Who Is Pope Leo XIV: What to Know About American Cardinal Robert Prevost (2025)

Watch:

Robert Francis Prevost Announced as Pope Leo XIV After 2-Day Conclave

A new pope has risen.

After an even shorter conclave than the two-day affair during which Pope Francis was elected, the College of Cardinals picked Chicago-born Robert Prevost, 69, as the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church on May 8, during their fourth round of voting.

Choosing to go by Pope Leo XIV, Prevost is the first pope ever from the United States, and only second from the Americas after the Argentinian Francis.

While technically any baptized Catholic man is eligible for the papacy, only a relative handful of cardinals were considered serious candidates to succeed Francis—or, as some of his critics emphasized, all popes are really successors of the first pope, St. Peter—and Prevost was one of them, albeit a longshot among the frontrunners since there had never been a North American pope.

White cassocks in several different sizes awaited whomever emerged the winner (and a tailor was on hand to ensure a proper fit), along with the traditional skullcap, or zucchetto. The snowy white garments signify innocence, charity, and holiness, and the 33 buttons on the cassock signify the number of years Jesus Christ walked the Earth.

In his first remarks as Pope Leo XIV, he sent a unifying message.

"We can be a missionary church, a church that builds bridges, that is always open to receive everyone—just like in this square, to welcome everyone, in charity, dialogue and love," the pontiff born Robert Francis Prevost told the crowd (and the millions watching live around the world).

Invoking the final Easter blessing Francis gave before his death on April 21, the new pope continued, “Allow me to continue that same blessing: God loves everyone; evil will not prevail. We are all in the hands of God. So without fear, united hand and hand with God and among ourselves, we go forward."

Here is what to know about Cardinal Robert Prevost, who became Pope Leo XIV on May 8, 2025:

When did Robert Prevost become a cardinal?

Pope Francis called Prevost to Rome in 2023 and made him a Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, the office responsible for evaluating and recommending candidates for the episcopate (bishop positions) around the world.

On Sept. 30, 2023, Prevost became a cardinal.

He officially embarked on his role as Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Monica—the 20th-century Augustinian church in central Rome, not the coastal California city—in January 2024.

On Feb. 6, Francis promoted him to the Order of Bishops and, according to Vatican News, Prevost was Cardinal-Bishop of the Suburbicarian Church of Albano until he was chosen to be the 267th pope.

What is the significance of the name Pope Leo XIV?

Not unlike members of the British royal family, popes get to pick their own names, and Prevost was introduced May 8 as Pope Leo XIV.

Some go with monikers in honor of recent pontiffs—or in John Paul II's case, the pope who immediately preceded him and died after only 33 days on the job in 1978—or choose a name in honor of a distant pope they hope to emulate.

Or they start entirely fresh, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio becoming the first Pope Francis, taking his name from Saint Francis of Assisi, known for renouncing his wealth and dedicating his life to serving the poor.

Pope Leo XIII led the church from 1878 until his death in 1903 at the age of 93.

Known as the "Social Pope" and the "Pope of the Workers," he was considered an intellectual and a modern thinker.

As for the new pontiff, “While he was head of the Diocese of Chiclayo, he did his job very well," Peruvian deacon Cleider Pérez Mejía, 25, who traveled to the Vatican to be there for the pope's election, told NBC News. "People there are very fond of him and deeply attached to him.”

Mejía added, “I believe the name he chose is also meaningful: Leo XIII was the pope who mediated between modernity and the ancien régime. By choosing this name, he has sent a clear signal about what his role will be in such difficult times as these.”

What was Cardinal Robert Prevost known for?

While a progressive—relatively speaking for the Catholic church—when it comes to his support for immigrants and advocacy for the poor, Prevost was considered one of the more moderate of the candidates to succeed Francis, while also remaining in the realm of the recently deceased pope's mission to create a bigger tent for a more diverse group of worshipers.

Per theTimes, he's considered "reserved and discreet," a departure from the more gregarious Francis, who on the day before he died defied doctors' orders and hopped out of his Popemobile to bless a newborn in St. Peter's Square.

Rev. Michele Falcone, a priest in the Order of St. Augustine who considers Prevost a mentor, called him the "dignified middle of the road."

“He does not have excesses,” Falcone said. "Blessing babies, yes. Taking them in his arms, no.”

Added former classmate Rev. Mark R. Francis, "I know that Bob believes that everybody has a right and a duty to express themselves in the church."