Leo XIV turns 71 on September 14, 2026, maintaining his normal work schedule, which includes several audiences and the Opening of the 'AQVA' exhibition at the Vatican Apostolic Library. Among the day's meetings are scheduled encounters with the Greek-Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, Youhanna X, with Bishop Giorgio Lingua, the Pope's diplomatic representative in Israel and Palestine, and with the Italian Cystic Fibrosis League.
Robert Francis Prevost was elected Pope on May 8, 2025, after two days of Conclave, succeeding Francis. He is the first North American pontiff in history, having previously been a missionary and archbishop in Peru, as well as Superior General of the Order of Saint Augustine.
Leo XIV was born on September 14, 1955, in Chicago, United States, son of Louis Marius Prevost, of French and Italian descent, and of Mildred Martínez, of Spanish descent. He spent his childhood and adolescence in the United States, first studying at the Minor Seminary of the Augustinian Friars and then at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, where he earned his undergraduate degree in Mathematics and studied Philosophy in 1977.
On September 1, 1977, he entered the novitiate of the Order of Saint Augustine in Saint Louis, making his first profession on September 2, 1978, and his solemn vows on August 29, 1981. He was ordained a priest on June 19, 1982, and after studying Canon Law in Rome, went to missions in Peru in 1985. In 1999, he was elected Provincial Prior of the Chicago Province and, two and a half years later, became the worldwide leader of the Order of Saint Augustine for 12 years. Francis appointed him Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo in 2014 and as bishop, being ordained on December 12 of that year. At the Vatican, he was Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops since January 2023 and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
