Even before his name was announced on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, the crowd below was shouting “Viva Il Papa” – long live the Pope.
Robert Prevost, 69, will be the 267th occupant of St. Peter’s throne, and he will be called Leo XIV.
He was the first American to play the role of the pope, although he was considered a cardinal in Latin America because he served as a missionary in Peru for many years before becoming a bishop.
Prevost was born in 1955 in Spanish and Franco-Italian parent, an altar boy, and was appointed a priest in 1982. Although he moved to Peru three years later, he returned to the United States regularly as a pastor and a gentleman in his hometown.
He has Peruvian nationality and is remembered as a figure who works with marginalized communities and helps build bridges.
He worked as a local parish priest at a seminary in Trujillo, northwestern Peru for 10 years.
Leo XIV said in his first words, and he said to his predecessor, Francis.
“We still hear the voice of Pope Francis in our ears, and they blessed us,” he said.
He told the cheering crowd, “Contract with God and join hands with God.”
He also talks about his role in the Augustine Order. He was 30 when he moved to Peru as part of his mission.
Francis became the Pope for a year Peru became the bishop of Chiclayo.
He is well known for the Cardinal because of his famous position as the Bishop’s Command in Latin America, which is an important task in selecting and supervising the Bishop.
He became Archbishop at the same time in January 2023, and within a few months Francis made him a cardinal.
Since Francis appointed 80% of the cardinals who attended the meeting, even if he was only recently appointed, no one like Prevost was elected.
He will be seen as a figure who prefers the continuity of Francis’ reform in the Catholic Church.
Prevost is believed to share Francis’s views on immigration, the poor and the environment.
His former roommate, Pastor John Lydon, described BBC’s Prevost as “outgoing”, “down to earth” and “very caring about the poor.”
In his personal context, Prevost told Italian Network RAI before the meeting that he grew up in an immigrant family.
He said: “I was born in the United States…but my grandparents were both immigrants, French, Spanish…I grew up in a very Catholic family and my parents were very involved in the parish.”
Although Prevost is American and will be fully aware of the division within the Catholic Church, his Latin American background also represents the continuity behind the Pope from Argentina.
The Vatican described him as the second pope behind Pope Francis and the first pope to Pope Augustine.
During his time in Peru, he did not escape the sexual abuse scandal that cast a shadow on the church, but his diocese keenly denies that he had been involved in any attempt to cover up.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said before the meeting that in the days leading up to the meeting, they stressed the need for the Pope’s “a prophet spirit who can lead the church, able to lead a church that is not close, but he knows how to get out but knows how to get out and brings light to a desperate world.
Experts say that when choosing the name Leo, Prevost expressed his commitment to dynamic social problems.
The first pope to use the name Leo, whose Pope ended in 461, met Attila the Huns and persuaded him not to attack Rome. The last Pope Leo led the church from 1878 to 1903 and wrote an influence paper on workers’ rights.
The former Archbishop of Boston Seán Patrick O’Malley wrote on his blog that the New Pontiff chose a name widely associated with Pope Leo XIII’s social justice legacy, Pontiff in the world’s epic Upheval period, the epic Upheval of the Industrial Revolution era, the beginning of Marxism, the beginning of Marxism, the beginning of Marxism, the beginning of Marxism of Marxism and Sprec pread oppread”.
Speaking about climate change last year, it was time to “from words to actions.”
He said that “ruling nature” should not become “tyranny.” He called on humans to establish a “reciprocal relationship” with the environment.
He also spoke about the Vatican’s commitment to the environment, noting the installation of solar panels in Rome and the adoption of electric vehicles.
He supported Pope Francis’ decision to allow women to join the bishop for the first time and to provide advice on these dates.
“There are a few times when we see their point of view as a rich view,” he told Vatican News in 2023.
In 2024, he told the Catholic News Agency that their presence “has made a significant contribution to the identification process in finding the best candidates we hope to be the bishop’s church.”
