Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, the Chicago-born prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops under Pope Francis, was elected the 267th pope May 8 and took the name Pope Leo XIV.

He is the first North American to be elected pope and, before the conclave, was the U.S. cardinal most mentioned as a potential successor of St. Peter.

The white smoke poured from the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel at 6:07 p.m. Rome time (11:07 a.m. Central) and a few minutes later the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica began to ring.

Around 7:30 p.m., the new Pope Leo came out onto the balcony, smiling and waving to the crowd wearing the white papal cassock, a red mozzetta or cape and a red stole to give his first public blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world).

“My dear brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting of the risen Christ, the good shepherd who gave his life for God’s flock,” he said, praying that Christ’s peace would enter people’s hearts, their families and “the whole earth.”

The peace of the risen Lord, he said, is “a peace that is unarmed and disarming.”

Signaling strong continuity with the papacy of Pope Francis, Pope Leo told the crowd that God “loves all of us unconditionally” and that the Church must be open to everyone.

“We are all in God’s hands,” he said, so “without fear, united, hand in hand with God and with each other, let us go forward.”

Telling the crowd that he was an Augustinian, he quoted St. Augustine, who said, “With you I am a Christian and for you a bishop.”

“Together we must try to be a missionary Church, a Church that builds bridges and always dialogues, that is always open to receiving everyone like this square with its arms open to everyone, everyone in need,” he said.

A longtime missionary in Peru, the 69-year-old pope holds both U.S. and Peruvian citizenship.

As prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops for the past two years, he was instrumental in helping Pope Francis choose bishops for many Latin-rite dioceses, he met hundreds of bishops during their “ad limina” visits to Rome and was called to assist the world’s Latin-rite bishops “in all matters concerning the correct and fruitful exercise of the pastoral office entrusted to them.”

During a talk at St. Jude Parish in Chicago in August, the then-cardinal said Pope Francis nominated him “specifically because he did not want someone from the Roman Curia to take on this role. He wanted a missionary; he wanted someone from outside; he wanted someone who would come in with a different perspective.”

In a March 2024 interview with Catholic News Service, he said Pope Francis’ decision in 2022 to name three women as full members of the dicastery, giving them input on the selection of bishops “contributes significantly to the process of discernment in looking for who we hope are the best candidates to serve the Church in episcopal ministry.”

To deter attitudes of clericalism among bishops, he said, “it’s important to find men who are truly interested in serving, in preaching the Gospel, not just with eloquent words, but rather with the example and witness they give.”

Three facts about new pope

• Pope Leo XIV reportedly enjoys playing tennis. According to a May 8 interview with his brother John Prevost, Pope Leo is a Chicago White Sox fan — and never cheered for baseball rival Chicago Cubs. “He was never, ever a Cubs fan,” the pope’s brother emphasized.
• The new pope speaks English, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese and can read Latin and German.
• At age 69, Pope Leo is seven years younger than Pope Francis was when he was elected in 2013, and nine years younger than Benedict XVI when he was elected in 2005. He is 11 years older than St. John Paul II, who was 58, at his 1978 election.

Pope Leo to inaugurate papacy May 18

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Leo XVI will officially inaugurate his papacy with Mass in St. Peter’s Square May 18.

Although he was pope from the moment he accepted his election May 8, the inauguration Mass — which replaced the papal coronation after the pontificate of St. Paul VI — formally marks the beginning of his ministry with his reception of the fisherman’s ring and his pallium, a wool band worn around his shoulders.

The Vatican announced the date for the Mass May 9 along with events on his schedule for the rest of the month.

In a separate statement, the Vatican said the new pope has asked the heads of the dicasteries of the Roman Curia and the offices of Vatican City State to continue in their posts “on a provisional basis.” When Pope Francis died April 21, and when any pope dies, most of the top Vatican officials lose their positions, giving the new pope a chance to appoint his team.

As the Catholic Church welcomes its first American pope, here are 10 things to know about Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert F. Prevost.

1. Chicagoan: Pope Leo was born Sept. 14, 1955, and grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago. His father, Louis Marius Prevost, was an educator, and his mother, Mildred Martínez, was a librarian. He has two older brothers, was active in his childhood parish and his brother John says he is a White Sox fan (even though their mom was a Cubs fan). His family is reportedly of French, Italian and Spanish origin, with Creole heritage on his mother’s side. He loves the sport of tennis and plays regularly.

2. Cosmopolitan: While American, Pope Leo has a global perspective, having lived most of his adult life in Peru and Rome. Based on his assignments, it appears that he has spent less than five years combined living in the United States since his 1982 ordination to the priesthood.

3. Augustinian: He is a member of the Order of St. Augustine, a religious order that dates to 1244 and was founded to live the spirituality of early Christians. The order considers St. Augustine, a fifth-century theologian, philosopher and bishop of Hippo, its father. Before ordination, Pope Leo attended St. Augustine Seminary High School in Holland, Mich., and Villanova University near Philadelphia, both Augustinian institutions. Augustinians are mendicant, meaning that they traditionally survive on begging or their own work, do not hold property and do not spend their life in a single location. Pope Leo is the first Augustinian to assume the chair of Peter, and the second member of a religious order to do so in nearly two centuries — the first being the first Jesuit pope, Pope Francis.

4. Canonist: Pope Leo is a canon lawyer, having received his licentiate and doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, also known as the Angelicum, in Rome. He wrote doctoral thesis on “The role of the local prior in the Order of St. Augustine.” For nearly a decade he served the Archdiocese of Trujillo, Peru, as its judicial vicar, which oversees the diocesan tribunal. During that time he was also a professor of canon, patristic and moral law in the San Carlos e San Marcelo Major Seminary.

5. Leader: Pope Leo has an impressive range of leadership experience. After several pastoral and seminary formation roles in Chicago and Peru, he was elected in 1999 to oversee his order’s province in Chicago, and then two years later, he took the helm of the order worldwide. He was reelected for a second six-year term, ultimately holding the Rome-based position for 12 years. Then, in 2014, Pope Francis appointed him to oversee the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, a role he held for nine years and that included a year-long stint as the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Callao, Peru, whose see city is nearly 500 miles south of Chiclayo. In 2023, Pope Francis appointed him as prefect of the Holy See’s Dicastery for Bishops, which oversees the appointments of bishops worldwide.

6. Baby boomer: At age 69, Pope Leo is seven years younger than Pope Francis was when he was elected in 2013, and nine years younger than Pope Benedict XVI when he was elected in 2005. He is 11 years older than St. John Paul II, who was 58 at his 1978 election.

7. Socially minded: His name is an apparent nod to Pope Leo XIII, who led the Church from 1878 until 1903 and is especially known for his 1891 encyclical “Rerum Novarum,” or “On the Condition of the Working Classes.” That document responded to the state of the industrial society at the end of the 19th century and cemented Pope Leo XIII’s position as the modern father of Catholic social doctrine. Pope Leo XIII also composed the popular St. Michael prayer, penned an 1879 encyclical calling for the rooting of Christian philosophy in the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas, and issued an 1899 apostolic letter condemning “Americanism,” a worldview he feared was held by American prelates that bolstered American values such as pluralism and individualism to the detriment of Catholic teaching.

8. Peace bearer: Pope Leo’s first words to the world were “Peace be with you” on a balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica overlooking masses of people in the square. “Beloved brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting of the Risen Christ, the Good Shepherd who has given his life for the flock of God,” he continued. “I, too, would like this greeting of peace to enter your hearts, reach your families, to all people, wherever they may be, to all peoples, to all the earth. … This is the peace of the Risen Christ, a disarmed peace and a disarming peace, humble and persevering. It comes from God, God who loves us all unconditionally.”

9. Polyglot: Pope Leo speaks English, Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese, and he reads Latin and German. He gave his first greeting May 8 in Italian but switched to Spanish to greet the faithful of his former Diocese of Chiclayo before giving the “urbi et orbi” blessing in Latin. On May 9, he began his first public homily with English but preached most of it in Italian.

10. Successor of Peter: On his first full day as pope May 9, Pope Leo preached before the College of Cardinals who elected him, speaking of an exchange between Jesus and St. Peter, the first pope. He called the church “an ark of salvation sailing through the waters of history and a beacon that illumines the dark nights of this world. And this, not so much through the magnificence of her structures or the grandeur of her buildings — like the monuments among which we find ourselves — but rather through the holiness of her members.”

When I was growing up, we always had four or five priests in my hometown: two or three at the parish, plus chaplains at the hospital and at the Felician sisters’ motherhouse, which was only a few blocks from our home. 

I still remember many of the priests who served in our town during those years, most of whom I liked, but there was one who I simply could not stand. 

The Church doesn’t bat 1000. But after getting steamed up a few times over things I couldn’t do anything about as a simple high schooler active in the youth group, I decided to do what Jesus says in today’s Gospel and began to pray every morning for his well-being. I didn’t so much pray that he would change; rather, I simply prayed for his happiness, figuring that if he were happy, things would be a lot better. 

To this day, more than 50 years later, he is still on my prayer list! Which is a good thing, because little did I know at the time that years later, I would find myself working with him as a fellow priest — and indeed that at one point, I would have to intervene to deal with a problem in his parish, even though I was much younger than him. 

I don’t know what effect my prayer had on him — only God knows that, and this priest is dead now — but the effect on me of praying for his happiness daily was 1) to keep my own heart pure and my actions charitable in his regard, and 2) he eventually stopped making me angry. I just felt sad for him. I realized that he was simply not a happy person and that was why he was so unpleasant to be around. 

Some of you have had the same experience: when we pray for others and do good for them, they benefit for sure, but we benefit the most because the prayer keeps our hearts pure in their regard. 

That’s part of what Jesus means in our Gospel when he says, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who maltreat you.” Notice especially his words “bless” — meaning “speak well of” — “those who curse you.” 

If you truly love someone, you won’t gossip about them. It’s futile (and hypocritical) to do good for them to their face if you talk bad behind their back, and what’s the point of praying for their well-being if you’d really love to see them squirm? To love our enemies, all three are needed: good deeds, helpful words and prayer.

Moreover, if this is how we are to treat those who hate us, who actively wish us ill, how much more should we do good deeds, speak helpful words and pray for family members and others who are not even enemies, people from whom we feel a certain distance due to nothing more than bad chemistry and misunderstandings. St. Monica’s greatest challenges were within her own family: a difficult husband and wayward children, for whom she did good deeds, spoke helpful words and prayed daily amid many tears. God didn’t have to give her enemies; her own family was challenging enough. 

It was through years of patient, often unreciprocated love and persistent prayer that, by God’s grace, she finally touched their hearts and won them over. And in so doing, she not only became a saint herself, she won for the Church one of the greatest theologians of all time, her once wayward son, now known as St. Augustine. All the good he later accomplished was ultimately the fruit of his mother’s good deeds, helpful words and prayer.

This is the heart of the Gospel and is precisely what Jesus did for us: he loved us even when we were sinners, enemies of God — so to speak — and through his prayer, helpful words and the ultimate self-sacrificing good deed of dying for us on the cross, he was finally able to touch our hearts and win us over. 

Now he calls us, as he did St. Monica, to share in his great work of salvation by loving others, including our enemies, touching their hearts with good deeds, helpful words and persistent prayer.

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor delivered this homily Feb. 23.