We Are Our Mother of Perpetual Help Parish

CNA Staff, May 8, 2025 / 15:52 pm (CNA).

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected Pope Leo XIV on Thursday, May 8 — the first pope from the United States. 

Smiling and waving while wearing more traditional papal garb than his predecessor — and appearing to hold back tears at certain points — Leo blessed the cheering masses assembled in St. Peter’s Square, proclaiming in confident Italian: “Peace be with you all!”

An Augustinian and a canon lawyer, Prevost spent over a decade ministering in South America before being called back to the U.S. to head the Midwest Augustinians and was later elected prior general of the Augustinian order, serving in that role for a dozen years. He later returned to South America after Pope Francis in 2014 appointed him bishop in Chiclayo, Peru. Francis later called him to Rome in 2023 to head the highly influential Dicastery for Bishops. 

Prevost, 69, was born on Sept. 14, 1955, in Chicago. He is of Italian, French, and Spanish descent. He studied at an Augustinian minor seminary in Michigan and later earned a bachelor of science degree in mathematics from Villanova University in Pennsylvania. 

He officially entered the Order of St. Augustine in 1978, making his solemn vows in 1981. He was ordained to the priesthood in June 1982 after studying theology at the Catholic Theological Union of Chicago. 

After being ordained, he earned a doctorate in canon law from Rome’s Pontifical College of St. Thomas Aquinas (also known as the Angelicum) in 1987. 

Prevost returned to Chicago for a short time in 1987, serving as pastor for vocations and director of missions for the Midwest Augustinians (Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel). He was then sent to Peru, where he served the Augustinians in various capacities including as a regional ecclesiastical judge and teacher of canon law in the diocesan seminary for Trujillo, Peru, for 10 years.

After being elected the head of the Midwest Augustinians, Prevost returned to the U.S. in 1999. He was elected prior general of the Augustinians in 2001 and then reelected in 2007, serving as head of the order until 2013.

Pope Francis appointed Prevost as apostolic administrator of Chiclayo, Peru, in 2014, and he was ordained titular bishop of Sufar that same year.

While serving the Church in Peru, Francis made Prevost a member of the Dicastery for the Clergy in 2019 and then a member of the Dicastery for Bishops in 2020. In 2023, Francis made Prevost prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. In that capacity, Prevost played a key role in the selection process for diocesan bishops around the world and in the investigation of allegations against bishops.

In 2023, Prevost spoke to Vatican News about what he considered to be the “portrait of a bishop.”

“We are often preoccupied with teaching doctrine, the way of living our faith, but we risk forgetting that our first task is to teach what it means to know Jesus Christ and to bear witness to our closeness to the Lord,” he told Vatican News.

“This comes first: to communicate the beauty of the faith, the beauty and joy of knowing Jesus,” he added. “It means that we ourselves are living it and sharing this experience.”

Pope Francis made him a cardinal in a Sept. 30, 2023, consistory.

Fr. Alejandro Moral, Prior General of the Augustinians and a long-time friend of the newly elected Pope Leo XIV, tells Vatican News that the new Pope "immediately spoke of justice and peace and of bridges between all, of synodality."

Read all

 

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, expresses joy and gratitude following the election of Pope Leo XIV.

Read all

 

Watch special moments leading up to the election of Pope Leo XIV.

Read all

 

The Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, describes Pope Leo XIV’s first message to the world as a call to peace and dialogue. He also highlights the significance of his name as a clear reference to the Church’s social teaching in the modern age.

Read all

 

Prior to his election as Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. Here is the biography of the 267th Bishop of Rome.

Read all

 

Pope Leo XIV greets the faithful and the world invoking peace and pledging to work for a united Church faithful to Jesus and to the Gospel.

Read all

 

Our Editorial Director reflects on the spiritual significance of accepting the papal ministry as an act of trust in Christ, who guides the Church.

Read all

 

"Peace be with all of you!" - the first words of Pope Leo XIV. The Conclave has elected Robert Francis Cardinal Prevost as the 267th Bishop of Rome. The new pope was announced to the waiting crowds by Cardinal Protodeacon Dominique Mamberti.

Read all

 

White smoke ascends from the roof of the Sistine Chapel, signalling the election of a new Pope. The world awaits the appearance of the Cardinal electors on the Loggia of St Peter's Basilica, and the announcement of the 266th successor of St Peter.

Read all