Leo XIV, born Robert Prevost, is the pope of the Roman Catholic Church. Born in Chicago, he is an American, the first non-European pope since Francis, who was Argentine, and the first pope whose native tongue is English. His election surprised observers: Italian commentators had treated an Italian successor as near-certain before Prevost emerged onto the balcony of St Peter's.
Prevost is from Illinois, where he voted more often in Republican than Democratic primaries. He was the head of the Augustinian order. He served as a bishop in Peru from 2015 to 2023. Francis later gave him a key role in the Vatican and made him a cardinal in 2023, despite an earlier clash: when Cardinal Bergoglio was elected pope, Prevost told fellow Augustinians that, as a result, he would never be made a bishop. His CV spans running a religious order, a diocese and a Vatican department. He is fluent in several Romance languages—making him, as one priest put it, the first pope who "thinks and speaks in direct, American English".
He was 69 years old at the time of his election. His papal motto is In Illo uno unum (In the One, we are one).
His papal name honours Leo XIII (1878-1903), whose encyclical Rerum Novarum founded Catholic social teaching as an alternative to socialism and unfettered capitalism. Leo XIV says he chose the name because the church's social teaching can respond "to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defence of human dignity, justice and labour".
He is passionate about caring for the marginalised, protecting the environment and guaranteeing the welfare of migrants. But he is no out-and-out progressive. At a 2012 synod on evangelisation he criticised "Western mass media" for fostering sympathy with "abortion, homosexual lifestyle, euthanasia". He has rejected the ordination of women, even as deacons. As a bishop in Peru he opposed the teaching of gender theory in schools. He has embraced "synodality"—Francis's programme of consultation with bishops and laity.
He has publicly criticised Donald Trump, describing the president's threat to obliterate Iranian civilisation as "truly unacceptable". J.D. Vance responded: "It would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality." Leo replied: "I do not look at my role as being political, a politician."
Leo's first major text, Dilexi Te, describes protecting the climate, welcoming migrants and pursuing economic justice as sacred obligations. He has deplored America's "inhuman" deportation policies. He said that supporters of the death penalty could not call themselves pro-life.
Francis had tightly restricted mass in Latin. Leo authorised the return of an ornate Latin-rite mass at St Peter's Basilica, allowing Cardinal Raymond Burke—who had headed a traditionalist revolt against Francis's liberal reforms—to celebrate one in October 2025.
America's conservative Catholics, many of whom voted for Trump, had hoped for a pope who would keep quiet about migrants and capitalism. Although the new pope supports more input on policy and doctrine from lay people and women, he will probably disappoint progressives on abortion and gender. Overall, Pope Leo's Vatican is tilting further left. The conservatives got their mass, but not their man.
Unlike Francis, Leo spent plenty of time in Africa before becoming pope. His first big foreign tour, in April 2026, took him to Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea. Leo's inner circle includes a Nigerian priest.
Unlike Francis, who made his first appearance in plain white robes, Leo sported a mozzetta, a shoulder-length cape of red velvet like that worn by Benedict XVI. He is rumoured to have moved into the apostolic palace, which Francis had eschewed. Acquaintances describe him as methodical, a listener, but not a pushover. Where Francis often acted brashly, Leo's style is slow and careful.
His election takes the papacy beyond not just Italy but Europe, creating an uncomfortable juxtaposition for Giorgia Meloni, who has courted Trump as a rare MAGA-loving European. She now shares Rome with a head of state who has criticised the MAGA movement, yet it would be more than the career of any Italian politician is worth to gainsay a pope.
"Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love."