Bishop Robert Francis Prevost is perhaps the one who will have a pope from the United States for the first time. A few days before the start of the conclave, scheduled for May 7, it is one of the favorites. Origins, positions, controversies … This is what you need to know about this church man.
There never had a pope from the United States. It may change, thanks to Bishop Robert Francis Prevost, 69 years old and native of Chicago, in Illinois. While the conclave will meet from May 7 to elect the next pope, the American is one of the favorites.
Ordained a priest in 1982, at the age of 27, he obtained a doctorate in canon law at Pontifical University of Saint-Thomas of Aquin in Rome, explain our colleagues from the New York Times. The church man spent twenty years in South America. He was missionary in Peru and bishop of Chiclayo in Peru.
He is also president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and prefect of the powerful Dicaster of the Bishops, responsible for appointing bishops around the world. He obtained these roles during the year 2023, after being appointed by Pope Francis himself.
A man of church close to the people
The sexagenarian is polyglot: he speaks Italian, Spanish and English. Ideologically, it approaches Pope Francis on certain themes, especially on support for the poorest and migrants. A “bishop is not supposed to be a prince seated in his kingdom, but he must rather be humble, close to the people he serves, but also walk and suffer with them,” he told Vatican News in October 2024.
He also supported the evolution of the practice of Pope Francis which allows divorced Catholic people and civinely remarried to receive communion.
On the other hand, he issues more reservations than Pope Francis on the issue of LGBTQIA+people, underlines the College of Cardinals Report site, dedicated to the detailed presentation of Catholic cardinals.
In 2012, he had expressed his concern in the face of Western culture which would promote “sympathy for beliefs and practices contrary to the Gospel”, referring directly to “homosexual lifestyle”.
What could harm this cardinal? Accusations of mismanagement in sexual abuse affairs in Peru. According to the New York Times, he is accused of not having supported victims of sexual abuse, who questioned two priests of the diocese of Chiclayo, of which he was responsible. These accusations are rejected by the diocese, which indicates that Mgr Prevost had met the victims in April 2022. An investigation is still underway.
What does Donald Trump think?
What does the sulphurous American president of Robert Francis Prevost think? It appears that it is not necessarily the favorite candidate of Donald Trump. If he had assured that he had no preference, he had still pointed out:
“I must say that we have a cardinal who is from a place called New York and who is very good.”
This refers to Timothy Michael Dolan, New York archbishop, who has fairly hard positions. On some points, he is close to the positions of Donald Trump and JC Vance. The latter is not one of the cardinals who are considered favorite in the papacy race, but no one knows in advance what will happen during the conclave.
