Born : September 14, 1955 in Chicago, Illinois, USA
Ordained priest : June 19, 1982
Consecrated Bishop : December 12, 2014
Elevated to Cardinal : September 30, 2023
Elected Pope : May 8, 2025
It’s fitting to go back to the mid-1950s and check on that household in Dolton, Chicago, Illinois
and see those Prevost boys and see some of their cute childhood photos.
- The first photo shows little Rob probably on his first birthday, which would be September 14, 1956.
- The second one is at the same time, as he is placed in one of the apple baskets I remember in the fall season.
- The third photo shows the three boys, with Rob the youngest on the left, and John and Louis the other two.
Both his brothers were interviewed right after Rob’s election and they recollect how they always played with guns, marbles, sling-shots and baseballs, while their younger brother wanted to play church, and begged them to participate with him. Yes, inside his childhood home, the future Pope “played” Mass, using his mother’s ironing board as a pretend altar and candy Necco wafers as pretend hosts. On the street outside, lined with trees and similar small-size lots, he rode his bike with the neighborhood kids and joined in games like ‘Red Rover.’ They also agreed on the fact that they hardly ever gave a hard time to their parents, mainly because they were strict with them and handled any problem right away.
They all went to baseball games, especially the Chicago White Sox whom they favored, rather than Chicago Cubs. They often went with other altar-boys as a reward for their best behavior, probably led by their parish priest. They hung out together until their teenage years, but then once Rob joined the Augustinians, they would only see him on holidays and whenever he visited home. Their home was modest: a simple, square, red-brick Cape Cod house, the kind lived in by tens of thousands of other middle- and working-class Chicago families in the post-World War II housing boom. Their mother Mildred died in June 1990, and their father Louis died in November 1997.
Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected on May 8, 2025, taking the name of Leo XIV. He has a missionary spirit, who travelled around the world being the Augustinian prior general of the order. He had to visit all the various communities belonging to the Augustinian order, including Malta. He also visited Malta recently when they had a meeting among various bishops and celebrated Mass at the Mosta basilica. His missionary spirit was emphasized by the fact that he spoke in fluent Italian, also in Spanish but didn’t say a work in English – which comes to show that he has a different vision about his mission at hand.
The Prevost family — Louis, an educator, Mildred, a librarian, and their sons Louis, John and Robert — were well-known at bustling St. Mary of the Assumption as dedicated and devout musicians, altar boys, lectors and volunteers, growing up in the southern edge of Chicago. Robert’s education took him to several schools which have all since closed, Mendel College Prep High School, where Prevost and his mother worked; St. Augustine Seminary High School in Michigan; Tolentine College in Olympia Fields, the suburb where he briefly lived; and Mount Carmel Elementary School in Chicago Heights, where his father was principal. His mother was also well educated, receiving a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Education. Two of her sisters were nuns. All their peers remember both parents as very hard-working in the parish, in the sacristy, parish choirs, fund-raising. Robert’s classmates refer to him as the ‘smartest student in the class.’ He then left home for St. Augustine Seminary High School, also run by priests in the Order of St. Augustine, then went on to Villanova University, outside Philadelphia, for an undergraduate degree in mathematics. In 1977, he graduated, joined the Augustinians and began work toward his master of divinity degree at the Catholic Theological Union in Hyde Park. He also received both a licentiate and doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical College of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. His doctoral thesis was on “The role of the local prior in the Order of Saint Augustine.”
Since taking his vows, though, Prevost has spent most of his career overseas. He was ordained a priest on June 19, 1982 in Rome. Fr. Robert was sent in 1985 to Peru as a missionary, community prior and professor. He was consecrated Bishop on December 12, 2014. In 1999, Prevost was elected the head of the Augustinians' Chicago-based province. And then in 2001, he tapped as prior general of the worldwide order, which he led until 2013. During that time, he was based in Rome but spent most of his time on the road and in the air, visiting the nearly 50 countries where the Augustinian order is present.
In 2014, Francis sent him back into the mission field, naming him bishop of Chiclayo, in northern Peru, where he served until the Pope called him to Rome again for full-time service in the Roman Curia in 2023 to serve as the powerful head of the office that vets bishop nominations from around the world, one of the most important jobs in the Catholic Church. In Rome, Prevost enjoys a reputation for industriousness, spending as much time working to identify new bishops as he does in dealing with problem cases. He is a polyglot who speaks English, Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese and can read Latin and German, giving him abilities to communicate with his fellow cardinals in ways that others cannot. When he speaks, he does so with caution and great deliberation. A private man with a reserved style, he will not score high on the charm offensive. But his steely determination and clarity might comfort those looking for a leader who knows where he wants to go and how to get there. He's also a Peruvian citizen and lived for years in Peru, first as a missionary and then as an archbishop. Pope Leo in October 2024 said that a "bishop is not supposed to be a little prince sitting in his kingdom, but rather called authentically to be humble, to be close to the people he serves, to walk with them and to suffer with them."
The name he chose is also very significant. Pope Leo the Great brought great unity in the church in the 5th century when the church was theologically very divided, even going as far as confronting Attila when he tried to invade Rome. On the other hand Pope Leo XIII who reigned between 1878 and 1903 was eminent in his social work, had a missionary spirit and wrote the classic social encyclical Rerum Novarum. Leo XIV is ready to build bridges as he said in his initial speech, emphasizing St Augustine’s writings and teachings. Ad Multos Annos Papa Leo
