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Pope Leo XIV: Who is Robert Prevost, the bridge-builder chosen to lead the Catholic Church?
Italian newspaper La Repubblica called him 'the least American of the Americans' for his soft-spoken touch
- PUBLISHED: Fri 9 May 2025, 7:25 AM
- By:
- AFP
Robert Francis Prevost, the first pope from the US, has a history of missionary work in Peru but also a keen grasp of the inner workings of the Church.
The new Leo XIV, a Chicago native, was entrusted by his predecessor Francis to head the powerful Dicastery for Bishops, charged with advising the pontiff on new bishop appointments.
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The sign of confidence from Francis speaks to Prevost's commitment as a missionary in Peru to the "peripheries", overlooked areas far from Rome prioritised by Francis, and his reputation as a bridge-builder and moderate within the Curia.
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The 69-year-old Archbishop-Bishop emeritus of Chiclayo, Peru, was made a cardinal by Francis in 2023 after being named prefect of the dicastery, one of the Vatican's most important departments, and a post that introduced him to all key players in the Church.
Vatican watchers had given Prevost the highest chances among the group of US cardinals of being pope, given his pastoral bent, global view and ability to navigate the central bureaucracy.
Italian newspaper La Repubblica called him "the least American of the Americans" for his soft-spoken touch.
His strong grounding in canon law has also been seen as reassuring to more conservative cardinals seeking a greater focus on theology.
'We Can't turn back'
Following Francis's death, Prevost said there was "still so much to do" in the work of the Church.
"We can't stop, we can't turn back. We have to see how the Holy Spirit wants the Church to be today and tomorrow, because today's world, in which the Church lives, is not the same as the world of ten or 20 years ago," he told Vatican News last month.
"The message is always the same: proclaim Jesus Christ, proclaim the Gospel, but the way to reach today's people, young people, the poor, politicians, is different," he said.
Born on September 14, 1955, in Chicago, Prevost attended a minor seminary of the Order of St Augustine in St Louis as a novice before graduating from Philadelphia's Villanova University, an Augustinian institution, with a degree in mathematics.
After receiving a masters degree in divinity from Chicago's Catholic Theological Union in 1982, and a doctorate decree in canon law in Rome, the polyglot joined the Augustinians in Peru in 1985 for the first of his decade-long missions in that country.
Returning to Chicago in 1999, he was made provincial prior of the Augustinians in the US Midwest and later the prior general of the order throughout the world.
But he returned to Peru in 2014 when Francis appointed him as apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo in the country's north.
Nearly a decade later, Prevost's appointment in 2023 as head of the dicastery came after Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet was accused of sexually assaulting a woman and resigned for age reasons.
The Vatican later dropped the case against Ouellet for insufficient evidence.
Prevost also serves as president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
'JD Vance is wrong'
Pope Leo XIV shared articles criticizing US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance on social media months before his election as America's first pontiff, particularly on issues of migration.
In February, the then-Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost reposted on X a headline and a link to an essay saying Vance was "wrong" to quote Catholic doctrine to support Washington's cancellation of foreign aid.
The Vatican confirmed Thursday the account was genuine and belonged to the Chicago-born Prevost.
The article took issue with Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019 and argued that Christians should love their family first before prioritising the rest of the world.
"JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others," said the headline reposted on Prevost's account, along with a link to the story by the National Catholic Reporter.
After becoming vice president, Vance justified the cancellation of nearly all US foreign assistance by quoting 12th-century theologian Thomas Aquinas's concept of "ordo amoris," or "order of love."
