Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, addressed the people of God from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica with his first words: “Peace be with you!” and granted his first papal blessing.
In the fourth vote of the Conclave, held this afternoon on May 8, the white smoke joyfully announced the election of a new shepherd for the universal Catholic Church: Pope Leo XIV.
Thus, a crowded St. Peter’s Square welcomed with shouts of joy the new Roman Pontiff, who, by the choice of the College of Cardinals, became the 267th successor of St. Peter and the new Bishop of Rome.
Following tradition, it was Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, Cardinal Protodeacon, who announced to the world that we have a new Pope. The Holy Father, visibly moved, addressed his first words to the faithful: “Peace be with you!”
POPE LEO XIV
Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, O.S.A., until now Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and Archbishop-Bishop Emeritus of Chiclayo (Peru), was born on September 14, 1955, in Chicago (Illinois, USA). In 1977, he entered the novitiate of the Order of St. Augustine (O.S.A.) in the province of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Saint Louis. On August 29, 1981, he made his solemn vows. He studied at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, where he graduated in Theology.
At the age of 27, he was sent by the Order to Rome to study Canon Law at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum). He was ordained a priest on June 19, 1982. He obtained his Licentiate in 1984 and then was sent to work in the mission of Chulucanas, in Piura, Peru (1985–1986).
In 1987, he obtained his Doctorate with the thesis “The Role of the Local Prior in the Order of St. Augustine.” That same year, he was elected Director of Vocations and Director of Missions for the Augustinian Province “Mother of Good Counsel” in Olympia Fields, Illinois (USA). In 1988, he was sent to the mission of Trujillo as Director of the Common Formation Project for the Augustinian aspirants of the vicariates of Chulucanas, Iquitos, and Apurímac. There he was Prior of the community (1988–1992), Director of Formation (1988–1998), and Formator of novices (1992–1998). In the Archdiocese of Trujillo, he was Judicial Vicar (1989–1998) and professor of Canon Law, Patristics, and Morality at the “San Carlos and San Marcelo” Major Seminary.
In 1999, he was elected Provincial Prior of the “Mother of Good Counsel” Province (Chicago). Two and a half years later, the General Ordinary Chapter elected him General Prior, a position that the Order entrusted to him again at the General Ordinary Chapter of 2007. In October 2013, he returned to his province (Chicago) as Formator of novices and Provincial Vicar, positions he held until Pope Francis appointed him, on November 3, 2014, Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo (Peru), elevating him to the episcopal dignity as Titular Bishop of the Diocese of Sufar.
On November 7, he took canonical possession of the diocese in the presence of Apostolic Nuncio James Patrick Green; he was consecrated as a bishop on December 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in the Cathedral of his diocese. He has been the bishop of Chiclayo since September 26, 2015. Since March 2018, he was the second vice-president of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference. Pope Francis appointed him a member of the Congregation for the Clergy in 2019 and a member of the Congregation for Bishops in 2020.
On April 15, 2020, the Pope appointed him Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Callao.
Since January 30, 2023, he has been the Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
On February 6, 2025, Pope Francis promoted him to the Order of Bishops, assigning him the title of the Suburbicarian Church of Albano.
He was created and proclaimed Cardinal by Pope Francis in the Consistory of September 30, 2023, with the Diaconate of St. Monica.
