Inside the unprecedented journey of the first American Pope and its impact on the Vatican and Catholic faithful worldwide.
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.Read More
In this photo released by the Diocese of Chulucanas, Bishop Robert Prevost leads an anniversary celebration of the Diocese in Chulucanas, Peru, Monday, Aug. 12, 2024. (Diocese of Chulucanas via AP)
In this photo released by the Diocese of Chulucanas, Bishop Robert Prevost leads the celebration anniversary of the Diocese in Chulucanas, Peru, Aug. 12, 2024. (Diocese of Chulucanas via AP)
Pope Leo XIV appears on the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica after being chosen the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, at the Vatican, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, leads the recitation of the Holy Rosary for Pope Francis’ health in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican, March 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, poses for a photo at the end of the consistory where Pope Francis elevated 21 new cardinals in St. Peter’s Square at The Vatican, Sept. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca, File)
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis brought Robert Prevost to the Vatican in 2023 as the powerful head of the office that vets bishop nominations, one of the most important jobs in the Catholic Church. On Thursday, he ascended to become Pope Leo XIV — the first American pontiff.
Prevost, 69, had to overcome the taboo against a U.S. pope, given the geopolitical power already wielded by the United States in the secular sphere.
The Chicago native is also a Peruvian citizen and lived for years in Peru, first as a missionary and then as an archbishop.
He had prominence going into the conclave that few other cardinals have.
Prevost was twice elected prior general, or top leader, of the Augustinians, the 13th century religious 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 the most Catholics.
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