Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, 69, of Chicago is the first American pope and the first Augustinian Order pope.
After Pope Francis’ death, the College of Cardinals elected Leo XIV, indicating the Church’s dedication to social justice and pastoral outreach.
Pope Leo XIV’s mixed family of French, Italian, and Spanish ancestry gave him North American and Latin American roots.
Missionary, Latino soul
Originally American, Leo XIV spent over two decades in Peru, where he became a naturalized citizen and worked with neglected people.
He managed the Trujillo Augustinian seminary and was a local bishop, known for humility, bridge-building, and grassroots leadership.
His experience on the ground inspired his emphasis on a “missionary church” and a Vatican more responsive to the global south.
Vatican insider and global administrator
Before his election, Leo XIV was Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, a prominent Vatican position.
He selected and managed bishops globally, winning recognition across ideologies for his administrative skill and pastoral judgment.
He became a cardinal in 2023 and was a close counselor to Pope Francis, whom he commended in his first balcony address.
Progressive migration and environmental views
Many of Francis’s progressive views are predicted from Pope Leo XIV.
He supports migrant rights, denounces harsh immigration policies, and promotes environmental action, including Vatican solar panel and electric car installations.
He wrote a critical piece about US deportation in 2025, asking, “Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience clear?
Careful inclusion ambiguity
Leo XIV has backed the Vatican’s cautious blessings for same-sex spouses but avoided progressive terminology.
He expressed alarm over cultural developments promoting “homosexual lifestyles” in 2012, but he has been silent on LGBTQ+ issues in recent years, leaving observers confused of his papacy’s LGBTQ+ stance.
Promote Church Leadership by Women
Leo XIV publicly backed Pope Francis’s Vatican decision-making panel of women.
In 2023, he said women’s ideas were a “significant enrichment” to bishop selection and welcomed their wider Church governance involvement.
Select Symbol: Leo XIV
The new pope honors Leo XIII, the “Pope of the Workers” who promoted fair labor, social rights, and Church modernization throughout the Industrial Age, by taking the name Leo.
This seems Leo XIV wants to continue that legacy in today’s climate and inequality issues.
Future: A Pontificate of Continuity and Quiet Reform?
Though more restrained than Francis, Pope Leo XIV appears to be embracing Francis’s attitude of reform, compassion, and inclusiveness in a quieter, more administrative manner.
The world watches this historic American pope lead 1.3 billion Catholics through modern problems.
