Who is Pope Leo XIV?

Robert Francis Prevost was born on 14 September 1955 in Chicago, Illinois, the youngest of three sons of Louis Marius Prevost, of French and Italian descent, and Mildred Martínez, of Spanish descent. He grew up on the city's South Side and served as an altar boy in his home parish.

He studied at an Augustinian minor seminary and then at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, graduating in 1977 with a degree in mathematics. He completed a Master of Divinity at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and was sent to Rome for graduate studies in canon law at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum), earning a licentiate in 1984 and a doctorate in 1987.

Prevost entered the novitiate of the Order of Saint Augustine in 1977 and professed solemn vows in 1981. He was elected Prior General — the worldwide head of the order — in 2001 and served two six-year terms until 2013, based in Rome and travelling widely to Augustinian communities. His papal motto, In Illo uno unum, is taken from a sermon of Saint Augustine on Christian unity.

He first went to Peru in 1985, serving in the Augustinian mission in Chulucanas in the Piura region. After a short return to the United States he moved to Trujillo, where for roughly a decade he directed the Augustinian formation house and taught canon law, also serving the local archdiocese as judicial vicar.

Peru is central to his biography. He spent about three decades there in total, became a naturalised citizen in 2015, and is fluent in Peruvian Spanish. He was elected second vice-president of the Peruvian Bishops' Conference. He frequently draws on this experience when speaking about migration, poverty and the Church in Latin America.

Pope Francis named him Apostolic Administrator of Chiclayo in 2014 and Bishop in 2015; he led the northern Peruvian diocese until 2023. During his tenure the diocese faced scrutiny over its handling of abuse allegations against local clergy; the diocese said it followed canonical procedure, and accounts of the response differ.

In 2023 Pope Francis called him to Rome as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops — the office that assesses candidates for the episcopate worldwide — and as President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. He was created a cardinal on 30 September 2023.

Following the death of Pope Francis on 21 April 2025, the conclave elected Cardinal Prevost on 8 May 2025, on the fourth ballot and the second day of voting. He appeared on the central loggia of St Peter's, greeted the crowd with “Peace be with you all,” and imparted the blessing Urbi et Orbi. His inauguration Mass followed on 18 May 2025, and he took possession of the Basilica of St John Lateran on 25 May 2025.

In his address to the College of Cardinals on 10 May 2025, he said the name honours Leo XIII, whose 1891 encyclical Rerum novarum founded modern Catholic social teaching in response to the industrial revolution. He presented artificial intelligence and automation as a comparable challenge to human dignity and labour. He dated his first encyclical, Magnifica humanitas, to the 135th anniversary of Rerum novarum.

Recurring themes of the pontificate include the ethics of technology, peace and diplomacy, migration, care for creation, synodality, unity among Christians, and closeness to the poor. The topic pages below collect statements with dates and sources.

His signature concern. His first encyclical, Magnifica humanitas (25 May 2026), argues that AI must safeguard the human person, serve the common good and not concentrate power. See What does Pope Leo XIV say about Artificial Intelligence?

From his first appearance he has appealed for peace, and he has repeatedly called for ceasefires, humanitarian access and negotiation, offering the Holy See's help. His November–December 2025 journey to Turkey and Lebanon foregrounded these themes. See Peace, Ukraine and Gaza.

Shaped by his years in Peru, he speaks of welcome, protection and shared responsibility for migrants and refugees, a theme he emphasised during his 2026 visit to Spain and its Canary Islands. See Migration.

He has affirmed the environmental teaching of Laudato si' and stresses the disproportionate burden borne by poorer nations. See Climate Change.

An Augustinian whose motto is about unity, he has made ecumenism and the synodal process priorities. Marking the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I in İznik was a centrepiece of his first foreign trip.

His first apostolic exhortation, Dilexi te (October 2025), on love for the poor, was begun by Pope Francis and completed by Leo XIV. On the economy, family, young people and interreligious relations, coverage on LeoPope is organised by topic.