POPE LEO XIV

Robert Francis Prevost was born on September 14, 1955, at Mercy Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. His mother, Mildred (née Martínez) Prevost, graduated from DePaul University with a bachelor’s degree in library science in 1947, while his father, Louis Marius Prevost, was a United States Navy veteran of World War II and superintendent of Brookwood School District 167 in Glenwood, Illinois.

Robert Prevost has two older brothers, Louis and John. His father was born to immigrants from Italy and France, while his mother was the daughter of the Haitian-born mixed-race landowner Joseph Martínez and the New Orleans-born Louise Baquiet), a mixed-race Black Creole.

Raised in Dolton, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, Prevost grew up in the parish of St. Mary of the Assumption, where he went to elementary school, sang in the choir, and served as an altar boy. He was known as “Bob” or “Rob” in childhood and to friends. He completed his high school education at St. Augustine Seminary High School, a minor seminary in Holland, Michigan, in 1973. He consistently appeared on the honor roll, served as yearbook editor-in-chief, secretary of the student council, and a member of the National Honor Society.

Prevost’s brother John, who lives in the Chicago area, says that Robert aspired to the priesthood from a young age. In September 1977, Robert joined the Order of Saint Augustine as a novice, at Immaculate Conception Church in the Compton Heights neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. He took his first vows in September 1978 and solemn vows in August 1981.

Prevost earned a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in mathematics from Villanova University, an Augustinian university in Pennsylvania. He obtained a Master of Divinity (MDiv) from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago in 1982, also serving as a physics and math teacher at St. Rita of Cascia High School in Chicago during his studies.

In Rome, on June 19, 1982, Robert Prevost was ordained a priest by my friend Archbishop Jean Jadot, about whom I wrote the book Jean Jadot: Paul’s Man in Washington.

Fr. Prevost then earned a Licentiate of Canon Law in 1984, followed by a Doctor of Canon Law degree in 1987 from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome. Known as the Angelicum, the Dominican university embraces academic freedom, but its traditional Thomistic philosophy has given it a generally conservative orientation. Prevost’s doctoral thesis was titled “The Role of the Local Prior in the Order of Saint Augustine.”

In 1987, after obtaining his doctorate in church law, Robert Prevost was appointed vocation director and missions director for the Augustinian Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel in Olympia Fields, Illinois. Shortly thereafter he went to Peru in 1988.

In Peru Prevost spent a decade heading the Augustinian seminary in Trujillo, Peru, teaching canon law in the diocesan seminary, serving as prefect of studies, acting as a judge in the regional ecclesiastical court, and working in parish ministry in the city’s outskirts.

 On November 3, 2014, Pope Francis appointed Prevost to be the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru. Then on September 26, 2015, he appointed bishop of Chiclayo. Following a diplomatic treaty, Prevost had to become a naturalized Peruvian citizen before becoming bishop. (U.S. citizens can hold citizenship in other countries without losing their U.S. citizenship.)

Within the Episcopal Conference of Peru, Bishop Prevost served on the conference’s permanent council (2018–2020) and was elected president of its Commission for Education and Culture in 2019. He had a private audience with Pope Francis on March 1, 2021, which created much speculation about a new role for him in Chicago or Rome.

In Peru he criticized the political leadership for supporting inhumane political movements. He backed the 2018 campaign led by the Peruvian bishops against pardoning former terrorists. During his time at Chiclayo, however, Prevost was accused of covering up sexual abuse. In 2022, women who had been victims of abuse in 2007 by two priests, said Prevost had failed to investigate their case. The Diocese of Chiclayo, however, said that Prevost had followed proper procedures. In 2024, the victims stated that no full penal canonical investigation occurred, and an article from América Televisión agreed with them that the church’s investigation was not thorough.

In statements to the newspaper La República, Prevost said: “If you are a victim of sexual abuse by a priest, report it.” Journalist Pedro Salinas, who investigated and exposed crimes committed by members of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae highlighted that Prevost always expressed his support for the victims and was one of the most reliable clerical authorities in Peru. The lay society, founded in the 1971 in Lima, Peru, was suppressed by the Vatican in April 2025, following the scandal of abuse and corruption alleged against some of its leaders.

CARDINAL PREVOST: On September 30, 2023, Bishop Robert Prevost was created a cardinal. He played a critical role in evaluating and recommending episcopal candidates worldwide, increasing his visibility within the Catholic Church. In this role, he recommended that the arch conservative U.S. bishop and strong critic of Pope Francis, Joseph Strickland, be removed from his office as bishop of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, in November 2023.

Before the 2025 papal conclave, Prevost was considered a dark horse compared to more prominent candidates. But he was known to be a friend of Pope Francis and a possible compromise candidate. His American nationality was thought to be a stumbling block to his candidacy. Supporters argued that he represented a “dignified middle of the road” candidate.

At 18:08 Central European Time on May 8, 2025, in the fourth round of voting, on the second day of the conclave, Prevost was elected pope, thereby becoming the first American and first Peruvian pope. The day after his election, on May 9, Pope Leo XIV presided at his first Mass as pope in the Sistine Chapel before the assembled College of Cardinals. During the Mass, he spoke of a Church that would act as a “beacon that illuminates the dark nights of this world.”

Taking the name Leo, the new pope was expressing his esteem for Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903). The earlier Pope Leo, who was pope from 1878 to 1903, was the father of modern Catholic social teaching. He called for the church to address social and economic issues, and emphasized the dignity of individuals, the common good, community, and taking care of marginalized individuals. In the midst of the Gilded Age, when America and much of Europe shifted from an agricultural society to an industrial one, Leo XIII defended the rights of workers and said that the church had not just the duty to speak about justice and fairness, but also the responsibility to make sure they happened. He is best remembered for his famous 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum (“Of New Things”).

But it is also important to remember that Pope Leo XIII was theologically conservative. He emphasized, for example, the authority of the Church and kept very traditional views about the role of women and their place in the Church.

I am happy to see an American-born pope.But we do need to observe and see who he is and what he is doing. As we move ahead, the big questions for me are what Pope Leo XIV will do about women’s ordination, support for LGBTQIA+ people, and a genuine openness to contemporary theological exploration and doctrinal change and development.

In any event, I conclude this week’s reflection with hopeful words from the new Bishop of Rome:

I don’t come to offer you perfect faith.

I come to tell you that faith is a walk with stones, puddles, and unexpected hugs.

I’m not asking you to believe in everything.

I’m asking you not to close the door. Give a chance to the God who waits for you without judgment.

I’m just a priest who saw God in the smile of a woman who lost her son… and yet she cooked for others. That changed me.

So if you’re broken, if you don’t believe, if you’re tired of the lies…

come anyway. With your anger, your doubt, your dirty backpack.

No one here will ask you for a VIP card. Because this Church, as long as I breathe, will be a home for the homeless, and a rest for the weary.”

 

Jack

Dr. John A. Dick – Historical Theologian