What do we know about Robert Prevost, the new Pope?

Thomson Reuters

· Posted: May 08, 2025 2:45 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

Robert Prevost, the prime of the world's Catholic cardinals to service arsenic person of the 1.4-billion-member Church, is the archetypal Pope from the United States and a comparative chartless connected the planetary stage.

Aged 69 and primitively from Chicago, Prevost has spent astir of his vocation arsenic a missionary successful Peru and became a cardinal lone successful 2023. He has fixed fewer media interviews.

He takes the papal sanction Leo XIV, and succeeds Pope Francis, who had led the Church since 2013.

In his archetypal words arsenic Pope, from the cardinal balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, Leo said, "Peace beryllium with you all," addressing a cheering assemblage successful fluent Italian. He besides spoke successful Spanish during his little code but did not accidental thing successful English.

Leo thanked Francis successful his code and repeated his predecessor's telephone for a religion that is engaged with the modern satellite and "is ever looking for peace, foundation and being adjacent to people, particularly those who are suffering." He emphasized a connection of peace, dialog and missionary evangelization.

Unlike Francis, who spurned overmuch of the trappings of the papacy, Prevost wore a accepted reddish papal garment implicit his achromatic cassock.

WATCH | Who is Pope Leo XIV?:

Friend says Prevost supported Pope Francis

Rev. Mark Francis, a person of Prevost since the 1970s, told Reuters the cardinal was a steadfast protagonist of his predecessor's papacy, and particularly of the precocious pontiff's committedness to societal justness issues.

"He was ever affable and lukewarm and remained a dependable of communal consciousness and applicable concerns for the Church's outreach to the poor," said Francis, who attended seminary with Prevost and aboriginal knew him erstwhile they some lived successful Rome successful the 2000s.

"He has a wry consciousness of humour, but was not idiosyncratic who sought the limelight," said Francis, who leads the U.S. state of the Viatorian spiritual order.

Prevost archetypal served arsenic a bishop successful Chiclayo, successful northwestern Peru, from 2015 to 2023, and became a Peruvian national successful 2015, truthful helium has dual nationalities.

Pope Francis brought him to Rome that twelvemonth to caput the Vatican bureau successful complaint of choosing which priests should service arsenic Catholic bishops crossed the globe, meaning helium has had a manus successful selecting galore of the world's bishops.

While U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance were speedy to congratulate the caller Pope Thursday, Prevost's views whitethorn enactment him astatine likelihood with the administration.

• Just Asking wants to know: What questions bash you person astir the new Pope and what his predetermination mightiness mean for the aboriginal of the Catholic Church? Fill retired the details on this form and nonstop america your questions up of our amusement connected May 10.

In February, responding to Vance's proposition that determination are antithetic hierarchies of Christian emotion — family, past nation, past the remainder of the satellite — Prevost posted connected X, "JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't inquire america to fertile our emotion for others." He besides shared an nonfiction that period that was captious of existent U.S. migration policies.

Back successful 2017, during Trump's archetypal word arsenic president, helium shared a station from a Jesuit clergyman that was captious of banning Syrian refugees. "What an immoral federation we are becoming. Jesus weeps," the station reads.

Prevost addressed migration successful an August 2024 speech posted connected YouTube.

"There's got to beryllium a mode some to lick the occupation but besides to dainty radical with respect," helium said. "Every 1 of america — whether we were calved successful the United States of America oregon connected the North Pole — we each are fixed that acquisition of being created the representation and likeness of God. And the time we hide that is simply a time we hide who we are. We hide who Christ has called america to be."

Jesus Leon Angeles, co-ordinator of a Catholic radical successful Chiclayo who has known Prevost since 2018, called him a "very simple" idiosyncratic who would spell retired of his mode to assistance others.

Leon Angeles said Prevost had shown peculiar interest for Venezuelan migrants successful Peru, saying, "He is simply a idiosyncratic who likes to help." More than 1.5 cardinal Venezuelans person moved to Peru successful caller years, partially to flight their country's economical crisis.

WATCH | Robert Prevost becomes Pope Leo XIV:

In a 2023 interrogation with the Vatican's quality outlet, Prevost focused connected the value of evangelization to assistance the Church grow.

"We are often preoccupied with teaching doctrine ... but we hazard forgetting that our archetypal task is to thatch what it means to cognize Jesus Christ," helium said.

Prevost said during a 2023 Vatican property conference, "Our enactment is to enlarge the structure and to fto everyone cognize they are invited wrong the Church."

Pope praised for leadership, listening skills

Prevost was calved successful 1955 and is simply a subordinate of the planetary Augustinian spiritual order, which includes astir 2,500 priests and brothers, operates successful 50 countries and has a peculiar absorption connected a beingness of assemblage and equality among its members.

He has a bachelor's grade from Villanova University successful Philadelphia, a master's from the Catholic Theological Union successful Chicago, and a doctorate successful Church instrumentality from the Pontifical College of St. Thomas Aquinas successful Rome.

Prevost archetypal went to Peru arsenic a missionary successful 1985, returning to the United States successful 1999 to instrumentality up a enactment relation successful his spiritual order.

He aboriginal moved to Rome to service 2 six-year presumption arsenic caput of the Augustinians, visiting galore of the order's communities crossed the world. He is known to talk English, Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese.

Returning to Rome successful 2023, Prevost mostly did not instrumentality portion successful galore of the societal events that pull Vatican officials passim the city.

Leon Angeles said helium is simply a idiosyncratic with enactment skills, "but astatine the aforesaid time, helium knows however to listen. He has that virtue."

"The cardinal has the courtesy to inquire for an opinion, adjacent if it's from the simplest oregon astir humble person," she said.

"He knows however to perceive to everyone."