Profile of Pope Leo XIV – The 267th Pope
White smoke rose from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel this afternoon, signaling that the College of Cardinals had chosen a successor to Pope Francis, who died on April 21.
Cardinal Robert Prevost, has been elected as the 267th pope of the Catholic Church, taking the name Pope Leo XIV.
White smoke rose from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel this afternoon, signaling that the College of Cardinals had chosen a successor to Pope Francis, who died on April 21.
Thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square erupted in cheers as the bells of the basilica began to toll, confirming the election of a new pontiff. The crowds gathered as word spread throughout Rome that a new pope had been chosen.
Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, O.S.A., Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, Archbishop-Bishop emeritus of Chiclayo, was born on 14 September 1955 in Chicago (Illinois, United States).
IN 1977 he entered the novitiate of the Order of Saint Augustine (O.S.A.) in the province of Our Lady of Good Counsel, in Saint Louis. On 29 August 1981 he gave his solemn vows. He studied at the Catholic Theological Union of Chicago, receiving a diploma in theology.
At the age of 27, he was sent by the Order to Rome to study canon law at the Pontifical Saint Thomas Aquinas University (Angelicum). He received priestly ordination on 19 June 1982. He received his licentiate in 1984 and was then sent to work in the mission of Chulucanas, in Piura, Peru (1985-1986).
In 1987, he was awarded a doctorate with the thesis: “The role of the local prior in the Order of Saint Augustine”. In the same year, he was elected director of vocations and director of the missions of the Augustinian province of “Mother of Good Counsel” of Olympia Fields, Illinois, United States of America.
In 1988, he was sent to the mission of Trujillo as director of the joint formation project for Augustinian aspirants in the Vicariates of Chulucanas, Iquitos and Apurímac. There he served as community prior (1988-1992), director of formation (1988-1998) and teacher of the professed (1992-1998). In the archdiocese of Trujillo, he was judicial vicar (1989-1998), and professor of canon, patristic and moral law in the “San Carlos e San Marcelo” Major Seminary.
In 1999 he was elected provincial prior of the “Mother of Good Counsel” province, Chicago. After two and a half years, the ordinary general Chapter elected him prior general, a ministry again entrusted to him in the 2007 ordinary general Chapter.
In October 2013 he returned to his province (Chicago) to serve as teacher of the professed and provincial vicar, roles he held 3 November 2014, when Pope Francis appointed him apostolic administrator of the diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, elevating him to the dignity of bishop and assigning him the titular diocese of Sufar.
On 7 November, he took canonical possession of the diocese in the presence of the apostolic nuncio James Patrick Green; he was ordained a bishop on 12 December, Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in the cathedral of his diocese. He served as the bishop of Chiclayo from 26 November 2015. In March 2018, he became 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.
He was appointed apostolic administrator of the diocese of Callao on 15 April 2020. On 30th January 2023, Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Prevost as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
Created and proclaimed Cardinal by Pope Francis in the Consistory of 30 September 2023, of the Deaconry of Santa Monica.
Pope Leo XIV is a member of the Dicasteries for Evangelization, Section for first evangelization and the new particular Churches; the Doctrine of the Faith; the Eastern Churches; the Clergy; the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life; Culture and Education; Legislative Texts;
Source: Vatican.va
