ADVERTISEMENTThe American cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected Thursday to succeed Pope Francis and chose Léon XIV as a papal name.
Aged 69, he was appointed to the Vatican in 2023 to direct the office responsible for examining bishops around the world, one of the most important functions of the Catholic Church.
Robert Francis Prevost is from Chicago but he is also a Peruvian citizen and lived for years in Peru, first as a missionary, then as a Chevêque.
He was also elected twice general of the religious order of the Augustins, founded in the 13th century by Saint Augustine.
Strong links with Pope Francis
Pope Francis had demonstrated his confidence in him by transferring him to the Management of Augustins to Peru in 2014 to the position of Administrator and later of the Archbishop of Chiclayo.
-He remained at this position, acquiring Peruvian citizenship in 2015, until Pope Francis brought him back to Rome in 2023 to assume the presidency of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
In this position, he would have kept regular contact with the Catholic hierarchy in the continent which still has the greatest number of believers.
He notably presided over one of Pope Francis’ most revolutionary reforms when he added three women to the block of voting which decides on the appointments of bishops to be transmitted to the Pope.
At the beginning of 2025, Pope Francis had once again testified to his esteem by naming Robert Francis Prevost in the highest rank of the cardinals.
