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Pope Francis' successor/ Who is Pope Leo XIV, who was elected today by the Conclave?

2025-05-08 19:56:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Pope Francis' successor/ Who is Pope Leo XIV, who was elected today by the

"Peace be with you all!" these are the first words of Pope Leo XIV.

The conclave has elected Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as the 267th Bishop of Rome. The new Pope was introduced to hundreds of thousands of waiting faithful by Cardinal Protodeacon Dominique Mamberti.

Just moments ago, from the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, Cardinal Protodeacon Dominique Mamberti uttered "Habemus Papam," announcing to the city of Rome and the entire world the news of the election of Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as Pope Leo XIV.

Leo XIV - The Second American Pope

Pope Francis' successor/ Who is Pope Leo XIV, who was elected today by the

The first Augustinian Pope, Robert Prevost, now Leo XIV is the second Roman Catholic Pope from America after Pope Francis.

However, unlike Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 69-year-old Robert Francis Prevost is from the northern part of the American continent, although he spent many years as a missionary in Peru before being elected to lead the Augustinians for two consecutive terms.

The first Augustinian pope

The new bishop of Rome was born on September 14, 1955, in Chicago, Illinois, to Louis Marius Prevost, of French and Italian descent, and Mildred Martínez, of Spanish descent. He has two brothers, Louis Martín and John Joseph.

He spent his childhood and adolescence with his family and studied first at the Minor Seminary of the Augustinian Fathers and then at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, where in 1977 he received a degree in Mathematics and also studied Philosophy.

On September 1 of that same year, he entered the novitiate of the Order of Saint Augustine (OSA) in Saint Louis, in the Province of Our Lady of Good Counsel of Chicago, and made his first profession on September 2, 1978. On August 29, 1981, he made his solemn vows.

He received his theological education at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. At the age of 27, he was sent by his superiors to Rome to study Canon Law at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum).

In Rome, he was ordained a priest on June 19, 1982, at the Augustinian College of Saint Monica by Monsignor Jean Jadot, then Pro-President of the Pontifical Council for Non-Christians, now Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.

Prevost received his license in 1984 and the following year, while preparing his doctoral thesis, he was sent to the Augustinian mission in Chulucanas, Piura, Peru (1985–1986). In 1987, he defended his doctoral thesis on "The Role of the Local Priest in the Order of Saint Augustine" and was appointed director of vocations and director of missions of the Augustinian Province of "Mother of Good Counsel" in Olympia Fields, Illinois (USA).

Mission to Peru

Pope Francis' successor/ Who is Pope Leo XIV, who was elected today by the

The following year, he joined the mission in Trujillo, also in Peru, as director of the joint formation project for Augustinian candidates from the vicariates of Chulucanas, Iquitos, and Apurímac.

For eleven years, he served as a community priest (1988–1992), director of formation (1988–1998) and instructor for professed members (1992–1998), and in the Archdiocese of Trujillo as judicial vicar (1989–1998) and professor of Canon Law, Patristics and Moral Theology at the Major Seminary “San Carlos y San Marcelo”.

At the same time, he was also entrusted with the pastoral care of Our Lady Mother of the Church, later founded as the parish of Saint Rita (1988–1999), in a poor suburb of the city, and was administrator of the parish of Our Lady of Montserrat from 1992 to 1999.

In 1999, he was elected Prior Provincial of the Augustinian Province of “Mother of Good Counsel” in Chicago, and two and a half years later, the General Chapter of the Order of Saint Augustine elected him as Prior General, confirming him in 2007 for a second term.

In October 2013, he returned to his Augustinian Province in Chicago, serving as director of formation at the Convent of Saint Augustine, first councilor, and provincial vicar—roles he held until Pope Francis appointed him on November 3, 2014, as Apostolic Administrator of the Peruvian Diocese of Chiclayo, elevating him to the episcopal dignity of Titular Bishop of Sufar.

He entered the Diocese on November 7, in the presence of Apostolic Nuncio James Patrick Green, who consecrated him Bishop a little over a month later, on December 12, on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, at St. Mary's Cathedral.

His episcopal motto is “In Illo uno unum”—words uttered by Saint Augustine in a sermon on Psalm 127 to explain that “although we Christians are many, in one Christ we are one.”

Bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, from 2015 to 2023

Pope Francis' successor/ Who is Pope Leo XIV, who was elected today by the

On September 26, 2015, he was appointed Bishop of Chiclayo by Pope Francis. In March 2018, he was elected second vice president of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference, where he also served as a member of the Economic Council and president of the Commission for Culture and Education.

In 2019, Pope Francis appointed him a member of the Congregation for the Clergy (July 13, 2019) and in 2020, a member of the Congregation for Bishops (November 21). Meanwhile, on April 15, 2020, he was also appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Peruvian Diocese of Callao.

Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops

On January 30, 2023, the Pope called him to Rome as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, elevating him to the rank of Archbishop.

Cardinal in 2024

Pope Francis' successor/ Who is Pope Leo XIV, who was elected today by the

Pope Francis created the Prevost Cardinal in the Consistory of September 30 of that year and assigned him to the Diaconate of Saint Monica. He officially took possession of his titular church on January 28, 2024.

As head of the Dicastery, he participated in the most recent Apostolic Journeys of the Pope and in the first and second sessions of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality, held in Rome from 4 to 29 October 2023 and from 2 to 27 October 2024 respectively.

Meanwhile, on October 4, 2023, Pope Francis appointed him a member of the Dicasteries for Evangelization (Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches), for the Doctrine of the Faith, for the Eastern Churches, for the Clergy, for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, for Culture and Education, for Legislative Texts and of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State.

Finally, on February 6 of this year, the Argentine Pope promoted it to the Order of Bishops, giving it the title of Suburbicarian Church of Albano.

During his predecessor's recent hospitalization at the Gemelli Hospital, Prevost led the Rosary for the health of Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square on March 3./ CNA