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Leone XIV
Supreme Pontiff

Pope

Papa Leone XIV

Supreme Pontiff, Bishop of Rome

Santa Sede · Roma · Stati Uniti / Perù

Robert Francis Prevost, born in Chicago in 1955, an Augustinian, was elected Pope on 8 May 2025, the first Pontiff from the United States. A missionary in Peru for more than twenty years, he was Bishop of Chiclayo and Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops.

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Biography

Robert Francis Prevost was born in Chicago on 14 September 1955. He joined the Order of Saint Augustine and was ordained a priest in 1982. He spent much of his ministry in Peru as a missionary, parish priest and formator, in the Trujillo region. From 2001 to 2013 he served two terms as Prior General of the Augustinians. In 2014 Pope Francis appointed him Apostolic Administrator of Chiclayo, where he became bishop in 2015; that same year he acquired Peruvian citizenship. In 2023 he was called to Rome as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, and was created a cardinal on 30 September 2023. On 8 May 2025 the Conclave elected him Pope; he took the name Leo XIV. He is the first Pontiff born in the United States and the first Augustinian Pope of the modern era.

Career timeline

  1. 14 September 1955

    Robert Francis Prevost born in Chicago.

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  2. 1 September 1977

    Entered the novitiate of the Order of Saint Augustine in Saint Louis.

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  3. 2 September 1978

    Made his first (temporary) vows.

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  4. 29 August 1981

    Made his solemn vows.

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  5. 10 September 1981

    Ordained a deacon at Saint Clare of Montefalco parish in Grosse Pointe Park (Archdiocese of Detroit).

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  6. 19 June 1982

    Ordained a priest in Rome, in the Chapel of Saint Monica.

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  7. 8 March 1999

    Began his term as Prior Provincial.

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  8. 14 September 2001

    Elected Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine (re-elected in 2007).

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  9. 4 September 2013

    Completed his second term as Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine.

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  10. 3 November 2014

    Appointed by Pope Francis Apostolic Administrator of Chiclayo (Peru) and Titular Bishop of Sufar.

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  11. 12 December 2014

    Ordained a bishop by Nuncio James Patrick Green in the Cathedral of Saint Mary, Chiclayo.

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  12. 24 August 2015

    Granted Peruvian citizenship.

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  13. 26 September 2015

    Appointed Bishop of Chiclayo by Pope Francis.

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  14. 15 April 2020

    Appointed Apostolic Administrator of Callao (Peru).

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  15. 30 January 2023

    Appointed Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, raised to the rank of Archbishop.

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  16. 30 September 2023

    Created Cardinal by Pope Francis, Deaconry of Saint Monica.

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  17. 6 February 2025

    Raised to the Order of Cardinal Bishops, with the title of the Suburbicarian Church of Albano.

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  18. 8 May 2025

    Elected Pope, taking the name Leo XIV.

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  19. 18 May 2025

    Mass for the inauguration of his Petrine ministry.

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  20. —

    1977: degree in Mathematics from Villanova University (Philadelphia).

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    1981: licentiate in theology from the Catholic Theological Union, Chicago.

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    1984: licentiate in Canon Law from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum).

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    1985: sent to the Augustinian mission in Chulucanas (Peru) as parochial vicar of the cathedral and chancellor of the Territorial Prelature.

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    1985: defended his doctoral thesis in Canon Law at the Angelicum, published in 1987.

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  25. —

    1998: elected Prior Provincial of the Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel (Midwest).

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