Robert Francis Prevost was born on 14 September 1955 in Chicago, Illinois, United States of America, to Louis Marius Prevost and Mildred Agnes Martínez, both natives of Chicago who later settled in Dolton. He is the youngest of three children and has two brothers, Louis Martín and John Joseph.

His father, after serving in the United States Navy during the Second World War, devoted himself to education, first as a teacher and later as principal of Brookwood School District 167 in Glenwood and subsequently of Mount Carmel Elementary School in Chicago Heights. His mother served as librarian at Von Steuben, Mendel, and Saint Mary of the Assumption schools. Both were deeply involved in the parish of Saint Mary.

Robert completed his primary studies at Saint Mary School of the Assumption and his secondary studies at Saint Augustine Seminary High School in Holland, Michigan, where he served as editor-in-chief of the yearbook, member of the student council, president of the Library Club and of the senior class, and participated in tennis and bowling.

After his diploma in 1973, he enrolled at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, where he obtained a degree in Mathematics in 1977 and pursued studies in Philosophy.

On 1 September 1977 he entered the novitiate of the Order of Saint Augustine, in Saint Louis, in the Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel of Chicago. He made his first profession on 2 September 1978 and his solemn profession on 29 August 1981.

He pursued theological studies at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, obtaining the licentiate in theology in 1981.

On 10 September 1981 he was ordained deacon at Saint Clare of Montefalco Parish in Grosse Pointe Park, in the Archdiocese of Detroit.

In September 1981 he was sent to Rome to continue his studies in Canon Law at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), residing at the International College of Saint Monica.

He was ordained to the priesthood on 19 June 1982 in the Chapel of Saint Monica.

He obtained the licentiate in Canon Law in 1984 and, in 1985, defended his doctoral dissertation entitled The Role of the Local Prior in the Order of Saint Augustine, which was published two years later.

Missionary Ministry in Peru

In 1985 he was assigned to the Augustinian mission in Chulucanas, in the region of Piura, Peru, where he served as parochial vicar of the Cathedral of the Holy Family and Chancellor of the Territorial Prelature of Chulucanas that had been entrusted to the Augustinians by Paul VI in 1964.

In 1987 he returned briefly to the United States, where he was appointed Vocations Director and Missions Director of his Province, residing in Olympia Fields.

He returned to Peru in 1988 to the Augustinian mission in Trujillo and was entrusted with the direction of the first joint formation house for candidates from the Augustinian vicariates of Chulucanas, Iquitos and Apurímac.

There he served as Prior of the community (1988–1992), Director of Formation (1988–1998), and Master of Professed Brothers (1993–1998).

In the Archdiocese of Trujillo, he also served as Director of Studies and acting Rector of the Major Seminary of San Carlos and San Marcelo, where he taught Canon Law, Moral Theology and Patristics; as Judicial Vicar; and as member of the College of Consultors.

At the same time, he exercised pastoral ministry as Parish Priest of Our Lady Mother of the Church—later erected as Saint Rita of Cascia Parish—from 1988 to 1999, and as Administrator of Our Lady of Montserrat Parish from 1992 to 1999.

In 1998 he was elected Provincial Prior of the Augustinian Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel and returned to the United States to assume office on 8 March 1999.

In 2001 the Ordinary General Chapter of the Order of Saint Augustine elected him Prior General of the Order. He was confirmed in office in 2007 for a second six-year term.

At the conclusion of his mandate, in October 2013, he returned to his Province in Chicago, where he served as Director of Formation at Saint Augustine Convent, First Councillor and Provincial Vicar.

Episcopal Ministry

On 3 November 2014 Pope Francis appointed him Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, and Titular Bishop of Sufar.

He took canonical possession of the Diocese on 7 November 2014 in the presence of the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop James Patrick Green, who conferred episcopal ordination upon him on 12 December 2014, Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in the Cathedral of Saint Mary.

His episcopal motto is In Illo Uno Unum, taken from Saint Augustine’s exposition of Psalm 127, expressing that “although we Christians are many, in the one Christ we are one.”

In 2014 Villanova University conferred upon him an honorary doctorate in Humanities.

He acquired Peruvian citizenship by naturalization on 24 August 2015.

On 26 September 2015 Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of Chiclayo.

In March 2018 he was elected Second Vice-President of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference, where he also served as member of the Economic Council and President of the Commission for Culture and Education.

On 13 July 2019 Pope Francis appointed him a member of the Congregation for the Clergy.

On 15 April 2020 he was appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Callao.

On 21 November 2020 he was appointed a member of the Congregation for Bishops.

Service in the Roman Curia

On 30 January 2023 Pope Francis called him to Rome and appointed him Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, conferring upon him the dignity of Archbishop.

On 4 October 2023 he was appointed member of the Dicasteries for Evangelization (Section for First Evangelization and the New Particular Churches); for the Doctrine of the Faith; for the Eastern Churches; for the Clergy; for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life; for Culture and Education; and for Legislative Texts; and of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State.

In 2023, in recognition of his service to the Church in Peru, the Presidency of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference awarded him the Gold Medal of Saint Toribio de Mogrovejo, and the Catholic University Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo of Chiclayo conferred upon him an honorary doctorate in Law for his ability to integrate his expertise in Canon Law with concrete pastoral life and the mission of service to the local Churches

In the Consistory of 30 September 2023 Pope Francis created him Cardinal, assigning him the Diaconate of Saint Monica, of which he took possession on 28 January 2024.

As Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, he participated in the Apostolic Journeys of Pope Francis to Hungary (2023), Portugal for World Youth Day (2023), Marseille for the conclusion of the “Rencontres Méditerranéennes” (2023), Luxembourg and Belgium (2024), and Ajaccio on the occasion of the Congress “La religiosité Populaire en Méditerranée” (2024).

On 6 February 2025 Pope Francis elevated him to the Order of Cardinal Bishops, assigning him the Suburbicarian See of Albano.

Three days later, on 9 February 2025, Robert Prevost celebrated Holy Mass for the Jubilee of the Armed Forces, presided over by Pope Francis in Saint Peter’s Square, the second major event of the Holy Year of Hope.

During the final hospitalization of Pope Francis at the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome, he presided over the Rosary for the health of the Roman Pontiff in Saint Peter’s Square on 3 March 2025.

Election to the Apostolic See

In the Conclave which began on 7 May 2025, Cardinal Prevost was elected Supreme Pontiff on 8 May 2025 and chose the name Leo XIV.

He is the 267th Successor of Saint Peter, the first Pope from the United States of America, and the first Augustinian Pope in the history of the Church.

He speaks English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian.

On 9 May 2025, in the Sistine Chapel, he celebrated with the College of Cardinals his first Holy Mass pro Ecclesia.

On 18 May 2025 he presided over the Eucharistic Celebration for the Inauguration of his Petrine Ministry.