Raised in Chicago, formed as a bishop in Peru, and forged by St. Augustine’s witness, Leo XIV begins his papacy with a quiet strength and global heart.

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Pope Leo XIV, the first American to lead the Catholic Church, begins his historic papacy as a figure of quiet authority and deep missionary zeal.

As a spiritual son of St. Augustine, a close collaborator and admirer of Pope Francis, and a Chicago-born priest whose sense of mission was forged in the crucible of Latin America’s ecclesial and social struggles, his election as the 266th successor to St. Peter evokes both continuity and the hope of renewed unity for Catholics around the world.

Heading into the conclave that elected him May 8 on only the second day of voting, earlier than many Vatican watchers had forecasted, Cardinal Robert Prevost was not among the media’s most talked-about “front runners.” His relatively young age (69) and the fact that he had been a cardinal for just over 19 months — and especially an American, to boot — appeared to lessen his chances.

Yet the cardinal electors saw in the missionary bishop of Peru and former leader of the Order of St. Augustine, whose rule calls its members to “live together in harmony, being of one mind and one heart on the way to God,” the qualities they wanted in a pope for this moment in history: humility, composure, a missionary heart, and a capacity for building bridges in a divided Church.

“Without fear, united hand in hand with God and each other, let us go forward,” the new pope urged in his first address from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica.

His choice of a papal name provided another intriguing surprise. In a meeting with the College of Cardinals on May 10, the new pope explained that he was inspired by Pope Leo XIII, whose papacy at the turn of the 20th century ushered in modern Catholic social teaching amid the great industrial revolution of his day, articulated in his landmark 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum.

“In our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and labor,” Pope Leo said.

Addressing the cardinals in Italian — one of six languages he speaks — he set forth several fundamental principles to guide his pontificate: “the return to the primacy of Christ in proclamation; the missionary conversion of the entire Christian community; growth in collegiality and synodality; attention to the sensus fidei, especially in its most authentic and inclusive forms, such as popular piety; loving care for the least and the rejected; courageous and trusting dialogue with the contemporary world.”

Chicago Roots

It will be a long time before the shock and surprise that swept across St. Peter’s Square and the wider world on May 8 when Pope Leo appeared on the balcony wears off.

Nowhere does the election of the first American pope feel more surreal than in his native Chicago, where his family and friends knew him simply as “Bob.”

Robert Francis Prevost was born in Chicago on Sept. 14, 1955. His father, Louis Marius Prevost, was a World War II Navy veteran and school administrator, whose parents immigrated from France and Italy. His mother, Mildred Martinez, was a school librarian, whose family came to Chicago from New Orleans and traces their roots to Spain and Haiti.

Prevost and his two brothers, Louis and John, were altar boys at St. Mary of the Assumption parish in Dolton, on the south side of Chicago, where his mother was a member of the Altar and Rosary Society and sang in the church choir, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

“She was one of the ladies that we called church ladies,” Marianne Angarola, 69, who was a classmate of Prevost, told the outlet. “They went to Mass on a daily basis. They cleaned the altars, the church, the sacristy. She was involved in everything, including the fundraising activities. I don’t ever remember seeing her wear pants.”

The future Pope attended the parish school, and then, instead of following his brothers to Mendel College Prep High School, where their mother worked, he went to Michigan to attend St. Augustine Seminary High School, a 100-student prep school for boys considering the priesthood.

Prevost excelled academically and was a leader in several student organizations. He was commended for his high performance on the PSAT/National Merit Scholarship qualifying test, was vice president of the student council and editor of the yearbook, and served on the National Honor Society and the school’s Misson Club. 

Bob Schick, a former classmate who shared his 1973 high school yearbook with WBZ-TV, CBS News’ Boston affiliate, remembers the future Pope as a “leader,” and pointed out that he was also valedictorian, head of the speech and debate team, and a member of the “spirit club” (he is photographed at the bottom of a human pyramid). Schick recalls Prevost, who was an upperclassman, helping some of the younger students who were suffering from homesickness at the boarding school.

“Bob was one of the students who took people under his wing,” he said.

Prevost went on to study mathematics at Villanova University, located outside Philadelphia, where he was a member of the school’s pro-life club and took part in the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. To help pay for school, he worked for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia as a groundskeeper at Saint Denis Cemetery in Havertown, NBC in Philadelphia reported.

A Missionary Priest

After graduating, he joined the Augustinian Order in 1977 and was ordained a priest in Rome in 1982. His early ministry blended intellectual pursuit with pastoral zeal, culminating in a doctorate in Canon Law from the Angelicum, The Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, writing his thesis on “the role of the local prior of the Order of St. Augustine.”

The missionary call soon led him far from his native Illinois. From 1985 onward, Peru became his home for almost 15 years. He served in multiple roles, both pastoral and judicial, earning him the respect of the Peruvian people.

At the Augustinian mission in Trujillo, he filled many shoes: as formation director, instructor for professed members, and in the Archdiocese of Trujillo as judicial vicar and professor of Canon Law, Patristics, and Moral Theology at the Major Seminary San Carlos y San Marcelo. 

During this time, he was also pastor of a parish in a poor suburb of the city, and parish administrator at another church. Known as a builder of communities, Prevost brought Augustinian spirituality to the fore: a vision of unity, charity and humility.

“With you I am a Christian, for you I am a bishop,” he said in his first address as Pope, echoing St. Augustine’s famous words and underscoring his identity as a pastor before all else.

Prevost returned to Chicago in 1999 after being named provincial of the Augustinian Province of Chicago. He was elected in 2001 as prior general of the Augustinians, placing him in charge of friars in 50 countries. He was reelected to a second six-year term in 2007.

In 2014, Pope Francis sent him back to Peru to be apostolic administrator (and then bishop a year later) of the Diocese of Chiclayo.

His episcopal motto, In Illo uno unum — “In the one Christ we are one” — underscored his desire to preserve the unity of the Church. The phrase is taken from St. Augustine’s Exposition on Psalm 127, where he explains that “although we Christians are many, in the one Christ we are one.”

“As can be seen from my episcopal motto, unity and communion are truly part of the charism of the Order of Saint Augustine, and also of my way of acting and thinking,” then-Cardinal Prevost said in a 2023 interview with Vatican News. “I believe it is very important to promote communion in the Church, and we know well that communion, participation, and mission are the three keywords of the Synod. So, as an Augustinian, for me promoting unity and communion is fundamental.”

His spiritual and theological affinity with St. Augustine has been evident throughout his ministry. This was also the yardstick by which he assessed the pontificate of Benedict XVI in the 2008 documentary The Papacy of Reason. Then-Father Prevost said, “Pope Benedict finds in so many different parts of Augustine elements of his spirituality, of his love of the Word of God, of the need to — as the prophets say, as Augustine says — devour the Word of God, to delve into the beauty that God reveals to us through His Word.” 

“Augustine did that constantly,” he said. “I think Pope Benedict does that in his own writing, in his own preaching, time and again. And he finds in Augustine, I think, kind of an echo of some of his own experience, as a man, as a pastor, as a bishop, and as a theologian.”

Pope Leo XIV’s missionary DNA is unmistakable. His long years in Peru shaped his pastoral instincts. As bishop of Chiclayo (2015-2023), he oversaw a vast diocese during years of political and social unrest, praised for mediating and safeguarding the Church’s institutional stability.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Father Alexander Lam, an Augustinian friar from Peru who knows the new Pope, described him as a champion of social justice issues and environmental stewardship. 

“Even the bishops of Peru called him the saint, the Saint of the North, and he had time for everyone,” Father Lam said. “He was the person who would find you along the way. He was this kind of bishop.”

“The Holy Father knows our land intimately: from the warm sands of our coasts, the indomitable strength of our mountains, and the green heart of our Amazon,” the Peruvian Episcopal Conference said in a statement.

“During his evangelizing journey through Peru, he strengthened faith with his message attentive to the needs of the humble, with his wise and prudent words that educated us in the search for truth, with his affable approachability to all, believers and those far away, always moved by love for Jesus Christ,” the statement said.

Father Guillermo Inca Pereda, deputy secretary of the episcopal conference, told ACI Prensa, the Register’s sister news agency based in Peru, that “the emotion of hearing Cardinal Robert Prevost’s name called as Pope, Pastor of the Universal Church, was truly indescribable, an unforgettable moment.” 

“We’ve worked with him, we’ve shared many decisive moments from my field of service to the General Secretariat. We’ve had many opportunities to talk, and I’ve been able to discover his prudence, his perseverance, his tenacity, and that simplicity that characterizes him, but always with great depth to resolve any issue, any situation, no matter how delicate,” he said. 

“I believe that Peru’s experience will give him the nuance that every pope can have in his heart, because he knows our people, he knows our people, he has experienced popular religiosity, which is such a great asset we have among us, he has also seen the situations of poverty among our people, but even amidst these difficulties, he has seen that hope is never lost,” the Peruvian priest said.

In 2023, Pope Francis called him to Rome to serve as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, where he became the key figure shaping the global episcopate. His tenure in the Curia was marked by discretion and a reputation for careful listening and synthesis. He earned praise for balancing progressive openness with fidelity to tradition.

“The bishop is not supposed to be a little prince sitting in his kingdom,” he said in an interview with Vatican News last year, aligning with Francis’ call for servant leadership. Yet, he also stood firm on sensitive issues: opposing the German “Synodal Way” and rejecting the idea of women’s ordination.

In a May 8 press conference after Leo XIV’s election, Bishop Michael Martin of Charlotte, North Carolina, recounted a private meeting he had in April with the future Pope in Rome where they discussed diocesan issues for more than an hour.

“I was very taken by his friendly nature but also about his awareness of the dynamics not just of the Church in the United States, but more importantly about the Church and around the world,” Bishop Martin said. 

What made the greatest impression on him, the bishop said, was Prevost’s calm demeanor. 

“His interest in me and his interest in what was happening in Charlotte, in particular, the things we were talking about, I just had the sense of someone who cared very deeply about what was important to me, more so than maybe what was important to him,” Bishop Martin said.

Quiet Strength Built on Faith

By all accounts, the Pope is thought of as a person of gravitas, who approaches his vocation with great seriousness.

During the Synod on Synodality, delegate José De Urquidi was at the same table with Pope Leo and got to know and respect him over the many weeks they were engaged in small group discussions together.

“He is a reflective man. Deep thinker. He never wanted to be the center of attention, he doesn’t have the urge to jump out to speak every time if he doesn’t think he has something to say,” De Urquidi told the Register.

While “very practical,” he said, it’s clear that he has a deep spirituality that shone through in his dealings with others.

“He cares about the person deeply. He cares and has a great love for the bishops from all over,” he said. 

Father Robert Hagan, a friend of Prevost, told The New York Times that he got to know Prevost when he, the future Pope, was his superior in Racine, Wisconsin. 

“He had a twinkle in his eye, a serenity in his face. He’s a man who is centered. He wasn’t about the drama. He was calm,” said Hagan, now prior provincial in charge of the Augustinian order in the Philadelphia area. 

“I think of him as Bob,” he said, adding that he was trying to retrain himself. “When he appeared on that balcony, it was as if a family member appeared.” 

His seriousness, however, doesn’t mean he doesn’t know how to relax and have fun. An avid sports fan, the new Pope is a fan of the Chicago White Sox (a photo of him that emerged representing the White Sox in pinstripes settled that debate), and loves to play tennis.

“I consider myself quite the amateur tennis player. Since leaving Peru I have had few occasions to practice so I am looking forward to getting back on the court,” he said in an interview for the Augustinian order’s website upon becoming cardinal. “Not that this new job has left me much free time for it so far,” he added. 

He said he also enjoys reading, taking long walks, traveling and spending time with friends.

“And, to tell the truth, as an Augustinian, having a rich community built on the ability to share with others what happens to us, to be open to others, has been one of the greatest gifts I have been given in this life,” he said in the same interview. “The gift of friendship brings us back to Jesus himself. To have the ability to develop authentic friendships in life is beautiful. Without a doubt, friendship is one of the most wonderful gifts that God has given us,” he said.

Engaged in Public Discourse

Although known for his non-confrontational personality and for his opposition to injecting ideology into the religious sphere, Leo XIV has already expressed his reservations about the conservative Catholicism of current U.S. Vice President JD Vance and his appeal to the ordo amoris to justify Trump’s immigration policy.

In February, he retweeted a National Catholic Reporter article titled “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.” In 2015, he reposted an article titled “Cardinal Dolan: Why Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric is so problematic.”

Such social media clues suggest that, like his predecessor, Leo XIV may not shy away from speaking out against what he sees as distortions of Church teaching.

On the other hand, he has been vocal in his opposition to gender ideology and his defense of the family.

The New York Times quoted from a 2012 speech he gave in which he “criticized practices he called ‘at odds with the gospel,’ referring to the ‘homosexual lifestyle’ and ‘alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children.’” 

And while he is not registered with any political party, voting records show he voted in the Republican primaries in 2012, 2014 and 2016. 

Pope Leo XIV has, in fact, embraced encounter as an antidote to polarization and has already expressed support for Pope Francis’ efforts to cultivate a more “synodal” Church. 

“Ideologies have acquired greater power than the real experience of humanity, of faith, of the actual values we live by. Some misconstrue unity as uniformity: ‘You have to be the same as we are.’ No. This cannot be,” he said.

But he made it clear he does not advocate abandoning the teachings of the Church to satisfy the discordant voices within it.

“Nor can diversity be understood as a way of living without criteria or order. The latter lose sight of the fact that from the very creation of the world, the gift of nature, the gift of human life, the gift of so many different things that we actually live and celebrate, cannot be sustained by making up our own rules and only doing things our way,” he said.

“These are ideological positions,” he emphasized. “When an ideology becomes master of my life, then I can no longer dialogue or engage with another person because I have already decided how things will be. I am closed to the encounter and transformation cannot, as a result, take place.” 

In his words to the faithful from the loggia, Pope Leo XIV firmly signaled that the New Evangelization would continue under his pontificate.

“Thank you to my cardinal brothers who chose me to be the Successor of Peter and to walk together with you as a united Church searching all together for peace and justice, working together as women and men, faithful to Jesus Christ without fear, proclaiming Christ, to be missionaries, faithful to the Gospel,” he said.

How to See the Holy Father Pope Leo XIV: EWTN TRavel Jubilee App

Register Senior Editor Jonathan Liedl and Register Senior Contributor Edward Pentin contributed to this story. Zelda Caldwell co-wrote this National Catholic Register story.