In-depth: A look at the man who has become Leo XIV 

An American citizen born in Chicago to a family of French, Spanish, and Italian descent, and marked by extensive missionary experience in Latin America: the new Pope Leo XIV, aged 69, is the renewed face of a global Catholic Church, building bridges between North and South.

Robert Francis Prevost was Prior General of the Augustinians before becoming Bishop of Chiclayo, Peru. Pope Francis called him to Rome in 2023 to head the strategic Dicastery for Bishops, where his ability to listen and synthesize was noted and appreciated. He was also president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, an important position for the relationship between Rome and this region marked by powerful popular Catholicism.

The election of the first pope from the United States confirms the social and “synodal” approach of Pope Francis. At the recent synodal assembly in October 2024, Cardinal Prevost emerged as a figure capable of harmonizing relations between dioceses of ancient Christianity and “mission territories.” This will undoubtedly be a central focus of his pontificate in a world marked by polarization.

His papal name also places him in the lineage of Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903), considered a founding father of the Church's social doctrine. He will also have the difficult task of promoting peace in the context of the many wars tearing the world apart, particularly in Ukraine and the Middle East. In his first speech, he called for “unarmed and disarming peace.”

Born in Chicago on September 14, 1955, Bishop Robert Francis Prevost comes from a family of French, Italian, and Spanish descent. After studying mathematics and philosophy at Villanova University in Philadelphia, he entered the Augustinian novitiate in 1977, where he took his vows four years later.

He was ordained a priest in 1982 in Rome by Archbishop Jean Jadot (1909-2009), then pro-president of the Secretariat for Non-Christians and considered a “progressive” figure within the Curia. This Belgian archbishop was apostolic delegate to the United States from 1973 to 1980, at a time when the nunciature did not yet exist due to the absence of formal diplomatic relations between Washington and the Holy See.

Father Robert Francis Prevost obtained a doctorate in canon law from the Angelicum (Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas) in 1987 with a thesis on the role of the local prior of the Order of St. Augustine. While preparing his thesis, he also had his first missionary experience in Peru in 1985-86, as chancellor of the diocese of Chulucanas and vicar of the cathedral.

After returning to his native Illinois for a few months as director of vocations and missions for his province, he returned to Peru in 1988 for 11 years, during which time he held numerous positions in the Archdiocese of Trujillo.

In particular, he founded a parish where he served as the first pastor until 1999. He was also prior of his community, ecclesiastical judge, director of the Augustinian seminary, and prefect of studies and rector of the diocesan seminary, where he taught canon law, patristics, and moral theology.

Elected provincial for his home region covering the American Midwest, he returned to Chicago in 1999. Father Prevost was then elected prior general of the Order of Saint Augustine, a position he held for two six-year terms, from 2001 to 2013. His election at the age of 46, an exceptionally young age to take the reins of a worldwide international congregation, met with a large consensus within his community. The Augustinians live and transmit the spirituality of St. Augustine, a Father of the Church and bishop of Hippo (now known as Annaba, located in present-day Algeria). When he appeared on the Loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, he presented himself as "a son of St. Augustine."

The Augustinian Order, a mendicant order founded in the 13th century by Pope Innocent IV, is present in about four dozen countries throughout the world. Their spirituality is oriented towards the service of the poor and suffering.

After ending his second term as prior general, he spent a year in transition as director of formation at St. Augustine's Convent in Chicago. He was also first counselor and provincial vicar during this period. Prevost was then called to the episcopate by Pope Francis in November 2014, thus returning to his former mission country.

Initially the apostolic administrator of the diocese of Chiclayo, he became the full diocesan bishop in September 2015. According to the 2022 edition of the Pontifical Yearbook, this diocese in northern Peru has 90 incardinated priests for a total population of 1.3 million, 83% of whom are Catholic. Bishop Prevost also served as apostolic administrator of the diocese of Callao, the large port on the Pacific coast, from 2020 to 2021.

Within the Peruvian Bishops' Conference, Bishop Prevost served as vice president and member of the permanent council from 2018 to 2023, and as president of the commission for education and culture from 2019 to 2023.

The bishops of Peru played an important role in maintaining institutional stability during the successive political crises that led to the successive overthrows of Presidents Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in 2018, Martín Vizcarra and Manuel Merino in 2020, and Pedro Castillo in 2022.

A few days before his fall and arrest, Castillo, who came from the radical left, was received by the president of the Episcopal Conference and by Bishop Prevost in order to find a peaceful solution “in this very difficult moment in Peruvian democratic life,” as the bishops, who had until then had difficult relations with his administration, emphasized at the time.

Bishop Prevost is therefore well acquainted with the political and social reality of South America. It should be noted that within the Latin American episcopate, nationals of the United States are rare. However, the Peruvian Bishops' Conference has another American member: Bishop Arthur Colgan, a member of the Order of the Holy Cross, who has been auxiliary bishop of Chosica since 2015.

Peru, a relatively small country by Latin American standards but nevertheless twice the size of France, was visited by Pope Francis in January 2018. This trip allowed him to meet and get to know Bishop Prevost, whom he received in a private audience in 2021.

Robert Prevost's rise within the Roman Curia has been the cause of speculation for several years. He became a member of the Dicastery for the Clergy in July 2019 and of the Dicastery for Bishops in November 2020: these discreet appointments can sometimes be a first indication of a future role of responsibility within the Roman Curia.

By effectively succeeding Cardinal Ouellet on April 12, 2023, he became the first missionary bishop outside his country of origin to be appointed head of this strategic dicastery. The Dicastery for Bishops is responsible for selecting bishops for dioceses in countries of “ancient Christianity,” mainly located in the Northern Hemisphere.

Cardinal Prevost, like his predecessors in this position, also took charge of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. This body served for several decades as Rome's “control tower” to limit the impact of liberation theology on Catholicism in that region. Prevost had a nuanced vision shaped by his personal experience of leading a Peruvian diocese, and in this strategic role, was also able to benefit from a global perspective on the prospects for the Latin American continent.

During his first years in office, Cardinal Prevost, who remained relatively discreet in the media, was appreciated for his listening skills and his mastery of the issues. A French bishop who met him two months after he took office praised his “judicious questions” and his ability to synthesize ideas, emphasizing that this first contact had left him with a “good impression.”

His two years at the head of the Augustinian province of Our Lady of Good Counsel (1999-2001) were the subject of fierce criticism in the American press due to a case of sexual abuse of minors involving a member of his congregation. As provincial, Father Prevost had in fact agreed in September 2000 to take in a priest sentenced to nine years' suspension for sexual abuse of minors, Father James Ray, in an Augustinian priory located near a primary school.

For two years, this priest continued to celebrate weddings and baptisms, while also serving as a hospital chaplain. It was not until 2002, with the tightening of rules established by the American episcopate, that this priest was removed from his residence, before being laicized in 2012 after the discovery of new cases implicating him.

In the fall of 2024, he also faced charges of attempting to cover up two cases of pedophile priests in his former diocese of Chiclayo. The apostolic administrator of this diocese vigorously defended his predecessor, stating that he had indeed forwarded the files to the prosecutor and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and that his actions were in accordance with both civil and canon law.

More recently, in March 2025, Cardinal Prevost was the target of new attacks, this time from SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests). They accuse him of having carried out “actions and omissions intended to interfere with or prevent a civil or canonical, administrative or criminal investigation against certain priests of the diocese of Chiclayo.” A letter sent by this organization to Cardinal Parolin, then Secretary of State of the Holy See, reportedly went unanswered.

As prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, Cardinal Prevost was tasked with enforcing the rules of Pope Francis' motu proprio Vos estis lux mundi, which can lead to the resignation of bishops found guilty of negligence, cover-up, or mismanagement of abuse cases involving priests under their jurisdiction.

As a member of the Synod on Synodality, the major project launched by the pope in 2021 to make the Church more inclusive and less clerical, Cardinal Prevost was particularly involved in reflections on the appointment of bishops and their mode of governance.

Speaking to journalists, he didn’t hesitate to say that the process of selecting candidates for the episcopate must be more synodal, i.e., involve priests, religious, and especially laypeople to a greater extent. In his view, nuncios—who are responsible for this task—must reach out to people and parish groups.

Of course, for Cardinal Prevost, a bishop must be a leader. But he cannot be a mere business administrator, as the Church needs pastors who know their people. In an interview with Vatican media in 2023, he nevertheless assured that he did not want the choice of bishops to be the result of a democratic or political process, but should still involve ecclesial discernment.

In the same vein, in early 2024, he was among the bishops of the Curia who blocked the German Synod's “Synodal Council” project, a structure intended to allow democratically elected lay representatives to participate fully in the governance of the Catholic Church in Germany.

On the question of the role of women in the governance of the Church, the American cardinal followed Pope Francis' line by ruling out a priori the possibility of ordaining women deacons, a decision that would ultimately risk “clericalizing” women.

Cardinal Prevost did, however, argue for giving women more prominence, particularly in positions of responsibility. His dicastery underwent a minor revolution under Pope Francis; three women now are members of it.

Relatively discreet during the fall 2023 assembly, Cardinal Prevost emerged as one of the most visible figures of the second synodal assembly in 2024. In particular, he emphasized the importance of joint training for bishops from dioceses in the northern hemisphere and those from so-called “mission” dioceses.

He also called for a better articulation of the link between Rome and the local churches, and for the selection of new bishops to be broadened by consulting the people of God.

By choosing the name Leo XIV, the new pontiff also placed himself in the lineage of Leo XIII (1810-1903), a pope elected in 1878 whose pontificate was marked in particular by the publication in 1891 of the encyclical Rerum Novarum. This document is considered the founding text of the Church's social doctrine and its focus on the working class and the poor.

By adopting this focus, Leo XIV will therefore provide an alternative voice on the world stage. The new pope will certainly focus his pontificate on the defense of social justice, paying attention to the cries of the poor and the suffering and potential of the populations of the South, who constitute the lifeblood of global Catholicism.

With a more classic and nuanced style than Pope Francis, he will probably continue to pursue a policy of dialogue with all and tireless promotion of “unarmed and disarming” peace, which was at the heart of his first address to the crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square.