Who is Robert Prevost, the new Pope Leo XIV and first American Pope?

Even before his name was announced from the Balcony of the Saint-Pierre Basilica, the crowd below sang “Viva il dad”-long live the pope.

Robert Prevost, 69, will be the 267th occupant of the throne of Saint-Pierre and he will be known as the Leo XIV.

He is the first American to fulfill the role of the Pope, although he was considered a cardinal from Latin America because of the many years he spent as a missionary in Peru, before becoming bishop there.

Born in Chicago in 1955 of parents of Spanish and Franco-Italian origin, Prevost served as a boy and was ordered a priest in 1982. Although he moved to Peru three years later, he returned regularly to the United States to serve as a pastor and prior in his hometown.

He has a Peruvian nationality and remembers with emotion as a figure that has worked with marginalized communities and helped build bridges.

He spent 10 years as a local parish pastor and teacher in a seminar in Trujillo in northwest Peru.

In his first words as a pope, Leo XIV spoke emotionally about his predecessor Francis.

“We always hear in our ears the weak but always courageous voice of Pope Francis who blessed us,” he said.

“United and hand in hand with God, let’s move forward together,” he told the crowd.

He also talked about his role in the Augustinian order. He was 30 years old when he moved to Peru as part of an Augustinian mission.

Francis did it bishop of Chiclayo in Peru a year after having become Pope.

He is well known to cardinals because of his large role of prefect of the Dicastery for bishops in Latin America who has the important task of selecting and supervising the bishops.

He became an archbishop at the same time in January 2023 and in a few months, Francis made him a cardinal.

As 80% of the cardinals who participated in the conclave were appointed by Francis, it is not so surprising that someone like Prevost was elected, even if he was only appointed recently.

He will be considered a figure that has favored the continuity of Francis’s reforms in the Catholic Church.

Prevost would have shared Francis’ opinions on migrants, the poor and the environment.

A former roommate of his, Reverend John Lydon, described Prevost at the BBC as “outgoing”, “earth on the ground” and “very concerned about the poor”.

Although PREVOST is an American and will be fully aware of the divisions within the Catholic Church, its Latin American origin also represents continuity after a pope from Argentina.

The Vatican described him as the second pope of the Americas, after Pope Francis, as well as the first Augustinian Pope.

During his stay in Peru, he did not escape the scandals of sexual abuse that associated the church, but his diocese denied fervor that he had been involved in an attempted concealment.

Before the conclave, the spokesperson for Vatican Matteo Bruni said that during the college of Cardinals in the days preceding the conclave, they highlighted the need for a pope with “a prophetic spirit capable of directing a church that does not close on itself but knows how to get out and bring a light to a world marked by despair”.