Meet Leo XIV, the altar boy who became first American pope

Pope Leo

“Habemus Papam!” — We have a pope. With those timeless Latin words, senior Cardinal Dominique Mamberti stepped onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, greeting the sea of faithful who had filled the square below despite the blazing Roman sun.

But it was not the swift conclusion of the conclave that etched this moment into history — it was the identity of the man chosen to succeed Pope Francis: Cardinal Robert Prevost, the first American pope in the nearly 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church.

Prevost was not widely considered a frontrunner for the papacy before the 2025 conclave, especially compared to other prominent candidates like Italy’s Pietro Parolin, the Philippines’ Luis Tagle, or Congo’s Fridolin Besungu, who were seen as leading contenders and featured heavily on betting platforms and Vatican analyst discussions.

Historically, cardinals have preferred older European successors to the papacy, mostly owing to their conservative nature. So, who is Prevost, and how did the “dark horse” candidate quietly rise to become leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics?

THE “LATIN” AMERICAN PRIEST’S BACKGROUND

Prevost will be the 267th occupant of the throne of St Peter and the first from the United States.

However, the 69-year-old is often described as a Latin American because of the many years he spent as a missionary in Peru before becoming an archbishop there.

Born in Chicago in 1955 to parents of Ecuadorian and French descent, Prevost served as an altar boy and was ordained as a priest in 1982.

After his ordination as a priest in 1982, Prevost  the Augustinian mission in Peru in 1985 and served as chancellor of the Territorial Prélature of Chulucanas from 1985 to 1986.