Robert Francis Prevost elected first American-born Pope

Vatican City (Web Desk): Robert Francis Prevost, aged 69 and born in Chicago, has been chosen to lead the Catholic Church as Pope Leo XIV, becoming the first pontiff in history to hail from the United States (US).

Vatican analysts note that his approach echoes that of his predecessor, particularly in his concern for the poor, although his past management of clergy accused of sexual misconduct has drawn scrutiny.

Pope Leo XIV, the first American-born leader of the Catholic Church, was born in the heart of Chicago. He is the son of Louis Prevost, a veteran of World War II and a school superintendent with French and Italian ancestry, and Mildred Martinez, a librarian with Spanish roots.

His family includes two brothers, Louis Martín and John Joseph. As a child, he regularly attended Mass with his family at St. Mary of the Assumption, a now-closed parish on Chicago’s South Side, where his mother was deeply engaged in parish life and he served as an altar boy, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.

His academic path led him first to St. Augustine Seminary High School, after which he enrolled at Villanova University to study mathematics.

He later returned to his native city to pursue a graduate degree in divinity at the Catholic Theological Union of Chicago. During this time, he also worked part-time as a math instructor and occasionally filled in as a physics teacher at St. Rita High School.

In 1982, he left Chicago for Rome to undertake studies in canon law and was ordained a priest during this period. Three years later, in 1985, he was dispatched to Peru, where he began his pastoral mission by overseeing the Diocese of Chulucanas in the country’s northwest. While serving there, he worked on his doctoral thesis, defending it in 1987 under the title “The Role of the Local Prior in the Order of Saint Augustine.”

His mission in Peru continued as he moved to Trujillo, where he served for ten years at the head of the local archdiocese.

Prevost returned to his home city in 1999 upon being elected to lead the Augustinian Province of Chicago. Two years later, in 2001, he began the first of two successive six-year terms as Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine, a position that placed him in charge of a religious order with over 2,000 priests at the time.

His return to Peru came in 2014 when Pope Francis appointed him apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo. A year later, he was named bishop and became a naturalized Peruvian citizen.

He remained there until 2023, when Pope Francis elevated him to head the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops, the office responsible for selecting new bishops worldwide. That same year, he was named a cardinal.

Observers have remarked on Leo XIV’s deep resonance with Francis’s priorities, particularly his solidarity with marginalized communities and migrants.

According to Kathleen Sprows Cummings, a historian at the University of Notre Dame, his leadership reflects “a pastoral heart, managerial experience and vision,” adding that “he’s right out of Francis’s playbook.” Much like his predecessor, Leo XIV has emphasized humility in leadership, stating that a bishop “is not supposed to be a little prince sitting in his kingdom” but rather someone who remains close to his people, sharing their burdens and journey.

Though the Vatican has historically avoided electing a pope from the US, partly out of concern over consolidating too much influence in a global power, many believe Leo XIV’s decades of ministry in Peru have cultivated a broader, global outlook. As John Allen noted in an interview with CNN, “He’s somebody that, even though he’s from the West, would be very attentive to the needs of a global church.”