American-born Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost has been chosen by the conclave to be the next pope. He will be known as Pope Leo XIV.
133 red-robed cardinals from around the world cast their ballots to elect the new pontiff.
Born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago on Sept. 14, 1955, Pope Leo XIV spent much of his life in Peru first as a missionary and then as an archbishop.
He started his religious journey at age 22, at the novitiate of the Order of Saint Augustine in Saint Louis, where candidates often spend one or two years preparing to enter an order founded by the 13th century saint. Later, he was twice elected prior general, or top leader, of the Augustinians.
After his time in St. Louis, Prevost went on to study at the Pontifical Saint Thomas Aquinas University, before he was ordained in June 1982.
Two years later, he was sent to Peru where he spent much of his ministry, serving in various roles. Pope Francis made him the archbishop of Chiclayo, and he became a citizen of Peru in 2015.
New pope spent much of his life in Peru, continued
Francis brought him to Rome in 2023 to assume the presidency of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
At the same time he was appointed as the prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, the powerful head of the office that vets bishop nominations and one of the most important jobs in the Catholic Church.
During his time in that role he presided over one of Francis’ most revolutionary reforms when he added three women to the voting bloc that decides which bishop nominations to forward to the pontiff.