Fields, Illinois.

“Over the course of eleven years, he served as prior of the community (1988–1992), formation director (1988–1998), and instructor for professed members (1992–1998), and in the Archdiocese of Trujillo as judicial vicar (1989–1998) and professor of Canon Law, Patristics, and Moral Theology at the Major Seminary “San Carlos y San Marcelo.” At the same time, he was also entrusted with the pastoral care of Our Lady Mother of the Church, later established as the parish of Saint Rita (1988–1999), in a poor suburb of the city, and was parish administrator of Our Lady of Monserrat from 1992 to 1999,” the Vatican reports.

Prevost would be elected Provincial Prior of the Augustinian Province of “Mother of Good Counsel” in Chicago in 1999. Two and a half years later, the Ordinary General Chapter of the Order of Saint Augustine elected him as Prior General, confirming him in 2007 for a second term.

He was serving as director of formation at the Saint Augustine Convent in Chicago when Pope Francis, in November 3, 2014, appointed him as Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru. Pope Francis also elevated him as Titular Bishop of the Diocese Sufar. 

Key dates in Prevost’s service in Peru (2015-2023)

• In September 26, 2015, Pope Francis appointed Prevost as Bishop of Chiclayo.
• In March 2018, Prevost was elected second vice-president of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference.
• In July 13, 2019, Pope Francis appointed Prevost a member of the Congregation for the Clergy.
• In November 21, 2020, Pope Francis appointed Prevost a member of the Congregation for Bishops.
• In April 15, 2020, Prevost was appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Peruvian Diocese of Callao.

In January 30, 2023, Pope Francis recalled him to Rome and appointed him as the Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, in the process promoting him to the rank of Archbishop. 

Prevost becomes a Cardinal

In September 30, 2024, Pope Francis created Prevost a Cardinal and assigned him the Diaconate of Saint Monica. He officially took possession of his Titular church on January 28, 2024. 

“Meanwhile, on October 4, 2023, Pope Francis appointed him as a member of the Dicasteries for Evangelization (Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches), for the Doctrine of the Faith, for the Eastern Churches, for the Clergy, for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, for Culture and Education, for Legislative Texts, and of the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State,” Vatican says.

In February 6, 2025, the late Pope Francis promoted Prevost to the Order of Bishops, granting him the title of the Suburbicarian Church of Albano.