Who is Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope?
Cardinal Robert Prevost, an American 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.
Prevost, 69, took the name Leo XIV.
Here is more information about Pope Leo XIV:
Date of Birth: Sept. 14, 1955
Nationality: American and Peruvian
Position: Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops; president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America under Francis
Experience: Archbishop of Chiclayo, Peru; head of the Augustinian religious order
Made a cardinal by: Pope Francis
Francis brought Pope Leo XIV, then Robert Prevost, 69, 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. As a result, Leo had a prominence going into the conclave that few other cardinals have.
One aspect that some thought would work against him, however, is that he’s American. Given the geopolitical power already wielded by the United States in the secular sphere, there has long been a taboo against a U.S. pope. But Leo, a Chicago native, is also a Peruvian citizen and lived for years in Peru, first as a missionary and then as an archbishop.
Leo 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.
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 counts still counts the most Catholics.
Ever since he arrived in Rome, Leo has kept a low public profile, but he is well known to the men who count.
Significantly, he 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 to the most senior rank of cardinals, suggesting he would at least be Francis’ choice in any future conclave.
The Rev. Fidel Purisaca Vigil, the communications director for Leo'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.