Who is Robert Francis Prevost? What to know about newly elected Pope Leo XIV
Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, 69, has been elected the new pope under the papal name Pope Leo XIV, making him the first pope from the U.S.
The announcement was made on Thursday, May 8, over an hour after white smoke billowed from the Vatican just after 6 p.m. Vatican time (noon ET), indicating that the new head of the Catholic church had been selected.
Pope Leo XIV was born in Chicago and attended Villanova University and Catholic Theological Union in Chicago before earning a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical College of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome.
Ordained in 1982, the new pope has spent much of his clerical life in Peru, serving as Bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023, reported the National Catholic Reporter. Before that, he served as a parish pastor and diocesan official in the Augustinian mission beginning in 1985. After a short stint in Chicago in 1987, he returned to Peru.
He was appointed as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops (formerly known as the Congregation for Bishops) by Pope Francis in 2023, an important role from which he advised the pope on bishop appointments worldwide. He was also named president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America in 2023.
Watch the moment it happened: Pope Leo XIV is introduced on St. Peter's Basilica balcony
To watch Prevost's introduction, watch Paste BN's livestream at the top of the page or on YouTube.
Chicago church officials 'happily shocked' with selection of American-born pope
“It's a day of great excitement for Chicago, for the United States to have one of our own be elected as the Pope to serve as the Holy Father,” said Larry Sullivan, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Chicago, at a Thursday press conference. “It really is a cause of great joy, great excitement.”
Sullivan says he has not worked with the new pope directly but knows many people who know him personally and are members of the Augustinian community.
“I have been hearing wonderful stories about Cardinal Prevost long before there was any consideration that he might have been elected as pope,” Sullivan said.
Father Gregory Sakowicz, Rector of Chicago’s Holy Name Cathedral, recounted a similar sense of surprise, saying he was “happily shocked,” before joking with reporters over a detail about the new pope he’s yet to learn.
“Now one burning question I have is, the fact that the Pope Leo XIV, [former] Cardinal Prevost, was born in Chicago in the south side, is he a Chicago White Sox fan?”
This story has been updated to add new information.