Pope Francis brought Robert Prevost to the Vatican in 2023 because the powerful head of the office that vets bishop nominations, one of the crucial necessary jobs within the Catholic Church. On Thursday, he ascended to turn into Pope Leo XIV — the primary American pontiff.
Prevost, 69, had to beat the taboo against a U.S. pope, given the geopolitical power already wielded by the United States within the secular sphere.
The Chicago native can be a Peruvian citizen and lived for years in Peru, first as a missionary after which as an archbishop.
He had prominence going into the conclave that few other cardinals have.
Prevost was twice elected prior general, or top leader, of the Augustinians, the thirteenth century religious order founded by St. Augustine. Francis clearly had a watch on him for years, moving him from the Augustinian leadership back to Peru in 2014 to serve because the administrator and later archbishop of Chiclayo.
He remained in that position, acquiring Peruvian citizenship in 2015, until Francis brought him to Rome in 2023 to assume the presidency of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. In that job he would have kept in regular contact with the Catholic hierarchy within the a part of the world that counts probably the most Catholics.
Ever since arriving in Rome, Prevost has kept a low public profile, but he was well-known to the lads who count.
Significantly, he presided over one of the crucial revolutionary reforms Francis made, when he added three women to the voting bloc that decides which bishop nominations to forward to the pope. In early 2025, Francis again showed his esteem by appointing Prevost to probably the most senior rank of cardinals.
The Rev. Fidel Purisaca Vigil, the communications director for Prevost’s old diocese in Chiclayo, remembers the cardinal rising every day and having breakfast along with his fellow priests after saying his prayers.
“No matter what number of problems he has, he maintains good humor and joy,” Purisaca said in an email.
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Briceño reported from Lima, Peru.
