Born in the United States, acquired Peruvian citizenship and aided the poor
Regarded as moderate, conservative on homosexuality
Hopes for inclusivity within the Church
Leo XIV (Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, age 69), who has been elected as the 267th pope, is known for his pastoral work among the poor in the slums of Peru for 20 years. Although born in the United States, he chose to remain by the side of the impoverished, even acquiring Peruvian citizenship.
According to the New York Times (NYT) and other sources, Leo XIV spent his childhood in Chicago, United States. He naturally attended church, following his father of French and Italian descent, who worked as a catechist. His mother was a Spanish-descended librarian.
He entered the Augustinian seminary, earned a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), and was ordained as a priest in Rome, Italy, in 1982. Apart from theology, he also studied mathematics at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. After completing his studies, he spent ten years in the Diocese of Chulucanas in northwestern Peru, which has close ties to the Augustinian order.
From 2001, he served for 12 years as the head of the Augustinian order, emphasizing community life. Later, at the instruction of Pope Francis, he was dispatched in 2014 to the Diocese of Chiclayo in northwestern Peru, which is known to cover slum and rural areas.
Leo XIV was considered a close aide to Pope Francis during his lifetime. In 2023, he was appointed a cardinal at the Vatican and took on the roles of president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, overseeing appointments such as the selection of bishops. Leo XIV assisted in Pope Francis's reform efforts, for example, by adding three women to the Dicastery for Bishops, which reviews bishop appointments. However, foreign media have assessed him as theologically moderate and cautious. The British broadcaster BBC described him as someone who "can build bridges between different worlds," noting that he continues Pope Francis's reform policies while embracing diverse voices within the Church. It also reported that "the fact he was elected after just four rounds of voting suggests that the cardinals agreed with this assessment."
As a result, there is speculation that, unlike his predecessor who allowed blessings for same-sex couples, he may return to a more conservative culture. In 2012, he commented on homosexuality and alternative families, saying, "Western media and popular culture promote beliefs and behaviors that go against the Gospel." The NYT noted that it is uncertain whether he will be as open to sexual minorities as Pope Francis.
Leo XIV was mentioned by foreign media and bookmakers as a papal candidate, but he was not considered a frontrunner. Daniel Rober, a professor at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, suggested that his administrative experience and relative independence from Vatican bureaucracy may have made him more appealing than Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's second-in-command and a leading candidate. In this conclave (the secret meeting of the College of Cardinals), ten American cardinals had voting rights, the second highest after Italy (seventeen).
Leo XIV is known to enjoy playing tennis. After being appointed cardinal in 2023, he said in a media interview, "I am an amateur tennis player," and added, "Since leaving Peru, I have had little opportunity to practice, so I am looking forward to returning to the court." He is known to be fluent in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French.
Leo XIV is expected to visit Korea in 2027, two years from now, as World Youth Day, the global Catholic festival for young people, will be held in Seoul that year. He will be the third pope to visit Korea and it will mark the fourth papal visit to the country. After Pope John Paul II's visits in 1984 and 1989, and Pope Francis's visit in 2014, it will be the first papal visit in 13 years.
Attention is also focused on whether the project for a papal visit to North Korea, which was pursued but not realized during Pope Francis's reign, will be revived in connection with Leo XIV's visit to Korea or World Youth Day.
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