Pope Leo XIV is first American-born pope in history of the Catholic Church
Robert Prevost, a missionary who spent his career ministering in Peru and leads the Vatican’s powerful office of bishops, was elected the first American pope in the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church.
Video above: Listen to Pope Leo XIV's speech after being elected pope
Prevost, a 69-year-old member of the Augustinian religious order, took the name Leo XIV. He appeared on the loggia of St. Peter's Square wearing the traditional red cape of the papacy — a cape that Pope Francis had eschewed on his election in 2013.
Pope Leo XIV said “Peace be with you” in his first words as pope, offering a message of peace and dialogue “without fear.”
From the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, history’s first American pope recalled he was an Augustinian priest, but that he was a Christian above all and a bishop, “So we can all walk together.”
He spoke in Italian and then switched to Spanish, recalling his many years spent as a missionary and then archbishop of Chiclayo, Peru.
Leo XIV had been a leading candidate except for his nationality. There had long been a taboo against a U.S. pope, given the geopolitical power already wielded by the United States in the secular sphere.
Francis brought Leo XIV to the Vatican in 2023 to serve as the powerful head of the office that vets bishop nominations from around the world, one of the most important jobs in the Catholic Church.
Leo XIV, a Chicago native, is also a Peruvian citizen and lived for years in Peru, first as a missionary and then as an archbishop.
Leo XIV was also twice elected prior general, or top leader, of the Augustinian religious order, the 13th century order founded by St. Augustine. Francis clearly had an eye on him for years, moving him from the Augustinian leadership back to Peru in 2014 to serve as the administrator and later archbishop of Chiclayo.
Video below: Pope Leo XIV emerges from balcony
He remained in that position, acquiring Peruvian citizenship in 2015, until Francis brought him to Rome in 2023 to assume the presidency of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. In that job he would have kept in regular contact with the Catholic hierarchy in the part of the world that still counts the most Catholics.
Significantly, Leo XIV presided over one of the most revolutionary reforms Francis made, when he added three women to the voting bloc that decides which bishop nominations to forward to the pope. In early 2025, Francis again showed his esteem by appointing Leo XIV to the most senior rank of cardinals, suggesting he would at least be Francis’ choice in a future conclave.
President Donald Trump congratulated Leo XIV in a social media post Thursday, saying, "Congratulations to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was just named Pope. It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!"
The Rev. Fidel Purisaca Vigil, the communications director for Leo XIV's old diocese in Chiclayo, remembers the cardinal rising each day and having breakfast with his fellow priests after saying his prayers.
“No matter how many problems he has, he maintains good humor and joy,” Purisaca said in an email.
