Who Is Robert Francis Prevost? What We Know About Pope Leo XIV—The First American Pope.

Topline

Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevost, 69, will lead the Catholic Church as Pope Leo XIV, becoming the first pope from the United States, whom Vatican experts say mirrors his predecessor’s championing of the poor, though he has drawn criticism for his handling of priests accused of sexual abuse.

Key Facts

Prevost was elected after just four ballots on day two of the papal conclave, largely in line with the length of recent conclaves, and he assumes the papacy more than two weeks after Pope Francis died.

Vatican experts have considered Leo XIV more of a centrist than his liberal-leaning predecessor, with CNN’s Vatican analyst Elise Allen stating he is seen as “somebody who is calm and balanced, who is even-handed,” and is known as an “exceptional leader.”

In his first address as pope, Leo XIV emphasized the need to create a “church that builds bridges, that is always open to receive everyone,” speaking in both Spanish and Italian, while reminiscing on his service in Chiclayo.

Key Background

Leo XIV, 69, is the first American-born pope in the Catholic Church’s history. He was born in Chicago, the son of Louis Prevost, a World War II Navy veteran and school superintendent of French and Italian descent, and Mildred Martinez, a librarian of Spanish descent. He has two brothers, Louis Martín and John Joseph. He grew up attending the now-closed St. Mary of the Assumption church on the south side of Chicago with his family, where his mother was an active participant in church activities and he was an altar boy, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. He attended St. Augustine Seminary High School and then Villanova University, where he studied mathematics. He then returned to Chicago, attending the Catholic Theological Union of Chicago to earn a graduate degree in divinity, during which time he taught math part-time and sometimes substituted as a physics teacher at Chicago’s St. Rita High School. After his beginnings in Chicago, Leo XIV took his career overseas, moving to Rome in 1982 to study canon law, where he was also ordained as a priest. From Rome, he was sent to Peru in 1985, where he led the Diocese of Chulucanas, a city in the country’s northwest, while preparing his doctoral thesis, which he defended in 1987: “The Role of the Local Prior in the Order of Saint Augustine.” Leo XIV moved from Chulucanas to Trujillo, Peru, where he spent the next decade leading the local archdiocese. He returned to Chicago in 1999, when he was elected to lead the Augustinian Province of Chicago, and in 2001 was elected to his first of two consecutive six-year terms as the Prior General of the General Chapter of the Order of Saint Augustine, a religious order that consisted of more than 2,000 priests at the time of his election. He returned to Peru in 2014 when Pope Francis appointed him apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo, where he was named bishop—and naturalized as a Peruvian citizen—the following year. He remained in the country until Francis appointed him to lead the Dicastery for Bishops, a powerful position in the Vatican that oversees the appointment of new bishops, in 2023, the same year Francis made him a cardinal.

How Might Leo Xiv Be Similar To Francis?

Some Vatican experts have compared Leo XIV’s championing of the poor and migrants to that of Francis. “He’s right out of Francis’s playbook,” Kathleen Sprows Cummings, a history professor at the University of Notre Dame, told the Washington Post, citing his “pastoral heart, managerial experience and vision.” Like Francis, who notably took a modest approach to the papacy, Leo XIV has said “the bishop is not supposed to be a little prince sitting in his kingdom” and is instead “called authentically to be humble, to be close to the people he serves, to walk with them, to suffer with them.” Vatican experts have also theorized the church has long hesitated to name an American pope because of the United States’ status as a global superpower, fearing the concentration of power, but suggested Leo XIV’s service in Peru would make him globally minded. “He’s somebody that, even though he’s from the West, would be very attentive to the needs of a global church,” Allen told CNN.

Where Does Leo Xiv Stand On Current Issues: From Gender Politics And Climate Change?

Vatican experts say Leo XIV will have to confront several pressing issues in the Catholic Church, including migration, wars, climate change, inclusion of LGBTQ Catholics, women in church leadership and the Trump presidency, which Francis was openly critical of. It’s less clear where Leo XIV stands on LGBTQ issues than Francis, who struck a more welcoming tone than his predecessors, but the New York Times reported Leo XIV told Peruvian media the “promotion of gender ideology is confusing, because it seeks to create genders that don’t exist.” In a 2012 address to bishops, he criticized Western media for being “extraordinarily effective in fostering within the general public enormous sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the Gospel.” Leo XIV has said he opposes ordaining women, a ban Francis maintained as pope. Leo XIV said in a 2024 address it is time to move “from words to action” on combatting climate change, stating humanity’s “dominion over nature” should not become “tyrannical.”

Leo Xiv Faced Criticism Over Handling Priests With Sexual Abuse Allegations

As sexual abuse scandals roil the Catholic Church, which many experts have pointed to as an important issue facing the new pope, Leo XIV has been accused in multiple cases of mishandling allegations made against priests. Three women in Peru accused the Diocese of Chiclayo, which Leo XIV previously led, of failing to punish and covering up for a priest they say sexually abused them when they were minors. The diocese denied Leo XIV was involved in any wrongdoing. In another case, when Leo XIV led the Augustinian Province of Chicago in 2000, a priest who was found to have sexually abused minors was allowed to stay at a monastery near a Catholic elementary school, though the Vatican denied Leo XIV had made that arrangement.

Further Reading

First American Pope Named: Robert Francis Prevost Elected As Pope Leo XIV (Live Updates)