Leo XIV: First American Pope, Mathematician, missionary

Pope Leo Xiv

Leo XIV: First American Pope, Mathematician, missionary

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected on Thursday at the Vatican Office as the 267th Pope and will be addressed as Pope Leo XIV.

He is a 69-year-old American from Chicago, Illinois, and the first-ever pontiff from America.

He was elected with two-thirds of 133 voting cardinals.

Before his election, he was Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, and he spent much of his career as a missionary in South America and served as bishop in Peru.

Pope Leo XIV will become the 14th papal Leo..

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Villanova University in Pennsylvania and a diploma in Theology from the Catholic Theological Union of Chicago.

He later studied Canon Law at the Pontifical Saint Thomas Aquinas University.

He was ordained a priest at age 27, and spent many years working in Peru and later became a bishop.

Prevost is the Leader of the Vatican office for bishop appointments, and serves as Bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, from 2014 to 2023

The newly elected Pope became a Peruvian citizen in 2015 and speaks several languages, including Italian and Spanish.

His first words as Pope to the crowd in St Peter’s Square were, “Peace be with you all.”