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Who Is Pope Leo XIV Robert Prevost’s Journey from Chicago to the Vatican
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May 9, 2025
Catholics across the U.S. are celebrating the election of Pope Leo XIV, the first American-born pope. Born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago on September 14, 1955, he spent decades serving as an Augustinian missionary in Peru before rising to lead the Vatican’s office for bishop nominations. -In this video, discover Prevost’s remarkable journey from Illinois to the heart of the Catholic Church, his vision for global peace and inclusivity, and what his historic papacy means for Catholics everywhere. -Watch now to explore his background, leadership style, and the challenges facing Pope Leo XIV’s new era.
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Welcome back to the Daily Report. I'm Lindsay Reiser. Catholics across the U.S. are celebrating
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the election of Pope Leo XIV, the first ever American-born pope. The 69-year-old was born
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in Chicago and spent a large portion of his life in Peru. CBS News correspondent Bradley
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Blackburn has more on his historic election. The joy here at the Vatican was universal as
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we watched a 69-year-old American become the leader of a church with 2,000 years of history
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This conclave ended in just two days when the world got the news with that puff of white smoke
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White smoke billowed from the Sistine Chapel, a signal the cardinals had elected a new pope
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The crowd in St. Peter's Square erupted in cheers, then waited in suspense for the announcement
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Habemus Papam. Amen. Habemus Papam, we have a pope, and the world's first look at the new pontiff
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Emerging from St. Peter's Basilica, Robert Prevost becomes the first American pope in history
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taking the name Leo XIV. His first words, peace be with you all
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Prevost is seen as a progressive on many social issues. Overall, he's viewed as a centrist
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Like Pope Francis, Prevost has spent time embracing marginalized groups like the poor
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He has dual citizenship between the U.S. and Peru, where he served for years
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This is an extraordinary moment for American Catholics, seeing Leo XIV on the balcony
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the first pope born in the United States, who is now spiritual leader for nearly one and a half billion people
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He's the least American American. I mean, that's, I think, what made him electable
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As crowds rust into the square, a surge of emotion caught up with Tammy Harper
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It's just everything, once in a lifetime. It is a once in a lifetime. And for us to be here in this moment
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Just so blessed and grateful. For the crowds watching and waiting it was a once in a lifetime thrill What are you hoping for in the man that comes out on that balcony Peace kindness humanity
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In the seconds before the white smoke, a baby bird tested its legs next to the chimney
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a classic symbol of rebirth as the Catholic Church begins a new chapter
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Here in Rome, the new pope is known as the Latin Yankee. He is an American, but undoubtedly a man of the world
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and the entire globe is now watching where he will lead the Catholic Church
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At the Vatican, I'm Bradley Blackburn. For more, let's bring in Joe Furulo
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He is the CEO and publisher of the National Catholic Reporter. Joe, thank you to you and all of your reporters who have been providing so much coverage for us
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We appreciate it. Why did so many doubt the possibility of an American pope going into this conclave
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Well, it's never been done before for a reason. largely, especially in the post-war era, the Catholic Church thought, look, you Americans
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want everything else in the world. Maybe we'll keep the church for somebody who's not American
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But as was mentioned in that piece, Cardinal Priebus was the least American you could think of
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He was born and raised in Chicago, was educated there, but spent most of his life overseas
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a lot of it in Peru and other parts of Latin America, also traveled to Europe and parts of
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South Asia. So he was a good choice. He's a global citizen in a lot of ways
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How can we expect Pope Leo to interact with President Trump, who called his election a
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great honor, and with Vice President J.D. Vance, who Pope Leo appeared to call out in a post on
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X just two months ago? Yeah, we'll see how that one goes. I mean, as you know, Pope Francis and
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the Trump administration did not get along. The Pope was critical very much of the immigration
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stance of this administration, critical of the withdrawal of aid from USAID, which affected
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the Catholic Relief Services overseas, and a lot of other things. The pope was critical, without naming him, of J.D. Vance for his stance on immigration
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And you right just back in February then Cardinal Prevost retweeted an article from the National Catholic Reporter that was critical of Vance and his take on Catholicism So we see They not going to
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start out friends necessarily, but Prevost is in a different role now. He's in the role of a global
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leader, a world leader who needs to get along with anybody in order to have a stage, in order to have
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a position on the world stage. What are you going to be watching for in the next few hours and days
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in terms of his first Mass, in terms of transportation, housing? I don't know if he's going to travel in a little black fiat like Francis did
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and I don't know if he's going to move into a more modest apartment
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But let's look for Sunday as the first big thing. He will say Sunday Mass at St. Peter's
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Let's see what he says in his homily. He will also give the traditional Sunday blessing
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from the windows of the papal apartment. and we'll see what he says then
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That's an important message to the world. It's usually about 15 or 20 minutes
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but an important 15, 20 minutes for this pope. It really will begin to set the tone for his papacy
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He also has a little more time to think about these messages. We all saw him read his speech off of a scratch pad, for gosh sakes
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I think he was as surprised as the rest of us. So now he has a moment to be a little more thoughtful
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Joe Furulo, we really appreciate your expertise. Thank you. Take care. Yeah, absolutely surprised and amazed to see that, right, somebody from Chicago, you know
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right, or even the United States at all would be pope. Pretty shocking, pretty exciting
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The priest announced that it's an American pope and not just an American pope
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The cardinal was from Chicago. What a joyful coincidence. You just heard from some excited churchgoers in Chicago after they learned about the election
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of Pope Leo. As we've been reporting, he was born in the second city, and that's where we find CBS
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News national correspondent Lana Zak Lana what are you hearing from locals You know Lindsay as just a mark of how surprising it is that an American has been named as the successor to Pope Francis the news here is slowly trickling out Many people here don
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even know that Pope Leo was from Chicago or that he has he has, in fact, been elected to to head
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the Catholic Church. But I want to show you a holy name church back here. We do see that at this
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church behind us that they have changed out the black drapings that were marking Francis's death
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And now there is a more cheerful white and yellow that's there. The people who are who are learning
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this news are very excited about the idea that somebody from here in Chicago, here in the Midwest
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has now become pope for the first time in the history of the Catholic church to have an American
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What do we know about his early life in Chicago? So it's interesting that he's really a Chicago boy, even though he got Peruvian citizenship later and spent much of his time abroad and speaks so many different languages
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He grew up rooting for the White Sox. His brother still lives just about an hour from here where I'm standing
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And he remembered that his brother used to play priest when they were kids
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He would actually set up a table, and he recounted that story to the Chicago Tribune
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Lots of the people who knew him—Pope Leo, did you just hear that person
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I saw. I saw. I didn't hear. As I said, this information is starting to percolate here in Chicago
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Chicago fans, they bring it for their hometown heroes, and Pope Leo is certainly one of those
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And there's also classmates here in the area who went to school with Pope Leo
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They said he was absolutely brilliant. His father was an educator, his mother, a very talented singer, musician as well
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And so he brings all of that, plus a history of cheering for the White Sox to bear as he becomes the new pope and the first pope from America
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Playing priest as a kid. What an anecdote. Lana Zak, thank you so much
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