Pope Leo XIV was named the primary American-born pope within the historical past of the Catholic Church on Thursday, hailing from Chicago to interrupt years of custom that geared cardinals away from electing an American.
The pope, 69, was born Robert Francis Prevost in Dolton, Sick., to Louis Prevost, a superintendent of the Glenwood College District 167, and Millie Prevost, a librarian, based on South Cook dinner Information.
He attended Villanova College, which was based by the Order of Saint Augustine, and graduated in 1977 to hitch the Augustinian order of the Catholic monks.
He spent a lot of his grownup life in Peru and has twin citizenship there. The late Pope Francis named him a Cardinal in 2023. His X bio reads, “Católico, agustino, Obispo,” which interprets to “Catholic, Augustinian, Bishop.”
The brand new pope is taken into account an ally of Francis, who made him the cardinal in control of choosing and managing bishops world wide. He’s dedicated to the poor and migrants, like Francis, but it surely’s unclear what his is stance on inclusiveness in direction of LGBTQ Catholics, The New York Instances reported.
He has damaged boundaries in different methods, presiding over reforms underneath Pope Francis. that led to ladies being included within the voting bloc that chooses bishops to advocate to the pope.
Francis named Prevost in 2023 to be prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Fee for Latin America. The function includes recommending candidates for bishops to the pope and overseeing the fee that research the Catholic church in Latin America, based on the Catholic Information Service.
Prevost presided over reforms underneath Francis that led to ladies being included within the voting bloc that chooses bishops to advocate to the pope.
After he was elected pope on the second day of the conclave, he first launched himself in Italian from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica and later spoke Spanish, in a nod in direction of his roots in Peru.
The primary phrases he spoke as pope, that are carefully watched by Catholics, have been “Peace be with you all.”
The place the brand new pope stands on a bunch of points will doubtless come into focus in coming days.
The final X put up from the brand new pope was on April 14 when shared a put up in regards to the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador, with the questions, “Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you stay quiet?”
In February, he shared an opinion article that criticized Vice President Vance, who’s Catholic, on X with the headline, “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.” He additionally shared an article on X with the headline, “Pope Francis’ letter, JD Vance’s ‘ordo amoris’ and what the Gospel asks of all of us on immigration.”
Vance has obtained criticism from different Catholics over his stance on migrants and his feedback that Christians love their households, neighbors and fellow residents earlier than the remainder of the world.
Francis had been outspoken with regards to politics within the final 12 months. He had criticized President Trump’s mass deportation plans in a letter in February, urging compassion and the preservation of dignity for migrants within the U.S.
He additionally as soon as weighed in on the presidential election, urging voters to “choose the lesser evil” between Trump and former Vice President Harris. He additionally stated that each Trump and Harris have been “against life” in reference to every one’s stance on migrants and abortion.
On Thursday, Trump congratulated Prevost, the primary American pope on Fact Social, sharing “It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope.” The president stated he seemed ahead to assembly him. He stated later from the White Home that he thought the selecting of am American pope was “great.”
In 2018, throughout Trump’s first time period, Prevost on the time re-posted on social media from one other cardinal a put up that learn, “There is nothing remotely Christian, American, or morally defensible about a policy that takes children away from their parents and warehouses them in cages. This is being carried out in our name and the shame is on us all.”
On the time, Trump had carried out an immigration household that separated some youngsters from their households on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Whereas he didn’t share posts from different American politicians up to now few years, he shared in 2017 a X put up from Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) following the mass capturing in Las Vegas.
“To my colleagues: your cowardice to act cannot be whitewashed by thoughts and prayers. None of this ends unless we do something to stop it,” Murphy stated.
