Habemus Papam. The Roman Catholic Church has a new pontiff in Pope Leo XIV.
Pope Leo, or Robert Francis Prevost, has been elected as the new leader of the 1.4 billion-member Church. He succeeded Pope Francis, who served for 12 years, from March 2013 until his death last April.
Peace be with you all,” Pope Leo told the cheering crowd in Italian as he appeared on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica after white smoke had billowed from a chimney atop the Sistine Chapel.
He also spoke in Spanish during his brief address but, curiously, didn’t say anything in English.
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Here’s what you need to know about Pope Leo, the 267th occupant of the throne to St. Peter.
He is the first American-born pope
According to his biography from the Vatican News, Pope Leo was born in Chicago in Illinois on Sept. 14, 1955, to Louis Marius Prevost, of French and Italian descent, and Mildred Martínez, of Spanish descent.
But Pope Leo is pretty much considered a Latin American pope—the next one after Francis—especially since he spent most of his career as a missionary in Peru. Francis only appointed him a cardinal in 2024.
Pope Leo holds a Peruvian citizenship, as he served bishop in the city of Chiclayo in northwestern Peru from 2015 to 2023.
He’s also the first Augustinian pope
Like his predecessor Francis, the first Jesuit pope, Pope Leo also made history as the first Augustinian pope.
He spent his childhood and adolescence with his family and studied first at the Minor Seminary of the Augustinian Fathers.
He then moved to Villanova University in Pennsylvania, where, in 1977, he earned a mathematics degree. He also took up philosophy.
On Sept. 1 of that year, he entered the novitiate of the Order of Saint Augustine in Saint Louis in the Province of Our Lady of Good Counsel of Chicago.
On Sept. 2, 1978, he made his first profession, and on Aug. 29, 1981, he made his solemn vows.
He received his theological education at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. At 27, Pope Leo’s superiors sent him to Rome to study canon law at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas or Angelicum.
He was ordained a priest in Rome on June 19, 1982, at the Augustinian College of Saint Monica.
He obtained his licentiate in 1984 and the following year, while preparing his doctoral thesis, was sent to the Augustinian mission in Chulucanas town from 1985 to 1986.
In 1987, he defended his doctoral thesis on “The Role of the Local Prior in the Order of Saint Augustine” and was appointed vocation director and missions director of the Augustinian Province of “Mother of Good Counsel” in Olympia Fields village in Illinois.
He held significant positions in the Church before his papacy
According to Vatican News, Pope Leo was appointed Chiclayo bishop by Francis in 2015 and in March 2018, was elected second vice-president of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference. There, he also served as a member of the Economic Council and president of the Commission for Culture and Education.
In 2019, Francis appointed him a member of the Congregation for the Clergy and in 2020, a member of the Congregation for Bishops.
He was appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Peruvian Diocese of Callao in 2020.
In 2023, Francis called Pope Leo to Rome as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, making him an archbishop. With his new rank, Pope Leo chose the priests who would serve as Catholic bishops across the globe.
Pope Leo officially became a cardinal in January 2024 and was assigned to the Diaconate of Saint Monica.
Last February, Francis promoted him to the Order of Bishops, granting him the title of the Suburbicarian Church of Albano.
Pope Leo’s views are aligned with Francis’
Rev. Mark Francis, Pope Leo’s friend since the ’70s, 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,” Francis said. “He has a wry sense of humor, but was not someone who sought the limelight.”
Jesus Pope Leon Angeles, coordinator of a Catholic group in Chiclayo who has known Prevost since 2018, called Pope Leo a “very simple” person who would go out of his way to help others.
Pope Leon Angeles said Prevost had shown special concern for Venezuelan migrants in Peru, saying, “He is a person who likes to help.” More than 1.5 million Venezuelans have moved to Peru in recent years, partly to escape their country’s economic crisis.
He has key differences from Francis, too
Unlike Francis, who spurned much of the trappings of the papacy and wore a simple white garb, Prevost wore the traditional red papal garment over his white cassock.
Pope Leo’s stance on the LGBTQ community also contrasted with Francis’. In July 2013, Francis was asked about his stance on homosexuality, and he famously responded to reporters with, “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?”
In 2012, the New York Times reported that then-cardinal Prevost lamented the Western news media and popular culture fostering “sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel.” He cited the “homosexual lifestyle” and “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children.”
As the Chiclayo bishop, he opposed a government plan to add teachings on gender in schools.
“The promotion of gender ideology is confusing, because it seeks to create genders that don’t exist,” he told local news media.
He has visited the Philippines several times
In a Facebook post, the Order of Saint Augustine – Province of Santo Niño de Cebu congratulated Pope Pope Leo as the first Augustinian and first American pope.
With great joy, the Augustinian Province of Santo Niño de Cebu–Philippines joins the Catholic Church in praying for Robert Cardinal Prevost, OSA—now Pope Pope Leo XIV—as he begins his ministry as the 267th Supreme Pontiff,” it wrote. “We’re also sharing in this post a few photos of then-Fr. Robert Prevost with our Augustinian friars.”
Seminario San Agustin Intramuros Manila also shared photos of Pope Leo during his visit on Sept. 19, 2010, for the Order’s Intermediate General Chapter.
In these photos, the future pope is shown presiding over the inauguration Mass of the Intermediate General Chapter of the Order of Saint Augustine at San Agustin Church in Intramuros, Manila,” it wrote in the caption.
He enjoys playing word games
In an interview with NBC Chicago, his brother John shared that Pope Leo loves word games—particularly Wordle and Words With Friends.
In Wordle, players–given only six attempts—are asked to guess the hidden word. Words With Friends, meanwhile, is quite similar to Scrabble. It asks players to build words from given letters “in a crossword-puzzle style manner.”
“It’s something to keep his mind off of life in the real world,” said John.
