Meet Robert Prevost, the first-ever pope born in the US

He’s 69 years old and moved to Peru as a child, the BBC reported.

He’s also a citizen of Peru, where he served as Archbishop of Chiclayo. He was 27 when he became ordained in 1982, The New York Times reported.

He studied at Villanova University and the Catholic Theological Union of Chicago. In 1987, he received his doctor of canon law degree from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas.

Pope Leo XIV speaks English, Spanish, and Italian.

In 2023, the then-pope appointed Cardinal Prevost to the role of prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops in Latin America, which oversees bishop nominations all over the world, the AP reported.

In 2024, Pope Leo said in an interview with Vatican News that a “bishop is not supposed to be a little prince sitting in his kingdom, but rather called authentically to be humble, to be close to the people he serves, to walk with them and to suffer with them.”

The process is known as the conclave. It took two days and four rounds of voting for the cardinals to agree on a new pope, per the AP.

Earlier this week, the National Catholic Reporter wrote that it was unlikely the US cardinal would become pope because of political implications. Yet Cardinal Prevost was considered a contender by others, especially as the week went on, ABC News reported.

Speaking from St. Peter’s Basilica balcony, Pope Leo XIV said, “Peace be with all you” in his first words in his new role. He spoke in Italian and then Spanish.

Some believe the new pope will continue his long commitment to helping poor communities and immigrants, following a similar course to his predecessor, Pope Francis, per Slate.

“My experience of Cardinal Prevost was that he’s not a showboat,” Father Mark R. Francis, who worked with Pope Leo in the past, recently told CBS News. “He’s very calm, but extremely intelligent, and extremely compassionate.”

In February, he posted a story from The National Catholic Reporter on X with the headline “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”