Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected Pope on May 8, 2025 (local time), taking the name Leo XIV.

Pope Leo XIV is the Church’s first Augustinian Pope, and the first born in North America.

The future Pope was born and raised in Chicago in the United States in 1955. At 27, he was sent to Rome to study Canon Law at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum). Later, he served a mission in Peru, and became the Bishop of Chiclayo.

In 2023, then-Pope Francis called him to Rome to serve as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. Later appointed by Francis as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, he became a Cardinal in 2024.

When Pope Francis was hospitalised in early 2025, the future Pope Leo XIV presided over the Rosary for Pope Francis’s health in Saint Peter’s Square.

A Pope of peace

Pope Leo XIV calls us to pray for peace in a world in the midst of storms. The new Pope’s first words when addressing the world from the Central Loggia of St Peter’s Basilica not long after his election were “Peace be with you!”

He also said:

“God loves us, all of us, evil will not prevail. We are all in the hands of God. Without fear, united, hand in hand with God and among ourselves, we will go forward. We are disciples of Christ, Christ goes before us, and the world needs His light. Humanity needs Him like a bridge to reach God and His love. You help us to build bridges with dialogue and encounter so we can all be one people always in peace.”

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  • Mayor of Rome: 2025 Jubilee Year ‘will remain in memory’
    on December 30, 2025 at 5:04 pm

    Roberto Gualtieri, the mayor of Rome, speaks to Vatican News-Vatican Radio about the 2025 Holy Year, describing it as a time of “very rich content and very deep spiritual values”. Read all  

  • Reflecting on Pope Leo’s call for an unarmed peace for a wounded world
    on December 30, 2025 at 2:00 pm

    Reflecting on Pope Leo XIV’s first World Day of Peace message, Marie Dennis, the director of Pax Christi’s Catholic Institute for Nonviolence, highlights a vision of peace that is unarmed, disarming, humble, and persevering. In a world marked by fear and conflict, she points to Gospel nonviolence as a concrete, hopeful path already being lived in communities across the globe. Read all  

  • Seventeen Catholic missionaries killed in 2025, 10 of them in Africa
    on December 30, 2025 at 1:54 pm

    The Vatican’s Fides News Agency releases its annual report on missionaries and pastoral workers killed in the last year, recording 17 deaths across the globe, with the African continent, and Nigeria especially, the most affected. Read all  

  • 2025 in numbers: Over 3 million faithful visited the Vatican
    on December 30, 2025 at 1:41 pm

    Data released by the Prefecture of the Papal Household shows that over 250,000 people attended papal audiences and liturgical celebrations in the Vatican in the period to April. Following the election of Pope Leo XIV in early May, nearly three million faithful took part in Masses and ceremonies. Read all  

  • Guinea closes 2025 Jubilee Year with an appeal to citizens – embrace civic responsibility
    on December 30, 2025 at 10:29 am

    The Jubilee Year for the particular Churches concluded worldwide on Sunday, 28 December 2025. In Guinea, however, the Church anticipated this conclusion by one day due to the national electoral calendar. Between spiritual fervour, homage to the pioneers of faith in the country, and a call to civic responsibility, Archbishop Vincent Coulibaly alluded to a church continuing its mission for the next 25 years and beyond. Read all