The American Robert Francis Prevost, 69, who became the first pope from the United States in history Thursday, is a man of listening and synthesis, classified among the moderates, and knowing as much the terrain as the cogs of the Vatican.
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A bishop “must not be a small prince sitting in his kingdom, he must be close to the people he serves and walk with him, suffer with him,” he declared in 2024 to the Vatican News website.
Created Cardinal in 2023 by François who brought his ascent to the Vatican, he was before his election member of seven dicastères (the equivalent of ministries to the Vatican).
Robert Francis Prevost occupied in particular the head of the powerful Dicaster of the bishops, which made him the adviser of the previous pope on the appointments of the prelates.
François particularly appreciated this man often described as discreet and reserved, and who has immersed himself for years in the “peripheries”, these territories distant or neglected so far by the Church.
A native of Chicago, Mgr Prevost spent two decades in total in Peru, where he led a missionary work and became Archbishop-Bishop Emeritus of Chiclayo, in the north of the country.
But it also has the reputation, within the Curia, the Vatican government, to be a moderate capable of reconciling divergent points of view.
The Vaticanists had made their favorite among the American cardinals upstream of the election, on the basis of his field experience, his global vision and his ability to navigate within the Vatican bureaucracy.
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“The least American of the Americans”
The Italian daily La Repubblica had described it as “the least American of the Americans” because of its moderate tone.
-His deep knowledge of Canon law also made him reassuring him in the eyes of conservative cardinals aspiring to greater attention to theology.
After the death of François, he said that there was “still a lot to do” in the Church.
“We cannot stop, we cannot go back. We must see what the Holy Spirit wants for the Church of today and tomorrow, because the world of today, in which the Church lives, is not the same as the world of ten or twenty years ago, “he said in April.
“The message is always the same (…), but the means to reach people today, young people, poor, politicians, is different,” he said.
Born on September 14, 1955, Mgr Prevost studied at the small seminar of the Order of Saint-Augustin, in which he entered 1977. Licensed in theology, he also had a diploma in mathematics.
Ordained a priest in 1982, he was two years later sent as a missionary to Peru, a country where he will remain for many years.
He returned to Chicago in 1999 as the provincial superior of the Augustins of Midwest, then prior general in 2001.
In 2014, Pope Francis appointed him apostolic administrator of the diocese of Chiclayo, in northern Peru.
Bishop Prevost was appointed in 2023 prefect of the powerful dicastery of the bishops, one of the most important functions of the Vatican government.
In this strategic position, he succeeded Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, accused of sexual assault, who had resigned due to age.
Bishop Prevost is also president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
