For centuries, an American pope seemed unthinkable. In May 2025, it happened.
From Chicago to Peru
Robert Francis Prevost joined the Augustinian order and spent more than twenty years as a missionary and later bishop in Chiclayo, Peru, becoming a naturalized Peruvian citizen along the way — a background closer to a career missionary than a Vatican insider.
Elected on the fourth ballot
Called to Rome by Pope Francis in 2023 to lead the Vatican office that vets bishop appointments worldwide, Prevost was elected pope on 8 May 2025, taking the name Leo XIV in reference to Leo XIII's 19th-century teachings on workers' rights and social justice.
A pope who speaks English natively
He is the first pope in centuries whose native language is English, a small but symbolic detail after a long line of Italian, Polish, German and Latin American predecessors.
