The newly-elected Pope Leo XIV has been described by the Italian press as the ‘least American of the Americans’ for his soft-spoken approach [Getty/file photo]
USA Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected the new pope and leader of the Roman Catholic Church on Thursday, the Vatican announced to crowds in St. Peter’s Square, and has taken the name Pope Leo XIV.
A moderate who was close to Pope Francis and spent years as a missionary in Peru, Prevost becomes the Catholic Church’s 267th pontiff.
The 69-year-old Chicago native, had served as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops after being entrusted by the late Pope Francis, charged with advising the pontiff on new bishop appointments..
He was also president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America since 2023, and previously served as Bishop of Chiclayo in Peru from 2015 to 2023, and was prior general of the Order of Saint Augustine from 2001 to 2013.
The sign of confidence from Francis speaks to Prevost’s commitment as a missionary in Peru to the “peripheries” – overlooked areas far from Rome prioritised by Francis – and his reputation as a bridge-builder and moderate within the Curia.
The 69-year-old Archbishop-Bishop emeritus of Chiclayo, Peru, was made a cardinal by Francis in 2023 after being named prefect of the dicastery, one of the Vatican’s most important departments – and a post that introduced him to all key players in the Church.
Vatican watchers had given Prevost the highest chances among the group of US cardinals of being pope, given his pastoral bent, global view and ability to navigate the central bureaucracy.
Italian newspaper La Repubblica called him “the least American of the Americans” for his soft-spoken touch.
His strong grounding in canon law has also been seen as reassuring to more conservative cardinals seeking a greater focus on theology.
‘Can’t turn back’
Following Francis’s death, Prevost said there was “still so much to do” in the work of the Church.
“We can’t stop, we can’t turn back. We have to see how the Holy Spirit wants the Church to be today and tomorrow, because today’s world, in which the Church lives, is not the same as the world of ten or 20 years ago,” he told Vatican News last month.
“The message is always the same: proclaim Jesus Christ, proclaim the Gospel, but the way to reach today’s people, young people, the poor, politicians, is different,” he said.
Born on September 14, 1955, in Chicago, Prevost attended a minor seminary of the Order of St Augustine in St Louis as a novice before graduating from Philadelphia’s Villanova University, an Augustinian institution, with a degree in mathematics.
After receiving a masters degree in divinity from Chicago’s Catholic Theological Union in 1982, and a doctorate decree in canon law in Rome, the polyglot joined the Augustinians in Peru in 1985 for the first of his decade-long missions in that country.
Returning to Chicago in 1999, he was made provincial prior of the Augustinians in the US Midwest and later the prior general of the order throughout the world.
But he returned to Peru in 2014 when Francis appointed him as apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo in the country’s north.
Nearly a decade later, Prevost’s appointment in 2023 as head of the dicastery came after Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet was accused of sexually assaulting a woman and resigned for age reasons.
The Vatican later dropped the case against Ouellet for insufficient evidence.
Prevost also serves as president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
