Elevated to cardinal on September 30, 2023, he took possession of the Diaconate of St. Monica on January 28, 2024.
Newly elected Pope Leo XIV, Robert Prevost from the main central loggia balcony of the St Peters Basilica for the first time, after the cardinals ended the conclave, in The Vatican, on May 8, 2025. Robert Francis Prevost was on Thursday elected the first pope from the United States, the Vatican announced. A moderate who was close to Pope Francis and spent years as a missionary in Peru, he becomes the Catholic Church's 267th pontiff, taking the papal name Leo XIV. — AFP
Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Prevost on September 14, 1955, in Chicago, Illinois, to Spanish-Franco-Italian parents, educator Louis Marius Prevost and librarian Mildred Martinez, has two brothers, Louis Martin and John Joseph. Raised in Dolton, Illinois, he attended St. Mary of the Assumption parish school, sang in the choir, and served as an altar boy. He earned a bachelor’s degree in science and mathematics from Villanova University, joined the Order of St. Augustine in 1977, and obtained a master’s in divinity from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago in 1982.
Ordained a priest in 1982, he worked as a missionary in Peru from 1985, served as pastor for vocations and mission director for the Augustinian Province of Chicago from 1997 to 1998, and held roles as parish pastor, diocesan official, formation director, seminary teacher, and judicial vicar. Returning to the US in 1999, he became Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine from 2001 to 2013. Appointed bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, in 2015, he served as president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America from 2015 to 2023.
Elevated to cardinal on September 30, 2023, he took possession of the Diaconate of St. Monica on January 28, 2024. In 2025, he was elected the first US-born Pope Leo XIV, Bishop of Rome, and head of the worldwide Catholic Church.
Written by: Reshmitha Sandra, Intern
( Source : Deccan Chronicle )
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