Victor EzejaAfter hours of waiting, the huge crowd gathered at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City finally received cheering news on Thursday evening that a new pope has been elected.
The crowd went into jubilation immediately after white smoke billowed from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney, signaling that a new pope has been elected.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelShortly before his name was announced by the Protodeacon, Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, the jubilant crowd chanted “Viva il Papa,” meaning “Long live the Pope.”
The new pope, Robert Francis Prevost, who has taken the name Leo XIV, becomes the 267th successor of St. Peter.
While his predecessor, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who was known as Pope Francis I, hailed from Argentina in South America, Prevost is a native of Chicago, United States, in the North American continent.
The first American Pontiff was born 69 years ago on 14 September 1955 in Chicago to the family of Louis Marius Prevost and Mildred Martinez. While his father, a Navy veteran of World War II and school administrator, was of French and Italian descent, his mother was of Spanish descent.
Education
Prevost, who spent his childhood and adolescent life with his family, received his early formation at the minor seminary of the Order of St. Augustine, where he completed his secondary studies in 1973.
He proceeded to Villanova University, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics in 1977.
He earned a Master of Divinity degree from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and was also awarded a Licentiate of Canon Law in 1984 and a Doctor of Canon Law degree in 1987 from the Pontifical College of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome.
Journey to Priesthood
Upon deciding to become a priest, Prevost joined the Order of St. Augustine in September 1977 and took his first vows to the order in September 1978, and subsequently took another one in August 1981.
He was ordained a priest on 19 June 1982 and joined the Augustinian mission in Peru in 1985. Between 1988 and 1998, he served as a teacher and head of the Augustinian seminary in Trujillo, a coastal city in the northwestern part of Peru.
Having a doctorate in Canon Law, Prevost equally served as judge of the regional ecclesiastical court and a member of the College of Consultors of Trujillo.
After being elected as provincial of the Augustinian Province of Chicago, Prevost returned to the United States in 1998 to take up the role.
From 2001 to 2013, Prevost served as Prior General of the Augustinians, and director of formation in the Convent of St. Augustine in Chicago from 2013 to 2014.
Pope Francis appointed him a bishop of Chiclayo, a diocese in Peru, in 2015.
Between 2019 and 2023, Pope Francis appointed Prevost into different roles, including as a member of the Congregation for the Clergy in Rome, a member of the Congregation for Bishops, and prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops (January 2023) and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, promoting him to the rank of Archbishop.
Pope Francis made him a Cardinal September 2023.
According to the Vatican, he is the first pope to come from the Order of Saint Augustine, and the first pope called Leo since the death of Leo XIII in 1903.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with seven years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication.
