Who is Robert Prevost, the American-born Pope Leo XIV

Pope Leo XIV became the first American-born pope in the history of the Catholic Church on Thursday, hailing from Chicago and breaking years of tradition that geared cardinals away from electing an American.

The pope, 69, was born Robert Francis Prevost in Dolton, Ill., to Louis Prevost, a superintendent of the Glenwood School District 167, and Millie Prevost, a librarian, according to South Cook News.

He attended Villanova University, which was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine, and graduated in 1977 to join the Augustinian order of the Catholic priests.

He spent much of his adult life in Peru and has dual citizenship there. Pope Francis named him a Cardinal in 2023. His bio on the social platform X reads, “Católico, agustino, Obispo,” which translates to “Catholic, Augustinian, Bishop.”

The new pope is considered an ally of Francis, who made him the cardinal in charge of selecting and managing bishops around the world. He is committed to the poor and migrants, as Francis was, but it’s unclear what his is stance on inclusiveness toward LGBTQ Catholics, The New York Times reported.

He has broken barriers in other ways, presiding over reforms under Francis that led to women being included in the voting bloc that chooses bishops to recommend to the pope.

In 2023, Francis named Prevost to be prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. The role involves recommending candidates for bishops to the pope and overseeing the commission that studies the Catholic church in Latin America, according to the Catholic News Service.

After he was elected pope on the second day of the conclave, Leo first introduced himself in Italian from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica and later spoke Spanish, in a nod toward his roots in Peru.

The first words he spoke as pope, which are closely watched by Catholics, were “Peace be with you all.”

Where the new pope stands on a host of issues will likely come into focus in coming days.

The last X post from the new pope was April 14, when he shared a post about the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador, with the questions, “Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you stay quiet?”

In February, he shared an opinion article that criticized Vice President Vance, who is Catholic, on X with the headline, “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others.” He also shared an article with the headline “Pope Francis’ letter, JD Vance’s ‘ordo amoris’ and what the Gospel asks of all of us on immigration.”

Vance has received criticism from other Catholics over his stance on migrants and his comments that Christians love their families, neighbors and fellow citizens before the rest of the world.

Francis had been outspoken when it comes to politics in the last year. He had criticized President Trump’s mass deportation plans in a letter in February, urging compassion and the preservation of dignity for migrants in the U.S.

Francis also weighed in on the presidential election, urging voters to “choose the lesser evil” between Trump and former Vice President Kamala Harris. He also said both Trump and Harris were “against life” in reference to their stance on migrants and abortion.

On Thursday, Trump congratulated the first American pope on Truth Social, writing “It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope.” The president said he looked forward to meeting him, adding later from the White House that he thought the choosing of an American pope was “great.”

In 2018, during Trump’s first term, Prevost reposted another cardinal's post that read, “There is nothing remotely Christian, American, or morally defensible about a policy that takes children away from their parents and warehouses them in cages. This is being carried out in our name and the shame is on us all.”

At the time, Trump had implemented an immigration policy that separated some children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border.

While the new pope didn't share posts from other American politicians in the past few years, in 2017, he reshared an X post from Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) following the mass shooting in Las Vegas.

“To my colleagues: your cowardice to act cannot be whitewashed by thoughts and prayers. None of this ends unless we do something to stop it,” Murphy said.