Pope Leo XIV: Robert Prevost, from Peru missionary to first American pontiff

Prevost, 69, has spent most of his career as a missionary in Peru and became a cardinal only in 2023. He has given few media interviews and is a relative unknown on the global stage.

The late Pope Francis brought him to the Vatican in 2023 to serve as the powerful head of the office that vets bishop nominations from around the world, one of the most important jobs in the Catholic Church.

As a result, Prevost enjoyed a prominence going into the conclave that few other cardinals had.

One strike against him, however, was his nationality. There has long been a taboo against a US pope, given the geopolitical power already wielded by the United States in the secular sphere.

But Prevost, a Chicago native, is also a Peruvian citizen. Italian newspaper La Repubblica called him "the least American of the Americans" for his soft-spoken touch. 

Read moreLive: Cardinal Robert Prevost elected first American pope in history

Prevost was also twice elected prior general, or top leader, of the Augustinian religious order, founded in the 13th century by St. Augustine. The order operates in 50 countries and has a special focus on a life of community and equality among its members.

Francis clearly had an eye on him for years, moving him from the Augustinian leadership back to Peru in 2014 to serve as the administrator and later archbishop of Chiclayo. 

He remained in that position, acquiring Peruvian citizenship in 2015, until the late pontiff brought him to Rome in 2023 to assume the presidency of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

Shunning the limelight

In that job he would have kept in regular contact with the Catholic hierarchy in the part of the world that counts still counts the most Catholics.

Ever since he arrived in Rome, Prevost kept a low public profile – though he was well known to the men who count. 

Significantly, he presided over one of the most revolutionary reforms Francis made, when he added three women to the voting bloc that decides which bishop nominations to forward to the pope.

In early 2025, Francis again showed his esteem by appointing Prevost to the most senior rank of cardinals, suggesting he would at least be Francis’s choice in an any future conclave.

Rev. Mark Francis, a friend of Prevost since the 1970s, told Reuters the cardinal was a firm supporter of his predecessor's papacy, and especially of the late pontiff's commitment to social justice issues.

"He was always friendly and warm and remained a voice of common sense and practical concerns for the Church's outreach to the poor," said Francis, who attended seminary with Prevost and later knew him when they both lived in Rome in the 2000s.

"He has a wry sense of humour, but was not someone who sought the limelight," he added.

The Rev. Fidel Purisaca Vigil, the communications director for Prevost’s old diocese in Chiclayo, remembered the cardinal rising each day and having breakfast with his fellow priests after saying his prayers.

“No matter how many problems he has, he maintains good humour and joy,” Purisaca said. 

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(FRANCE 24 with AP and Reuters)