Cardinal Robert Prevost, who grew up in the southeast suburbs, has been elected pope, the first time an American will lead the Roman Catholic Church. He chose the name Pope Leo XIV.
The 69-year-old new pontiff, who grew up in Dolton and was closely connected to the Southwest Side of Chicago, appeared at the balcony in St. Peter’s Basilica on Thursday and said, “Peace be with all of you!”
He said he wanted his message of peace to “enter your hearts, reach your families and all people, wherever they are.”
He thanked his fellow cardinals for selecting him, and spoke in Italian, Spanish and Latin.
Having spent years working in Peru, he thanked his former diocese in the South American country, “where a loyal people has shared its faith and has given a lot,” he said.
He also spoke warmly of the late Pope Francis and concluded by leading the crowd in prayer.
He appeared after white smoke streamed from the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel, signaling the 133 cardinals inside had elected a new pope.
He grew up in Dolton and was an altar boy at St. Mary’s Church in Riverdale. After deciding to become a priest, Prevost joined the Order of St. Augustine in September 1977, taking his first vows in September 1978 and his solemn vows in August 1981. The following year, he was awarded a Master of Divinity degree from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. While there, he substituted as a physics teacher occasionally and also taught math part-time at St. Rita High School.
At a press conference Tuesday afternoon, faculty and students at Catholic Theological Union celebrated the historic election of one of their own — a former student known to them simply as “Bob.”
Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Provost, graduated from CTU in 1982, trained for ministry with the Augustinians, and later held several roles within the Hyde Park-based seminary, including formation director, board member, and provincial of the order.
“He has a heart that immediately gravitates to the most overlooked, forgotten people,” said Sister Barbara Reid, CTU’s president. “We are overjoyed that someone who was formed initially for ministry here… is now the beloved leader of the whole entire church.”
Reid said CTU once hoped to bring Provost back to teach canon law, but, “Peru snatched him up.” His rise within the Church included global pastoral work and, eventually, a high-profile role as head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops. He was elevated to cardinal in September 2023.
During the press conference, Augustinian students living across the street from the seminary recalled the moment they heard the news — many of them stunned that an American, let alone someone from their own order and school, had been chosen.
“It just makes me feel very proud and very hopeful,” said Brother Nathan Fernandez.
Reid said Provost’s time in Hyde Park — and CTU’s urban, multicultural setting — helped shape his worldview and theological grounding in Vatican II values. “Chicago produces phenomenal leaders,” she said, calling CTU “a little gem of a school on the South Side.”
Pope Leo XIV has deep roots in the city where his religious calling first took shape, according to a press release from Villanova University.
After earning a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Villanova in 1977, he returned to Chicago to complete his Master of Divinity at Catholic Theological Union. He was ordained a priest in 1982, the same year he completed his degree, the university said.
That same year, he began a decades-long affiliation with the Augustinian Order, first serving in Peru before returning to Chicago in 1999 to lead the Augustinian Province based in the city. Two years later, he was elected prior general of the Augustinians — the order’s highest leadership role — and re-elected in 2007.
Leo XIV is the first American and the first Augustinian friar to be elected pope. His papacy began on the second day of the conclave in the Sistine Chapel, following his selection as the 267th head of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of the Vatican City State.
His rise to the papacy reflects what Villanova President Rev. Peter M. Donohue described as a leadership style marked by “humility, gentle spirit, prudence and warmth.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.