Leo XIV

Leo XIV (born September 14, 1955, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.) is the pope, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. He was elected to the papacy on May 8, 2025, succeeding Pope Francis and becoming the first American pope in history. An Augustinian priest who performed extensive missionary work in Peru and served as head of the Augustinian order from 2001 to 2013, he was made a cardinal by Francis in 2023. He brings a reputation for being a fair, deft administrator and a political moderate, and he is expected to continue his predecessor’s agenda for the church.

Papacy and vision for the church

In his first address as pope, Leo XIV told the crowd assembled in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City, “I am a son of St. Augustine, an Augustinian. He said, ‘With you I am a Christian, for you a bishop.’ So may we all walk together towards that homeland that God has prepared for us.”

Notably, the last pope to choose Leo as a papal name, Leo XIII (reigned 1878–1903), was known for his conciliatory approach to civil governments and for authoring Rerum novarum (1891; “Of New Things), a papal encyclical that addressed the economic and social problems created by the Industrial Revolution and laid down the principles of Catholic social teaching. The new pope’s choice of a name and his professional history signified that he might bring a similar conciliatory spirit to church divisions and a pastoral approach to issues of social justice.

Read about why the name a pope chooses matters.

Indeed, two days after the conclave that elected him, he explained his choice of name to the College of Cardinals, noting the historic message of Rerum novarum and its relevance in the age of artificial intelligence. Leo also asked the cardinals to renew their commitment to the principles of the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) and to Pope Francis’s 2013 document Evangelii gaudium (“The Joy of the Gospel”), which envisions a church that embraces its global diversity and champions the poor.

Background and education

Hailing from the far South Side of Chicago, Prevost was one of three children born to Louis and Mildred (Martínez) Prevost, a school principal and a librarian, respectively. He attended a local Catholic elementary school and served as an altar boy, then entered St. Augustine Seminary High School in Holland, Michigan, graduating in 1973. From there Prevost enrolled in Villanova University near Philadelphia, earning a B.A. in mathematics in 1977. That same year he began his novitiate in the Augustinian order and took his solemn vows four years later. He was ordained a priest in 1982.

Prevost studied at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and received a master’s in divinity in 1982. He then headed to Rome to study canon law at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas. He earned a license in canon law in 1984. His doctoral thesis (1987) was on the role of the local prior in the Augustinian order.

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Missionary work in Peru and career in Chicago

In 1985 Prevost began missionary work with the Augustinians in Peru, and he was quickly made chancellor (1985–86) of the territorial prelature in Chulucanas. From 1987 to 1988 he served as director of vocations and missions of the Midwest Augustinian Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel in Chicago. Beginning in 1988 he would spend the next decade in Peru as director of an Augustinian seminary in Trujillo. He took on many roles there, including teaching canon law and serving as a parish priest, prefect of the diocesan seminary in Trujillo, and judicial vicar of the Trujillo archdiocese.

Prevost returned to Chicago in 1999 to serve as prior of Our Mother of Good Counsel. His tenure in this role later proved controversial after he allegedly signed off on a decision to allow a priest who had been accused of sexually abusing minors to live in a monastery close to a school. His defenders would later say that he was following the U.S. church’s protocol, which had yet to adopt new standards regarding clergy abuse accusations.

Head of the Augustinians and elevation to bishop and cardinal

Prevost was elected prior general of the entire Augustinian order in 2001, which required him to live in Rome. Serving two terms in this role, he earned a reputation as an effective administrator.

In 2014 Francis appointed Prevost apostolic administrator of the diocese of Chiclayo in Peru, and the following year Prevost was made bishop of the diocese. He also served as second vice president and as a council member of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference from 2018 to 2023. Prevost’s time in Peru at this stage received criticism for his alleged mishandling of sexual abuse allegations against two priests, although the diocese maintains that he followed correct procedures and that the accusations were investigated. At the same time, he and other Peruvian bishops were seen as a stabilizing force during political upheavals and disagreements between proponents of liberation theology and the conservative Peruvian-based religious group Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV; Sodality of Christian Life). The Peruvian Episcopal Conference noted that Prevost played a crucial role in a truth commission that exposed corruption and abuse in SCV, which was officially dissolved by Pope Francis in April 2025.

Prevost was appointed prefect of the Roman Curia’s Dicastery for Bishops in January 2023, a powerful role that put him in charge of selecting bishops around the world. He was also appointed president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. Later that year he was made a cardinal by Francis.

First American pope

A citizen of both the United States and Peru (naturalized in 2015), he is the second pope to come from the Western Hemisphere (his predecessor, Pope Francis of Argentina, was the first). As the first pope from North America, Leo’s election is especially historic and breaks from the traditional view that a papal candidate should not be selected from a global superpower. However, some observers have noted that his dual citizenship and experience working with the poor in Peru could assuage concerns of the United States influencing church governance.

Why hasn’t there been an American pope?

Stance on social issues

Prevost’s election to the papacy in May 2025 was seen by some as a compromise between more liberal and conservative contenders. Although he has been less vocal than many other bishops and cardinals in sharing his views, he has expressed strong support of several of Francis’s programs, especially on the issues of protecting the environment and the rights of migrants. Immediately after Leo’s election, his brother John Prevost told The New York Times, “I know he’s not happy with what’s going on with immigration [in the United States]. I know that for a fact. How far he’ll go with it is only one’s guess, but he won’t just sit back. I don’t think he’ll be the silent one.”

Indeed, before he was elected pope, Leo posted on social media his criticism of U.S. Vice Pres. J.D. Vance’s views on Christian doctrine regarding immigration. Earlier in 2025 Vance justified the deportation of immigrants by saying that St. Augustine’s concept of ordo amoris (order of love) puts love of country and family ahead of love of one’s neighbors. Prevost posted that this interpretation was wrong.

On other issues, such as the blessing of same-sex marriages or ordaining women as deacons, the new pope has been more reserved in expressing his support.