Everything You Need To Know About Pope Leo XIV, The First US Pontiff

The papal conclave on Thursday has chosen American-born Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost to be the next pope. He will be known as Pope Leo XIV. Chicago-born Robert Prevost, the first American pope in history, was elected after just four ballots on day two of the conclave.

Pope Leo, born in 1955 to a Spanish and Franco-Italian family, was an altar boy and received his ordination in 1982. He graduated with a degree in mathematics from the University of Villanova in Pennsylvania and also studied religion at the Catholic Theological Union of Chicago. Pope Francis made him the Bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, in 2015. Notably, he also acquired Peruvian citizenship that year. The year 2023 saw his appointment as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, a key administrative organisation of the Catholic Church situated in Rome. He also served as the president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

“We must seek together how to be a missionary church, a church that builds bridges, dialogue, always open to receive like this square with open arms," said the pope in his first address from St. Peter’s Square. Upon his election, the pope received numerous congratulatory messages from world leaders. US President Donald Trump congratulated the new pope on social media, writing, “it is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope.”