Pope Leo XIV

the New Successor of St. Peter

On May 8, 2025, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected the 267th pope, taking the name Leo XIV. He is the first pope born in the United States and the first Augustinian to sit on the Chair of Peter. His election was announced from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica after the traditional white smoke appeared.

He was born in 1955 in Chicago, into a family of French, Italian, and Spanish heritage. He studied mathematics at Villanova University. In 1982, he was ordained a priest in Rome and earned a doctorate in canon law.

From 1985 to 1998, he devoted himself to missionary work in Peru—as a pastor, seminary professor, and judicial vicar. In 2015, he was appointed Bishop of Chiclayo and became a Peruvian citizen.

Service to the Church

He served as Prior General of the Augustinian Order (2001–2013). In 2023, Pope Francis appointed him Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. That same year, he was made a cardinal.

In his first address, the new pope emphasized the need for peace, unity, and continuity with Pope Francis’s reforms. His motto “In illo uno unum” (“In the One Christ we are one”) reflects his desire to build unity within the Church.

By choosing the name Leo XIV, he evokes Leo XIII, known for his teaching on social justice. It is likely that Pope Leo XIV will also address contemporary social challenges with similar resolve.

The election of Leo XIV highlights the global character of the Church and its growing cultural diversity. With American roots and Latin American experience, the new pope brings hope for deeper dialogue and unity in the Church.

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PRAYER FOR NEW POPE

O God, who in your providential design willed that your Church be built upon blessed Peter, whom you set over the other Apostles, look with favour, we pray, on Leo our Pope and grant that he, whom you have made Peter’s successor, may be for your people a visible source and foundation of unity in faith and of communion. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.