Pope Leo XIV: Everything we know about Robert Prevost as he makes first remarks as leader of Catholic Church

7NEWS

08-05-2025

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost of the United States has been elected the 267th pope and has stepped onto the balcony of St Peter's Basilica as the new leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.
Prevost, 69, from Chicago, Illinois, is the first ever pope from the United States. He will be known as Leo XIV.
A leader with global experience, he spent much of his career as a missionary in South America and most recently led a powerful Vatican office for bishop appointments. He is expected to build on Pope Francis' reforms.
He worked for a decade in Trujillo, Peru, and was later appointed bishop of Chiclayo, another Peruvian city, where he served from 2014 to 2023. Prevost also holds a Peruvian passport and has been a Peruvian citizen since 2015.
In an interview with Vatican News shortly after he became the leader of the Dicastery for Bishops, Prevost said: 'I still consider myself a missionary. My vocation, like that of every Christian, is to be a missionary, to proclaim the Gospel wherever one is.''
'Peace be with you all'
In his first words as pope, Leo XIV said to the crowd in St Peter's Square: 'Peace be with you all.'
'This is the first greetings of the resurrected Christ, the good shepherd who has given up his life for God,' he said, explaining the choice of his greeting. 'And I should also like this greeting of peace to enter our hearts and our families.'
Leo XIV looked visibly emotional as he waved to the adoring crowd in the square below the balcony.
What the Pope focused on in his first remarks
Pope Leo XIV is a member of the Augustinian religious order. He led the order for more than a decade as their prior general, which has given him leadership experience of leading an order spread across the world.
The new pontiff used his first remarks to say he his a son of St Augustine, and he quoted the saint's famous phrase: 'For you, I am a bishop, with you, after all, I am a Christian.'
That reflects the idea that all the people in the church hierarchy – from leaders to everyday members – walk together.
He talked about having a unified church, a nod to Pope Francis' focus on synodality and improving communication between different levels of the church and listening more to different groups within it.
He also used his first address to emphasise the importance of peace and say that 'evil will not prevail'.
Finally, he emphasised that God loves everyone unconditionally.
Pope Leo XIV calls for church to build bridges and engage in dialogue
Pope Leo XIV outlined his vision for the Catholic Church as one that 'builds bridges' and engages in conversation.
'We have to seek together to be a missionary church. A church that builds bridges and dialogue,' he said in his remarks on the balcony of St Peter's Basilica today.
The new Pope also called on people to 'show our charity' to others 'and be in dialogue with love', according to an English translation.
Leo XIV pays tribute to Francis in first words as Pope
Addressing the crowd in St Peter's Square, Pope Leo XIV paid tribute to the late Pope Francis, urging the crowd to remember his predecessor's legacy.
'Let us keep in our ears the weak voice of Pope Francis that blesses Rome. The Pope who blessed Rome, gave his blessing to the entire world that morning of Easter. Allow me to follow up on that blessing. God loves us. God loves everyone. Evil will not prevail,' he said in Italian while addressing the crowd gathered at the Vatican.
In Spanish, Leo XIV greets his 'beloved diocese' in Peru
Having spoken in Italian so far, Leo XIV just switched to Spanish — one of several European languages he speaks — to address his 'beloved diocese' in Peru.
Cardinal Robert Prevost, as he was known, worked for a decade in Trujillo, Peru, and served as bishop of Chiclayo, another Peruvian city, from 2014 to 2023.
'To my dearest beloved diocese in Peru, where a faithful people accompanied their bishop to share their faith with him, and who have done so much to be a faithful church,' he said.
Leo XIV called on the Catholic church to be a 'synodal' church, 'one which goes forward and which always seeks peace and to be close to those who suffer'.
'I should also like to thank all my cardinal brethren'
During his remarks in Pope Leo XIV thanked his fellow cardinals for choosing him to lead the Catholic Church.
'I should also like to thank all my cardinal brethren who have chosen me to be the successor of Peter and to walk with you as a united church. Always seeking peace and justice. Seeking to work with men and women who are faithful to Jesus Christ without fear to proclaim the gospel to be missionaries,' he said.
Robert Prevost's journey from Chicago to Peru to Pope
Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1955.
Prevost earned his bachelor's in mathematics from Villanova University in Pennsylvania and went on to receive his diploma in theology from the Catholic Theological Union of Chicago.
He was later sent to Rome to study canon law at the Pontifical Saint Thomas Aquinas University and was ordained as a priest in June 1982. Later in his career, he taught canon law in the seminary in Trujillo, Peru.
While it is often said cardinal electors would always shy away from choosing a pope from the US due to America's outsized global political influence, Prevost's long experience in Peru may have mitigated those fears among the electors.
'He's somebody that, even though he's from the West, would be very attentive to the needs of a global church,' said Elise Allen, CNN's Vatican analyst. 'You're talking about somebody who spent over half of his ecclesial career abroad as a missionary in Peru.'
Allen added that he is seen as an apt leader in Vatican circles because 'he's able to accomplish things without necessarily being authoritarian about the way he did things'.
'Prevost is somebody who is seen as an exceptional leader. From very young, he was appointed to leadership roles,' Allen said. 'He's seen as somebody who is calm and balanced, who is even-handed, and who is very clear on what he thinks needs to be done ... but he's not overly forceful in trying to make that happen.'
Pope Leo XIV is 'a man of God' and is preaching Catholic social thought, friend says
Father Art Purcaro from the US said he was 'perhaps more stunned than the world' and pleased with the election of Pope Leo XIV to lead the Catholic Church.
Purcaro, who said he has been friends with the pope for decades and was with him just last week in Rome, described him as a 'man of God'. He added, 'What I've just heard him say is how he has lived.'
Purcaro praised the Pope's first remarks. 'You heard the Catholic social thought, those principles on which our faith is founded in what now Leo XIV has declared to us in his opening statement to the world.'
Purcaro said these principles include 'dignity, solidarity, subsidiarity, common good, bridge builder'.
'As a true Augustinian, Pope Leo XIV has asked for the prayers. But he's also committed himself to being of the people of God and for the people of God, for a better world for all,' he added.
Asked if he and the pope have ever discussed him possibly being elected, Purcaro said that he has known Leo XIV decades and 'I don't think that that person ever suspected that God would ask him to do this'.
Pope Leo's citing of St Augustine in his remarks is a message of unity, his friend and former housemate says
Pope Leo XIV is a member of the Augustinian religious order – and his friend and former housemate in Peru noted that the new pontiff cited St Augustine in his first public remarks today.
'He cited St Augustine, one of St Augustine's famous words. When St Augustine was named a bishop, he says 'With you I am a Christian. For you I am a bishop,'' said Rev. John Lydon, a Franciscan friar who worked with the new pope in Trujillo, Peru.'St Augustine was saying the most important thing is we're together as Christians. So when Pope Leo used that citation of St Augustine, I think he was trying to say the same thing. You know, I'm for you, I'm the pope, but with you, we're all Christians together, we're all going toward the Lord together,' Lyndon told CNN.
He added that is also means 'we need to dialogue. And he mentioned the synodal church, which actually, that's what it means, a church of dialogue, of walking together, of diversity. But walking toward the common goal of peace and love, which is the message of the gospels.'
Pope Francis respected Robert Prevost and thought of him as a capable leader
Before becoming Pope Leo XIV, Robert Prevost most recently led the powerful Vatican office for bishop appointments.
The late Pope Francis 'respected him and thought of him very highly', according to CNN's Vatican correspondent Christopher Lamb.
Francis is the person who appointed Prevost to be the prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, which is in charge of assessing candidates and making recommendations for new bishop appointments.
'Clearly Pope Francis saw in him something — he saw him as a capable leader,' Lamb noted.
His role in the Vatican's bishop's office would have also given him a lot of insight into the global church and opportunities to meet with church leaders all over the world.
'In some ways, he's a slightly unknown quantity. He's not been scrutinised in the way that other very high-profile church leaders might have been,' Lamb added. But of course, to get that two-third majority vote from the College of Cardinals, 'he's going to have needed to have appealed to a cross-section of people'.
What we can learn from Pope Leo's papal garb
When Pope Francis stepped onto the balcony of St Peter's Square in 2013, he did so in a simple white robe, doing away with much of the pomp that shrouds the papacy.
But when Pope Leo XIV revealed himself to the world, he was wearing the traditional papal robes.
In reverting to norms, perhaps Pope Leo XIV wanted to show he isn't trying to clone Francis' papacy. In his speech, however, he praised Francis' legacy — and seems set to follow in the Franciscan path.
Another similarity between the two popes could be where Leo chooses to live during his papacy. Francis decided not to live in the splendour of the Vatican's Apostolic Palace, opting instead for the humbler Santa Marta guesthouse.
Perhaps Leo will do the same; we'll have to wait and see.
What we know about the papal name Leo
Leo is now tied for the fourth most common name chosen by popes, along with Clement. Only John, Gregory and Benedict have proven more popular.
But we haven't had a Pope Leo in more than a century.
The last Pope Leo was Leo XIII, who was born in French-occupied Rome in 1810. He served as pope from 1878 until his death in 1903, making his 25-year papacy the fourth longest in the church's history.
Leo XIII is remembered as a pope of Catholic social teaching. He wrote a famous open letter in 1891, reflecting on the technological changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution and its impact on workers.
In choosing to revive the name, Leo XIV may be signaling the priorities for his papacy.
The first Pope Leo, who served in the fifth century, is known as 'Leo the Great', and is remembered for persuading Attila the Hun to halt his invasion and spare the Roman Empire from destruction.
Their meeting was captured in a painting by Raphael, which is now displayed in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace, which the 133 voting cardinals — including Robert Prevost, now Leo XIV — passed through as they proceeded into the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday for the start of the conclave.
The name Leo derives from the Latin for 'lion,' suggesting strength and courage.
In his address from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, Leo XIV said the church can still hear 'the weak but always courageous voice of Pope Francis,' his predecessor.