The following are key dates in the life and ministry of Pope Leo XIV, elected May 8, as the 266th successor to St. Peter.
Foundation in U.S. and Rome
- 1955: Born Sept. 14 in the Chicago area.
- 1977: Graduated from Villanova University near Philadelphia, with a degree in mathematics, and entered the novitiate for the Order of St. Augustine in St. Louis.
- 1978: Professed first vows as a member of the Order of St. Augustine.
- 1981: Professed solemn vows as a member of the Order of St. Augustine.
- 1982: Ordained a priest of the Order of St. Augustine.
- 1984: Earned a licentiate in canon law from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome.
Serving in Peru
- 1985: Sent to work in the mission of Chulucanas, in Piura, Peru, until 1986.
- 1987: Elected the vocations director and missions director for his order’s Midwest province, Our Mother of Good Counsel. He completed his doctorate, also from the Angelicum, writing on “The role of the local prior in the Order of St. Augustine.”
- 1988: Moved to Trujillo, Peru, to direct a joint formation project for the region’s Augustinian aspirants. Over the course of a decade in Trujillo, he served as the community’s prior (1988-1992), formation director (1988-1998) and as an instructor (1992-1998).
- 1989: Began serving the Archdiocese of Trujillo for nine years as its judicial vicar; was also a professor of canon, patristic and moral law in the San Carlos e San Marcelo Major Seminary.
Back to America
- 1999: Elected prior provincial for the Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel in Chicago.
- 2001: Promoted to his order’s prior general, considered its supreme authority that oversees its administration and governance. He was reelected to that role in 2007, holding it for a total of 12 years until 2013.
- 2013: Served for a year as a “teacher of the professed” and provincial vicar.
In South America again
- 2014: Appointed by Pope Francis to be apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru. He was simultaneously named a bishop, but of the titular Diocese of Sufar, under which title he was ordained a month later on Dec. 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
- 2015: Appointed bishop of Chiclayo on Sept. 26.
- 2018: Served as second vice president of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference until 2023.
- 2019: Appointed a member of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy.
- 2020: While still bishop of Chiclayo, he was appointed apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Callao, Peru, a role he held until May 2021. He was also appointed to the Congregation for Bishops.
Assignment in Rome
- 2023: Appointed prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, named president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and granted the title archbishop Jan. 30; installed in those roles April 12. On Sept. 30, elevated to the College of Cardinals.
- 2025: Elected pope May 8, taking the name Leo XIV.
