Pope Leo XIV with two degrees, part of the biography

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost is the new Pope. He has chosen the name of Leone XIV. Born in Chicago, 69, he is a well -known figure in the panorama of the American episcopation. He was a close associate of Pope Francis, after serving as Dicaster’s prefect for bishops.

He is the first American Pope (though, in his first speech, he has chosen not to say a word in English). Despite being part of a group of American cardinals, he is considered less « American » than his colleagues, as he has a missionary history and knows Latin America very well.

He has completed his studies in mathematics and philosophy, and is a member of the Augustinians Order. From 2001 to 2013 he was a general priority of the Congregation and bishop of Chiclayo, in Peru. He currently runs the dicaster for bishops and is president of the Latin Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

Biography

Pope Leone XIV was born on September 14, 1955 in Chicago (Illinois, USA). In 1977 he entered the Novicat of the Order of St. Agostin, in the province of Mother St. Mary of Good Counsel in Saint Louis. On August 29, 1981 he took the solemn oaths. Stub at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, where he graduated in theology.

At the age of 27 he was sent by the Order in Rome to study canonical law at Papal University San Tommaso D’Aquino (Angelicum). He received the sacred resignation on June 19, 1982 and then, in 1984, he won the license. He was sent to work on the Chulucanas mission in Pura, in Peru (1985-1986). In 1987, DESP took on canonical justice and was elected Call Director and Director of Missions for the Augustinian province « Mother of Good Counsel » in Illinois (USA).

In 1988, he was sent to Trujillo’s mission to direct the joint training project for the aspirant Augustinians of Chulucanas, Iquito and Apurímac. There he was a priority of the community (1988-1992), Director of Formation (1988-1998) and teacher of professionals (1992-1998). In the Trujillo archdiocese, he was the judicial viper (1989-1998), a professor of canonical justice, patriotism and morality at St. Carlos and St. Marcelo seminar.

In 1999 he was elected provincial priority of the province « Mother St. Mary of Good Counsel » (Chicago). After two and a half years, the general chapter chose it as a general priority, a task that they were entrusted again in the 2007 general chapter.

In October 2013 he returned to his province (Chicago) to be a teacher of professional and provincial vicar; The task he held until Pope Francesku appointed him on November 3, 2014, the apostolic administrator of the Chiclayo diocese (Peru), raising it to the bishop of the Sufar diocese. On November 7 he took the canonical duty of the diocese in the presence of the apostolic Nuncio James Patrick Green; He was ordained bishop on December 12, at the Feast of St. Mary Guadalupe, at the Cathedral of his Diocese. From September 26, 2015 he is a bishop of Chiclayo.

Since March 2018 he has been the second vice president of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference. Pope Francis had appointed a member of the Congregation for the clergy in 2019 and a member of the Bishop’s Congregation in 2020. On April 15, 2020, the Pope appointed him Apostolic Administrator of the Callao diocese. Since January 30, 2023 is the prefect of Dicaster for Bishops and President of the Latin American Pontifical Commission. Pope Francis created the cardinal on September 30, 2023, in the Diaconon of St. Monica.