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Pope Leo XIV

267th Pope of the Catholic Church

Pope Leo XIV (born Robert Francis Prevost, September 14, 1955) is a Peruvian-American Catholic prelate who has been head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 8 May 2025. He served as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America since 2023. He previously served as Bishop of Chiclayo in Peru from 2015 to 2023, and was prior general of the Order of Saint Augustine from 2001 to 2013. In 2015 Cardinal Prevost became a naturalized citizen of Peru as confirmed by Peru's National Civil Registry. On May 8, 2025, he was elected Pope, choosing the papal name Leo XIV. He is the first Pope to have been born in the United States, the first from North America as a whole, and the first Pope belonging to the Order of Saint Augustine .

Peace be with you all!
Dear brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting of the risen Christ, the good shepherd who gave his life for the flock of God. I too would like this greeting of peace to enter your heart, to reach your families, to all people, wherever they are, to all peoples, to all the earth. Peace be with you!

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Ordered chronologically
 
Unity and communion are part of the charism of the Order of Saint Augustine and also of my way of acting and thinking. I think it is very important to promote communion in the Church, and we know well that communion, participation and mission are the three key words of the Synod.
 
To all of you, brothers and sisters of Rome, of Italy, of the whole world, we want to be a synodal Church, a Church that walks, a Church that always seeks peace, that always seeks charity, which always seeks to be close especially to those who suffer.
  • Sometimes the bishop risks focusing only on the local dimension. But a bishop should have a much broader vision of the Church and reality, and experience the universality of the Church. He also needs the ability to listen to his neighbour and seek advice, as well as psychological and spiritual maturity. A fundamental element of the portrait of a bishop is being a pastor, capable of being close to the members of the community.
  • Q: Can the process for the appointment of new bishops be improved? Praedicate Evangelium states that "members of the people of God" must be involved. Is this happening?
    A: We had an interesting reflection among the members of the Dicastery on this issue. For some time now, not only some bishops or some priests, but also other members of the people of God are being heard. This is very important, because the bishop is called to serve a particular Church. Therefore, listening to the people of God is also important.
    If a candidate is not known by anyone among his people, it is difficult—not impossible, but difficult—for him to truly become pastor of a community, of a local Church. So, it is important that the process is a little more open to listening to different members of the community.
    This does not mean that it is the local Church that has to choose its pastor, as if being called to be a bishop was the result of a democratic vote, of an almost ‘political’ process. A much broader view is needed, and the apostolic nunciatures help a lot in this. I believe that, little by little, we need to open up more, to listen a little more to the religious, the laity.
  • Interviewer: You are an Augustinian. How does Augustinian spirituality characterise your ministry?
    Cardinal Prevost: We could say several things... As my episcopal motto suggests, unity and communion are part of the charism of the Order of Saint Augustine and also of my way of acting and thinking. I think it is very important to promote communion in the Church, and we know well that communion, participation and mission are the three key words of the Synod. So, as an Augustinian, promoting unity and communion is fundamental for me. St Augustine also speaks a lot about unity in the Church and the need to live it, about the fact that there is a certain guarantee of unity in listening to the Bishop of Rome, in being part of the Church of Rome. In this sense too, therefore, I feel that the Pope's new call is a way of living my unity and participation in the Church, in obedience to the Holy Father. This too is very Augustinian.
    Interviewer: How much does the figure of Augustine inspire your choices, your steps, your service in the Church?
    Cardinal Prevost: St Augustine is certainly a great figure not only for the order but for everyone. I wish I had more time to study and read him. He has so much to offer the Church, even the Church of today. Then there is what I said before: unity in the Church and fidelity to the Bishop of Rome, always seeking to promote communion. Living unity in the Church, as Augustine recommends, means living united in Christ.
    • Intervistatore: Lei è agostiniano, in che modo la spiritualità agostiniana caratterizza il suo ministero?
      Cardinale Prevost: Potremmo dire diverse cose… Come si evince del mio motto episcopale, l’unità e la comunione fanno parte proprio del carisma dell’ordine di Sant’Agostino e anche del mio modo di agire e pensare. Penso che sia molto importante promuovere la comunione nella Chiesa e sappiamo bene che comunione, partecipazione e missione sono le tre parole chiave del Sinodo. Quindi, come agostiniano, per me promuovere l’unità e la comunione è fondamentale. Sant’Agostino, poi, parla molto dell’unità nella Chiesa e della necessità di viverla, del fatto che c’è una certa garanzia dell’unità nell’ascoltare il Vescovo di Roma, fare parte della Chiesa di Roma. Anche in questo senso, quindi, la nuova chiamata del Papa la sento come un modo per vivere la mia unità, la partecipazione nella Chiesa, in obbedienza al Santo Padre. Anche questo è molto agostiniano.
      Intervistatore: Quanto la figura di Agostino ispira le sue scelte, i suoi passi, il suo servizio nella Chiesa?
      Cardinale Prevost: Sant’Agostino è certamente una figura grande non solo per l’ordine ma per tutti. E magari avessi più tempo per studiarlo e leggerlo. Ha tanto da offrire alla Chiesa, anche alla Chiesa di oggi. Poi è importante quello che dicevo prima: l’unità nella Chiesa e la fedeltà al Vescovo di Roma, cercare sempre di promuovere la comunione. Quel vivere l’unità nella Chiesa che Agostino raccomanda vuol dire vivere essere uniti in Cristo.
    • From an interview of Tiziana Campisi, Prevost: dal Papa una nuova responsabilità, comunione e unità priorità della missione, Vatican News (10 July 2023)
  • I always had the impression of a man who wanted to live the Gospel authentically, consistently. In the days when I was Prior General of the Augustinians, several times during visits to my brothers in Argentina, when he was still a cardinal, I had the opportunity to meet him and speak with him, informally and on more institutional matters'.
    • Ho sempre avuto l'impressione di un uomo che voleva vivere autenticamente, con coerenza, il Vangelo. Ai Ai tempi in cui ero priore generale degli agostiniani, varie volte, durante le visite ai miei confratelli in Argentina, quando era ancora cardinale, ho avuto l’opportunità di incontrarlo e di parlare con lui, in maniera informale e su questioni più istituzionali.
    • Regarding Pope Francis, as quoted in Tiziana Campusi, L'ultima intervista del cardinale Prevost su Francesco , Vatican News (8 May 2025)
  • (Meeting the cardinals in Vatican) Dear brothers, I would like to conclude this first part of our meeting by making my own – and proposing to you as well – the wish that Saint Paul VI expressed at the beginning of his Petrine Ministry in 1963: ‘May it pass over the whole world like a great flame of faith and love, kindling all people of good will, illuminating the paths of mutual cooperation, and drawing upon humanity, again and always, the abundance of divine favours, the very strength of God, without whose help nothing is valid, nothing is holy.’
    • Fratelli carissimi, vorrei concludere questa prima parte del il nostro incontro facendo mio – e proponendo anche a voi – l’auspicio che San Paolo VI, nel 1963, pose all’inizio del suo Ministero petrino: "Passi su tutto il mondo come una grande fiamma di fede e di amore che accenda tutti gli uomini di buona volontà, ne rischiari le vie della collaborazione reciproca, e attiri sull’umanità, ancora e sempre, l’abbondanza delle divine compiacenze, la forza stessa di Dio, senza l’aiuto del Quale, nulla è valido, nulla è santo".

"Un vescovo deve soprattutto annunciare Gesù Cristo"

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From an interview of icardo Morales Jiménez, augustinianorder.org, 2024
  • Being a good shepherd means being able to accompany God's people and live close to them, not being isolated. Pope Francis has said this clearly many times. He does not want bishops who live in palaces. He wants bishops who live in relationship with God, with the rest of the episcopate, with priests and, above all, with the people of God in a way that reflects the compassion and love of Christ, creating community, learning to live what it means to be part of the Church in an integral way that includes much listening and dialogue.

[...] the bishop must have many skills. He must know how to govern, how to administer, how to organise and how to be in contact with people. But if *I had to identify one characteristic above all others, it is that he must proclaim Jesus Christ and live the faith in such a way that the faithful see in his witness an incentive to want to be an increasingly active part of the Church that Jesus Christ himself founded. In short, to help people to know Christ through the gift of faith.

  • The priorities of pastoral work will always be different in one place or another, but recognising the great richness of the diversity of the People of God is tremendously helpful because it makes us more sensitive to reaching out and responding better to what is expected of us.
  • Ideologies have become more powerful than humanity's real experience, faith, and the different values we live by. Some will misunderstand unity as uniformity: ‘You must be like us.’ No, it cannot be so. Nor can diversity be understood as a way of living without criteria or order. The latter lose sight of the fact that since the very creation of the world, the gift of nature, the gift of human life, the gift of so many different things that we experience and celebrate, cannot be sustained by inventing my own rules and doing things my way. These are ideological positions. When an ideology becomes, so to speak, the master of my life, then I can no longer dialogue with another person because I have already decided how things will be. Therefore, I am closed to encounter and transformation cannot take place. And this can happen anywhere in the world, on any subject. This obviously makes it very difficult to be Church, to be community, to be brothers and sisters.
  • One of the things that comes to mind when I think of St Augustine, his vision and his understanding of what it means to belong to the Church, is what he says about not being able to say you are a follower of Christ without being part of the Church. Christ is part of the Church. He is the head. So anyone who thinks they can follow Christ ‘in their own way’ without being part of the body is, unfortunately, a distortion of what is an authentic experience. St Augustine has an omnipresent wisdom that helps us to live in communion. Unity and communion are essential charisms of the life of the Order and a fundamental part of understanding what the Church is and what it means to be in the Church.
  • Perseverance is a great gift that the Lord is ready to offer us. But we must learn to welcome it and make it come alive, to be strong. It is one of those gifts that are built up over time, in the small trials of the beginning that help us to be stronger, to be able to carry the Cross when it becomes heavier. It is what enables us and makes us capable of moving forward.
  • °I consider myself an amateur tennis player. [...] I really enjoy reading, going for long walks, travelling, seeing new places and enjoying the countryside in a different environment. I like to relax with friends and get to know people who are so different from me, whose gifts I learn from and appreciate greatly.

First Urbi et Orbi (8 May 2025)

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First Urbi et Orbi as Pope Leo XIV (8 May 2025) Transcription and translations at the Vatican Press · "Pope Leo XIV's first speech" (with English subtitles) Catholic News Service (8 May 2025)
  • Peace be with you all!
    Dear brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting of the Risen Christ, the good shepherd who gave his life for the flock of God. I too would like this greeting of peace to enter your heart, to reach your families, to all people, wherever they are, to all peoples, to all the earth. Peace be with you!
    This is the peace of the Risen Christ, an unarmed peace and a disarming, humble and persevering peace. He comes from God, God who loves us all unconditionally.
  • We still keep in our ears that weak but always courageous voice of Pope Francis who blessed Rome!
    The Pope who blessed Rome gave his blessing to the world, to the whole world, that morning of Easter Day. Allow me to follow up that same blessing: God loves us, God loves you all, and evil will not prevail! We are all in God’s hands. Therefore, without fear, united hand in hand with God and we move forward with each other. We are disciples of Christ. Christ is before us. The world needs its light. Humanity needs Him as the bridge to be reached by God and His love. Help us too, then one another to build bridges, with dialogue, with encounter, all by uniting us to be one people always at peace. Thank you to Pope Francis!
  • I also want to thank all my brother cardinals who chose me to be Peter's successor and to walk with you as a united Church, always seeking peace, justice, always trying to work as men and women faithful to Jesus Christ, without fear, to proclaim the Gospel, to be missionaries.
  • I am a son of St. Augustine, an Augustinian, who said: “I am a Christian with you and a bishop for you.” In this sense we can all walk together towards that homeland that God has prepared for us.
    A special greeting to the Church of Rome! We must seek together how to be a missionary Church, a Church that builds bridges, dialogue, always open to receive like this square with open arms. All of them, all those who need our charity, our presence, dialogue and love.
  • To all of you, brothers and sisters of Rome, of Italy, of the whole world, we want to be a synodal Church, a Church that walks, a Church that always seeks peace, that always seeks charity, which always seeks to be close especially to those who suffer.
  • Today is the day of the Supplication to the Madonna of Pompeii. Our Mother Mary always wants to walk with us, to be close, to help us with her intercession and her love.
    Then I would like to pray with you. Let us pray together for this new mission, for the whole Church, for peace in the world and let us ask this special grace from Mary, our mother.

Meeting with cardinals (May 10, 2025)

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  • Brother Cardinals, I greet and thank you all for this meeting and for the days that preceded it, days that were painful because of the loss of the Holy Father Francis, demanding because of the responsibilities we face together, and at the same time, according to the promise Jesus himself made to us, rich in grace and consolation in the Spirit. Your presence reminds me that the Lord who entrusted this mission to me does not leave me alone in bearing its responsibility. I know, first of all, that I can always, always count on his help, the help of the Lord, and, by his grace and providence, on your closeness and that of so many brothers and sisters throughout the world who believe in God, love the Church, and support the Vicar of Christ with their prayers and good works.
I would like us to renew today our full commitment to the path that the universal Church has been following for decades now in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. Pope Francis has masterfully recalled and updated its contents in the apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium, from which I would like to highlight some fundamental points: the return to the primacy of Christ in proclamation, the missionary conversion of the entire Christian community, growth in collegiality and synodality, attention to the sensus fidei, especially in its most authentic and inclusive forms, such as popular piety, loving care for the least, the rejected, and courageous and trusting dialogue with the contemporary world in its various components and realities.
Precisely because I feel called to continue in this vein, I thought of taking the name Leo XIV. There are several reasons for this, but mainly because Pope Leo XIII, with his historic encyclical Rerum novarum, addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution, and today the Church offers everyone its heritage of social teaching to respond to another industrial revolution and the developments of artificial intelligence, which pose new challenges for the defence of human dignity, justice and work.
    • Fratelli cardinali, saluto e ringrazio tutti voi per questo incontro e per i giorni che lo hanno preceduto, dolorosi per la perdita del Santo Padre Francesco, impegnativi per le responsabilità affrontate insieme e al tempo stesso, secondo la promessa che Gesù stesso ci ha fatto, ricchi di grazia e di consolazione nello Spirito. La vostra presenza mi ricorda che il Signore che mi ha affidato questa missione non mi lascia solo nel portarne la responsabilità. So, prima di tutto, di poter contare sempre, sempre sul suo aiuto, l'aiuto del Signore e, per sua grazia e provvidenza, sulla vicinanza vostra e di tanti fratelli e sorelle che in tutto il mondo credono in Dio, amano la Chiesa e sostengono con la preghiera e le buone opere il vicario di Cristo.
Vorrei che insieme oggi rinnovassimo la nostra piena adesione in tale cammino alla via che ormai da decenni la Chiesa universale sta percorrendo sulla scia del Concilio Vaticano II. Papa Francesco ne ha richiamato e attualizzato magistralmente i contenuti nell'esortazione apostolica Evangelii gaudium di cui voglio sottolineare alcune istanze fondamentali: il ritorno al primato di Cristo nell'annuncio, la conversione missionaria di tutta la comunità cristiana, la crescita nella collegialità e nella sinodalità, l'attenzione al sensus fidei, specialmente nelle sue forme più proprie e inclusive, come la pietà popolare, la cura amorevole degli ultimi, degli scartati, e il dialogo coraggioso e fiducioso con il mondo contemporaneo nelle sue varie componenti e realtà.
Proprio, sentendomi chiamato a proseguire in questa scia, ho pensato di prendere il nome di Leone XIV. Diverse [sono] le ragioni; però, principalmente, il papa Leone XIII con la storica enciclica Rerum novarum affrontò la questione sociale nel contesto della prima grande rivoluzione industriale e oggi la Chiesa offre a tutti il suo patrimonio di dottrina sociale per rispondere a un'altra rivoluzione industriale e agli sviluppi dell'intelligenza artificiale, che comportano nuove sfide per la difesa della dignità umana, della giustizia e del lavoro.

Quotes about

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  • Please join me in thanking Our Lord for the election of Pope Leo XIV, Successor of St. Peter, as Shepherd of the Church throughout the world.The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse has a particularly strong bond with the Roman Pontiff, especially through its affiliation with the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major. I urge all pilgrims and friends of the Shrine to pray fervently for Pope Leo XIV that Our Lord, through the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Peter the Apostle and Pope St. Leo the Great, may grant him abundant wisdom, strength and courage to do all that Our Lord asks of him in these tumultuous times. May God bless Pope Leo and grant him many years.
    • Vi prego di unirvi a me nel ringraziare Nostro Signore per l'elezione di Papa Leone XIV, Successore di San Pietro, a Pastore della Chiesa in tutto il mondo.Il Santuario di Nostra Signora di Guadalupe a La Crosse ha un legame particolarmente forte con il Romano Pontefice, soprattutto grazie alla sua affiliazione alla Basilica Papale di Santa Maria Maggiore. Esorto tutti i pellegrini e gli amici del Santuario a pregare con fervore per Papa Leone XIV affinché Nostro Signore, per intercessione di Nostra Signora di Guadalupe, di San Pietro Apostolo e di Papa San Leone Magno, gli conceda abbondante saggezza, forza e coraggio per fare tutto ciò che Nostro Signore Gli chiede in questi tempi tumultuosi. Che Dio benedica Papa Leone e gli conceda molti anni.
  • I don't think I'm revealing any secrets when I write that a long and warm round of applause followed that ‘I accept,’ which made him the 267th Pope of the Catholic Church. [...] I met Cardinal Prevost years ago, in connection with a thorny issue involving the Church in Peru. Even then, I saw in him a sense of balance, calmness, love for people and attention to detail. [...] Pope Leo XIV, he continues, is well aware of the world's problems, as he demonstrated from his very first words from the Loggia, evoking a ‘disarmed and disarming’ peace. [...] I am certain that he will find strength in the grace of the Lord, in his experience as a religious and in the example of the great Father Augustine, whom he mentioned in his first speech. We are close to him with our affection, our obedience and our prayers.
    • Credo di non rivelare nessun segreto, se scrivo che un lunghissimo e caloroso applauso è seguito a quell’“accetto” che lo rendeva il 267° Papa della Chiesa Cattolica. [...] Ho conosciuto il Cardinal Prevost anni fa, per una questione spinosa legata alla Chiesa in Perù. Già allora ho visto in lui equilibrio, pacatezza, amore per le persone e attenzione ai dettagli. [...] Papa Leone XIV – scrive ancora – ha ben presente i problemi del mondo, come ha dimostrato fin dalle sue prime parole dalla Loggia, evocando una pace “disarmata e disarmante”. [...] Sono certo che troverà forza nella grazia del Signore, nella sua esperienza di religioso e nell’esempio del grande padre Agostino, che ha citato nel suo primo discorso. Noi gli siamo vicini con il nostro affetto, la nostra obbedienza e la nostra preghiera.
  • This morning's meeting went very well. We also discussed the need to make the Church more collegial. He is an excellent Pope and received well over 100 votes.
  • It’s shocking, mind-numbing, mind-blowing. How do you describe that? I don’t know. I still haven’t figured out how to tell anybody what I feel, other than out of my head, crazy with happiness, pride, joy, love for my brother.When he made his appearance, then it became real. It’s one thing to hear the name, but when Rob came out onto the balcony and we saw him, it just brought tears to my eyes. You know that’s my little brother. He’s now pope. I don’t know how to describe it spiritually. He was special. When we were kids and went to play games, he wanted to play priest. How many little kids want to play priest, you know? As soon as he got out of eighth grade, he went directly into the seminary. It was like he knew what he wanted to do, and more power to him, and he’s been quite successful at it, right?
  • Two events related to clergy sexual abuse have touched the figure of Prevost. The first dates back to the early 2000s, when, as Augustinian provincial in Chicago, he was involved in a case of hospitality to a priest already convicted of paedophilia. The second, more recent, concerns his episcopate in Peru: he allegedly handled an investigation into two priests accused of molestation with little transparency.
    • Due vicende legate agli abusi sessuali del clero hanno toccato la figura di Prevost. La prima risale ai primi anni 2000, quando, da provinciale agostiniano a Chicago, fu coinvolto in un caso di ospitalità a un sacerdote già condannato per pedofilia. La seconda, più recente, riguarda il suo episcopato in Perù: avrebbe gestito con scarsa trasparenza un’indagine su due sacerdoti accusati di molestie.
  • Sinner: The ball, there it is. If you want to play a little. Pope Leo XIV: But we'll break something here! We'd better not.
Pope Leo XIV: I saw that you won last night.... How do you see Rome? Sinner: Now we are in the game. At the beginning of the tournament it was a bit difficult, now with three games we have picked up some rhythm. Pope Leo XIV: Courage.
  • It will be a pontificate in continuity with the magisterium of Pope Francis. I am very happy about that. This is what the majority of the cardinals wanted ... but with a style of their own. [...] Pope Leo XIV, in his first message, spoke of a “synodal Church.” Having participated in the work of the Synod, we have a Pope who knows synodality, who understands it, who dares to be synodal. There will not be a revolution, but an evolution.
Pope Leo declared from the Central Loggia of St. Peter's Basilica that the Church is open to all. Which is also in continuity with Pope Francis, who repeated, “All, all, all.”
There is in Christianity a messianic universalism according to which Jesus' message of salvation is addressed to all humanity. Therefore it is addressed to everyone; including homosexuals. No one can claim that Christ died on the cross for everyone except homosexuals. Discrimination is not Christian.

There were two conclave, the one of the cardinals and the one of the media. I participated in the first one...I knew before I left for Rome that I would return. There was a very quick and very clear consensus among the cardinals on the choice to be made. I assured him [Pope Leo XIV] of obedience, closeness in prayer, loyalty and the will to work together for the Church in the world and in the Holy Land.

See also

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