There was white smoke, there was pageantry, and once the curtains were pulled back, it was revealed: There is an American pope.
Cardinal Robert Prevost of Chicago has become Pope Leo XIV, becoming the first American to lead 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide. In his first words, he said: “Peace be with you.”
Here’s what we know about the man tasked with steering the oldest institution in the western world.
What are his politics?
In contrast with Pope Francis, Prevost has been less welcoming of the LGBTQ community in the church.
In a 2012 address, he criticized how media and pop culture fostered “sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel,” the New York Times reported. He specifically cited the “homosexual lifestyle” and “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children.”
While in Peru, he also criticized the government’s plan to teach about gender in schools, according to the Times.
Prevost has recently publicly clashed with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, speaking out against Vice President JD Vance and reposting comments from a Democratic senator.
He shared an opinion piece in February from the National Catholic Reporter, which disagreed with Vance’s comments implying Christians should prioritize loving their family and neighbours over the rest of the world. He also reposted a comment in April criticizing Trump’s immigration policy, in which a D.C. bishop was quoted as saying: “Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you stay quiet?
Trump congratulated Prevost on his selection in a post on Truth Social.
鈥淚t is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope,鈥 Trump wrote. 鈥淲hat excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!鈥
From Chicago 鈥 with time in Peru
Prevost, 69, was born in Chicago in 1955. He studied mathematics at Villanova University, graduating in 1977, and later earned a Master of Divinity from the Chicago-based Catholic Theological Union.
He was ordained as a priest in 1982 and quickly moved abroad.
In 1985, he joined the Augustinian mission in Peru. He returned to Chicago briefly in 1987 and 1988, then spent another 10 years in聽Trujillo, Peru.
He returned to Chicago for a longer stint in 1999, when he was the provincial prior in a province in the archdiocese there. Two years later, he became the prior general of the Augustinian.
Prevost returned to Peru yet again in 2014, when Pope Francis made him a apostolic administrator there. He became a bishop in 2015.
A fresh-faced cardinal and unlikely pope
Francis appointed Prevost as a cardinal in January 2023, a role he assumed in September of that year. That gives him less than two years in the College of Cardinals 鈥 adding to the unlikelihood of his papacy, on top of him being the first American pope.
Having an American pope was long seen as an unlikely choice from cardinals voting in the Sistine Chapel, given the power the United States already holds geopolitically. Prevost’s international experience and time spent in Peru helped him in this regard.
Work at the Vatican and criticism for handling of abuse allegations
In January 2023, Francis tapped Prevost to lead the Dicastery of Bishops, which names and manages the church’s bishops. In taking over the powerful position, he replaced Quebec’s Cardinal Marc Ouellet,聽who resigned his post shortly after he was alleged to have engaged in past sexual misconduct, the second such allegation against him.
Ouellet denied wrongdoing and was reportedly clear in an internal church investigation.
Prevost has also come under fire for his handling of abuse allegations.
One group identified then-Cardinal Prevost as among those church leaders who covered up or failed to act against a Peruvian priest accused of sexual misconduct by three victims. He is also accused of allowing a pedophile priest in Chicago to reside in a religious residence located next to a Catholic school.
The group, SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), filed a formal complaint to the Vatican in March. On Thursday, the group said in a statement: “You can end the abuse crisis 鈥 the only question is, will you?鈥
With files from Allan Woods and The Associated Press
