Kinshasa, May 9th, 2025 (CPA) – The American cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, aged 69 years old, has been elected 267th pope on Thursday, under the name of Leon XIV, on the second day of the conclave in the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City.
‘Habemus papam’, “We have a pope”, has announced the French cardinal Dominique Mamberti. ‘I would like to thank Pope Francois, and also the cardinals who have elected me. I am a son of Saint Augustine’, has declared the new Pope. Addressing the audience for the first time, the new Pope Leon XIV has launched an appeal for peace to all peoples in these terms: « Dear brothers and sisters, I would like that this greeting of peace could enter your hearts, in your families. I address myself to all peoples, to the whole world: may peace be with you’.
The former American cardinal, now a naturalised Peruvian has therefore placed his apostolate under the banner of dialogue and peace, in his first message urbi et orbi (To the city and the world) delivered in the Vatican. He has also called on us to build bridges through dialogue, to move forward without fear, « united hand in hand with God and with each other ». ‘God loves you all and evil will not win. We are all in God’s hands. We must be united, hand in hand, with God, not afraid. We must go forward. Christ has gone before us, the world needs his light’, has said Pope Leon XIV.
The new Pope Leon XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost on September 14th, 1955 in Chicago, USA, has been created a cardinal on September 30th, 2023 by his predecessor, Pope Francis, who had previously appointed him to succeed Cardinal Ouellet at the head of the Dicastery (Ministry) for the Bishops. Member of the Order of Saint Augustine, he has been assigned to Peru between 1985 and 1998, then held responsibilities at the mother house of his order in Rome from 2001 to 2013, before being appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Chiclayo (Peru).
Career and Priestly life
Robert Francis Prevost entered the novitiate of the Order of Saint Augustine (OSA) in 1977 and took solemn vows in 1981. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Villanova University in 1977, a master’s degree in theology from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, and 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’. His career in the Church has been marked by some outstanding roles and achievements.
After his ordination to the priesthood in 1982, Prevost joined the Augustinian mission in Peru in 1985 and served as chancellor of the territorial prelature of Chulucanas from 1985 to 1986. He has spent the years 1987 and 1988 in the United States as vocation pastor and director of missions for the Augustinian province of Chicago, before returning to Peru. For the next ten years, he has directed the Augustinian seminary in Trujillo and taught canon law at the diocesan seminary, where he was also prefect of studies. He has also held other positions, including parish priest, diocesan official, director of formation, seminary professor and judicial vicar. In 1999, he is returned to Chicago and elected Prior Provincial of the Mother of Good Counsel Province of the Archdiocese. Two and a half years later, he has been elected General Prior of the Augustinian Order and served two terms until 2013. In 2014, he is back in Peru when Pope Francis has appointed him Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo.
He has been elevated to the rank of Bishop of Chiclayo in 2015. During this period, he has also been vice-president and member of the Permanent Council of the Peruvian Bishops’ Conference from 2018 to 2023. In this period, the Peruvian bishops would have played an important role in ensuring institutional stability during the successive political crises that have led to the overthrow of successive presidents. In 2020 and 2021, Prevost has been Apostolic Administrator of Callao, Peru. Pope Francis has appointed Prevost Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops in January 2023, making him responsible for the selection of bishops. Later that year, on September 30th, 2023, he has elevated him to the rank of cardinal. During his first months as Prefect, Archbishop Prevost has remained discreetly present in the media, but he was apparently appreciated for his ability to listen and his mastery of the issues. Prior to his election as Pope, Cardinal Prevost was a member of seven Vatican dicasteries as well as the Commission for the Government (Governatorato) of Vatican City State.
This testifies to the trust Pope Francis placed in him and the importance he attached to his administrative skills, according to Vatican News. Reactions. ‘I have noted four salient points in the speech of the new Pope Leon XIV,’ has analyse from CPA the theologian and international civil servant based in Geneva and originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Professor Elangi Botoy. ‘First of all, the new Pope has emphasised on peace, which today is threatened in particular by the temptation to return to the ‘great empires’ that are putting the world at risk (above all because of the war in Ukraine). Then, he has insisted on a missionary and synodal Church that should focus on spreading the Gospel (note that the new Pope is Augustinian)’, he has added.
‘Then, by choosing to bear the name Leon XIV, he will perpetuate the mission of Pope Leon XIII who, in canon law, is considered to be the originator of the Church’s social doctrine. He will thus be the defender of the poor. According to theologian and philosopher Jean-Robert Bonenge (a professor in the United States), the new Pope would be at odds with the political powers that often neglect the lower people. So he won’t be soft on them,’ has explained Professor Elangi Botoy. ‘Finally, he has insisted on building bridges between peoples, and therefore advocated intercultural relations, which are a guarantee for building a world of peace and fraternity between all the men and women of our planet’, he has concluded.