Pope Leo XIV was born in Chicago but is Peruvian at heart and now leader of the Catholic world

A day after his papacy began, Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV received congratulatory messages from all over the world. Many people have great expectations of him and pray he has the potential to continue Pope Francis’ legacy of being humble with the masses and direct with powerful figures in calling for peace. 

At the local level, elected officials and community leaders recognized his work through the years, focusing on his love for the Peruvian people as he lived for decades in the Andean country and is a Peruvian citizen.

In Los Angeles, Archbishop José H. Gomez presided over a Mass of Thanksgiving at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in honor of Pope Leo XIV on Friday at noon.

Gomez said he was delighted to welcome Pope Leo XIV and pledged to honor his filial love and obedience to the new Holy Father.

 “As we know, our new Pope is from America, from Chicago, and he knows Latin America, which is very important to all of us in Los Angeles. He has been a missionary in Peru, serving for eight years as the Bishop of Chiclayo,” said Gomez.

California Governor Gaving Newsom said he and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom congratulate Pope Leo as he leads the Catholic Church. 

“In his first address, he reminded us that God loves each and every person. We trust that he will shepherd us through the best of the Church’s teachings: to respect human dignity, care for the poor and wish for the common good of us all,” said Newsom in a statement. “In a fractured world, we pray his voice becomes a bridge — between faiths, nations and beliefs — and a force for peace rooted in our shared humanity.” 

The Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans Queer + (LGBTQ+) community also has big hopes that Pope Leo will continue welcoming LGBTQ+ Catholics to the church as Pope Francis did. 

Richard Saldivar, founder of The Wall Las Memorias, said as agay and Catholic American, he was celebrating Cardinal Robert Prevost's election as the new Pope.

Wall Las Memorias is a community health and wellness organization serving Latino, LGBTQ+, and other underserved populations.

“I pray that he is successful in his papacy and brings the world together as children of God with love and inclusion, and in making the church open for everyone,” he said. “His leadership will also help stabilize a world filled with hatred, war and extremist nationalism with love, acceptance and respect.”

Who is Pope Leo XIV?

Prevost was born on September 14, 1955, in Chicago, Illinois. His father was French and Italian and his mother was Spanish and he has two brothers, according to the Vatican News.

When he was 27 years old, he was sent to Rome to study Canon Law and he was ordained a priest on June 19, 1982, at the Augustinian College of Saint Monica.

In 1988, Prevost joined the mission in Trujillo, Peru, as director of the joint formation project for Augustinian candidates from the vicariates of Chulucanas, Iquitos and Apurímac. He spent the next 10 years holding different positions, and in 1999, he returned to Chicago.

However, the American priest with a Peruvian heart returned to Peru when Pope Francis appointed him as apostolic administrator of the Peruvian Diocese of Chiclayo, on November 3, 2014. A year later he was appointed Bishop of Chiclayo by Pope Francis. 

In March 2018, he was elected second vice-president of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference and on April 15, 2020, he was appointed apostolic administrator of the Peruvian Diocese of Callao.

In 2023 he was promoted to Archbishop by Pope Francis and moved to Rome to be Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

On January 4, 2024 he officially became a cardinal and in February, 2025, Pope Francis promoted him to the Order of Bishops, granting him the title of the Suburbicarian Church of Albano.

Pope Leo XIV will be officially installed as Pope on May 18, when he will hold his first public Mass in St. Peter’s Square, according to the Vatican.