The Successor of St. Peter brings a wealth of experience with him to his new role.
Early years
Before he was Pope Leo, he was "Bob." Robert Francis Prevost was born on September 15, 1955 in Chicago, Illinois. He is the son of Mildred and Louis Prevost and younger brother of Louis and John. He grew up in Dolton, Illinois.
The Prevosts attended St. Mary of the Assumption parish, and Robert went to their school, was an altar boy, and sang in the choir.
Budding vocation
As a child, Robert Prevost gravitated towards his faith, and would play Mass at home with the ironing board serving as an altar.
In 1969, he began attending St. Augustine Seminary High School, a minor seminary for the Order of St. Augustine that was located in Holland, Michigan. While in high school, Prevost was involved with speech and debate and was editor-in-chief of the yearbook.
Adulthood and further academic career
The future pope matriculated at Villanova University, an Augustinian-run college located outside of Philadelphia. He graduated with a bachelor of science degree in mathematics in 1977. A few months after graduation, Prevost entered the Order of Saint Augustine as a novice, and lived in St. Louis.
He professed his first vows the following September, and solemn vows in August of 1981. On June 19, 1982, Prevost was ordained a priest. That same year, he received a M.Div from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. While he was in graduate school, he worked as a math and physics teacher at St. Rita of Cascia High School in Chicago.
Following his ordination to the priesthood, Prevost began canon law school. He received his Licentiate of Canon Law in 1984 and Doctor of Canon Law in 1987 from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome.
Prevost’s doctoral thesis was “The office and authority of the local prior in the Order of Saint Augustine."
Missionary work
After receiving his canon law license, Fr. Prevost moved to Peru and initially served as the chancellor of the Territorial Prelature of Chulucanas.
He later led the Augustinian seminary in Trujillo, Peru, and also taught canon law in the city’s diocesan seminary. From 1989 to 1998, Fr. Prevost was the judicial vicar for the Archdiocese of Trujillo.
Return to the United States
In 1998, Fr. Prevost was elected Prior Provincial of the Order of St. Augustine's Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel based in Chicago, assuming the role on March 8, 1999.
From 2001 to 2013, he was the prior general of the Order of St. Augustine, serving two six-year terms.
In 2005, Fr. Prevost attended game 1 of the 2005 World Series, watching his beloved Chicago White Sox defeat the Houston Astros 5-3. Pictures and video of Fr. Prevost at the game went viral shortly after his election to the papacy. (The White Sox would go on to win the World Series that year.)
In 2013, Fr. Prevost became the director of formation at the Convent of St. Augustine in Chicago, and was also the first councilor and provincial vicar of the Midwestern Augustinian province.
On November 3, 2014, he was named as the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru. He was consecrated as a bishop a little over a month later, on Dec. 12, 2014 – the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
A treaty between Peru and the Vatican required that all bishops in Peru were Peruvian citizens. To comply, Bishop Prevost became a naturalized citizen of the country.
He was officially named as the bishop of Chiclayo on September 26, 2015. He served as their bishop until Jan. 30, 2023, when he was named and the prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
New roles in Rome
Upon arrival in Rome, Bishop Prevost was given the title “archbishop.” He was elevated to the College of Cardinals on September 30, 2023.
On May 8, 2025, Cardinal Prevost was elected pope, and took the name Pope Leo XIV.
