Who is Robert F. Prevost? The newly elected Pope Leo XIV set to preside over the Catholic Church’s new era

The first American pope in history has been named as Robert Francis Prevost in a landmark conclusion to the Conclave on Thursday. 

Prevost, 69, was born in Chicago, Illinois and began studying to become a priest with the Catholic Church at the age of 18, before going on to study mathematics at Villanova University in Pennsylvania four years later. 

He spent much of his early life in South America and also holds Peruvian citizenship, and was said to have been seen as the ‘least American of the Americans’ who were in the running at the Conclave. 

A popular figure in the church who served as the head of Pope Francis’ vetting process for new bishop nominations, he has been notably quiet about his views on topics such as women in the clergy and same sex unions. 

He waded into gender ideology while serving as a bishop in Chiclayo, Peru in 2012, saying that ‘the promotion of gender ideology is confusing, because it seeks to create genders that don’t exist.’ 

Following his graduation in Pennsylvania, Prevost first went to Peru in 1985 as a missionary before becoming the Roman Catholic Diocese for the Chulucanas region that same year. 

Prevost – also known as Father Bob – returned to work as a pastor in Chicago in 1987 for one year before becoming the head of the Augustinian seminary in Trujillo, Peru – a role he kept for a decade. 

In 1998, he was elected as the head of the Augustinian Province of Chicago, making him one of the leading religious figures in the United States. 

The man he succeeded to lead the Vatican, Pope Francis, brought Prevost to Italy in 2023 and handed him a prominent post heading into the Conclave, a process where cardinals vote in secret to elect the new Pope that was watched in anticipation by millions. 

Robert Francis Prevost, 69, was named as the first American pope in history on Thursday 

Prevost was born in Chicago, Illinois and began studying to become a priest with the Catholic Church aged 18, before going on to study mathematics at Villanova University in Pennsylvania four years later

Although he held a prominent post at the Vatican, Prevost was not among the bookies’ favorites heading into the Conclave. 

This was primarily because he is an American, with no US citizen ever holding the position of Pope before in history. 

Prevost is also a Peruvian citizen, and he lived in the South American country for many years as a missionary and then archbishop. 

While working under Francis, 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 Prevost to the most senior rank of cardinals, suggesting he would at least be Francis’ choice in any future conclave. 

Prevost emerged victorious at the Conclave on Thursday, a process where cardinals vote in secret to elect the new pope that was watched in anticipation by millions 

Prevost seen in his first address to the world after being named as the new pope 

The Rev. Fidel Purisaca Vigil, the communications director for Prevost’s old diocese in Chiclayo where he previously served, remembered Prevost as a warm and kind man who ate breakfast with his staff each day. 

‘No matter how many problems he has, he maintains good humor and joy,’ he told the Associated Press. 

James Martin, a Jesuit priest who is also the editor-at-large of America Magazine, said on X after Prevost was announced as the new pope that he had similarly happy memories of the clergyman. 

‘I know Pope Leo XIV to be a kind, open, humble, modest, decisive, hard-working, straightforward, trustworthy, and down-to-earth man. A brilliant choice. May God bless him,’ he said in a post.  

Prevost enters the papacy not without some scandal in his past, and some have already pointed to an incident over two decades ago when he became embroiled in the Catholic Church’s child abuse controversy. 

In 2000, he came under scrutiny for allowing Father James Ray, an Augustinian priest who had been suspended from the ministry nine years before due to allegations of sexual abuse of minors, to reside at his St John Stone Friary in Chicago.