(AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca, File)

Robert Prevost has been elected the first American pope in history

Prevost, the first American pope in the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church, will take the name Leo XIV. In his first words, Pope Leo XIV, the American Robert Prevost, says “Peace be with you.”

The Chicago native is also a Peruvian citizen and lived for years in Peru, first as a missionary and then as bishop.

He evoked his broad missionary experience in his first public remarks as pope, speaking in Italian, then switching to Spanish — and saying not a word in English as he addressed the crowd in St. Peter's Square.

“Together, we must try to find out how to be a missionary church, a church that builds bridges, dialogues, that's always open to receive — like on this piazza with open arms — to be able to receive everybody that needs our charity, our presence, dialogue and love,” he said.

The new pophad prominence going into the conclave that few other cardinals have.

Prevost was twice elected prior general, or top leader, of the Augustinians, the 13th century religious order foundedby St. Augustine.

After Francis sent him to Chiclayo, he acquired Peruvian citizenship in 2015, until Francis brought him to Rome in 2023 to assume the bishops' office and presidency of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. In that job he would have kept in regular contact with the Catholic hierarchy in the part of the world that counts the most Catholics and presumably was crucial to his election Thursday.

Ever since arriving in Rome, Prevost has kept a low public profile, but he is well known to the men who count.

Significantly, he presided over one of the most 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 the most senior rank of cardinals.

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, poses for a photo at the end of the consistory where Pope Francis elevated 21 new cardinals in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Sept. 30, 2023.

The selection of a U.S.-born pope could have profound impact on the future of the U.S. Catholic Church, which has been sharply divided between conservatives and progressives. Francis, with Prevost's help at the help of the bishop vetting office, had embarked on a 12-year project to rein in the traditionalist tendencies in the United States.

The bells of the cathedral in Peru's capital of Lima tolled after Prevost's election was announced. People outside the church expressed their desire for a papal visit at one point.

Born in Chicago in 1955, Prevost joined the Order of St. Augustine in 1977. He attended Villanova University near Philadelphia, where he received a Bachelor of Science in 1977, and he got a Master of Divinity degree from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago in 1982.

In Rome, at the Augustinian headquarters just off St. Peter's Square, the mood was festive.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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Briceño reported from Lima, Peru. Francesca Primavilla and Trisha Thomas contributed.

Published May 8, 2025 · Updated May 8, 2025

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