New pontiff Leo XIV mirrors predecessor’s views on key issues, said to have more serene temperament

For the first time ever, the Catholic Church chose an American, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, to lead its more than 1.4 billion followers spread throughout the world. The Holy See was already 1,743 years old when the U.S. established itself as a nation. While this marks a new chapter in the Catholic papacy, and the new pontiff has taken the name Leo XIV, people are asking: Who is he? 

Pope Leo was selected to be Bishop of Rome by his fellow Cardinals just one day after the conclave began, reportedly securing enough votes after four ballots. As cardinal, he received much less attention than other frontrunners in the lead-up to the conclave, and his election likely took many by surprise. 

Sixteen popes have come from modern-day France, six from modern-day Germany, and five from the Byzantine Empire (modern-day Syria), but according to Axios, while betting markets previously predicted the next pope would be either Pietro Parolin from Italy (37% probability), Luis Antonio Tagle from the Philippines (26%) or Pierbattista Pizzaballa from Italy (10%), the prediction markets did not forecast Prevost's selection at all.

Initially, Pope Leo shows signs of continuity with Pope Francis on key issues, but also reportedly has a more “serene” and less outgoing temperament, a quality that some said cardinals were looking for after Pope Francis frequently generated controversy. 

“Blessing babies, yes. Taking them in his arms, no.”

Born in Chicago, Robert Prevost joined the Order of Saint Augustine in 1977. He earned a B.S. in Mathematics from Villanova University, a Master of Divinity from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and a doctorate in Canonical Law from the Pontifical College of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, according to the College of Cardinals Report, a database of all current cardinals. 

After he was ordained as a priest in 1982, he joined an Augustinian mission in Peru where he spent 21 years, returning to the United States only once during that time. The country remained close to the new pontiff's heart and received a direct message from the Holy Father in Spanish during his first address in St. Peter’s Square on Thursday. 

Pope Leo was also previously elected for two six-year terms as the Prior General of the Augustinian Order, serving in that role until 2013 and was then appointed to manage the Roman Catholic Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru in 2014. 

In January 2023, then-Archbishop Prevost was appointed the prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, the church body that helps the Pope select bishops for the Latin Church globally. He held that position until Pope Francis died last month. Pope Leo was also only recently made a Cardinal in September 2023 by Pope Francis. 

Rev. Michele Falcone, a priest of Pope Leo’s order who called the new pontiff a mentor and friend, described him as “dignified middle of the road,” according to The New York Times. Father Falcone said Pope Leo is more reserved, marking a different style from his predecessor. 

“He does not have excesses,” Father Falcone said of the former cardinal. “Blessing babies, yes. Taking them in his arms, no.” 

Rev. Alejandro Moral Antón, Prevost’s successor as the leader of the Augustinians, said Pope Leo is “more serene,” compared with the late Pope Francis. 

Mirrors Pope Francis on poverty, environment, immigration 

On several issues, the new Pope Leo appears to have views that align with his predecessor, especially on the environment, immigration and care for the poor. 

Pope Leo's brother, John Prevost, said his sibling is “a regular, run-of-the-mill person.” 

“I think, because he was trained in missionary work in South America for so many years, he will be looking out for the disenfranchised,” he told ABC News. “He will be looking out for the poor, he will be looking out for those that don’t have a voice. So, I think he will follow in… Pope Francis’ [footsteps].” 

The new pope’s public remarks suggest he also shares Pope Francis’ views on climate change. At a conference last year, Prevost said the world must move from “words to action” on the climate, but that the answer must be based on the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church. “Dominion over nature”—given by God at the creation of humanity—should not be “tyrannical” but rather a “relationship of reciprocity,” then-Cardinal Prevost said, according to Vatican News. 

On the issue of immigration, Pope Leo — when he was cardinal — often mirrored Pope Francis’ views on the subject and appears to have repeatedly criticized the Trump Administration’s approach to deportations. Earlier this year, the then-Cardinal reposted an article on X critical of Vice President JD Vance’s comments suggesting that Christians’ love for immigrants is less important than caring for one’s family and immediate neighbors. Vance’s interpretation, the article said, treats love as too much of a calculation.

During the president’s first term, then-Bishop Prevost reposted a statement from Cardinal Blase Cupich criticizing Trump’s family separation policy and an article from Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York slamming Trump’s “problematic,” “anti-immigrant” rhetoric. These positions echoed Pope Francis’ many interventions on immigration, which often drew the ire of American conservatives. 

Like Pope Francis, Pope Leo has emphasized that Catholic bishops should be first and foremost pastors, not administrators. He said "the bishop is not supposed to be a little prince sitting in his kingdom” but is “called authentically to be humble, to be close to the people he serves, to walk with them, to suffer with them.”

Like Pope Francis, Pope Leo also previously called for an end to the death penalty, reposted messages against immigrant deportations, and Congress’ inaction on gun laws after mass shootings, Just the News reported. 

Hold some traditional Catholic views against gender ideology, abortion

Despite what some might call a progressive inclination, Pope Leo has expressed more conservative views on traditional church teachings, such as on abortion and gender ideology, over the years. He has previously condemned the practice of abortion on several occasions and reposted an article on social media calling on Illinois’ governor to veto pro-choice legislation. 

“We cannot build a just society if we discard the weakest—whether the child in the womb or the elderly in their frailty—for they are both gifts from God,” then-Cardinal Prevost said, according to LifeNews. 

The new pontiff has previously pushed back on the promotion of “alternative lifestyles” in Western culture. In a 2012 address, he said Western news and popular culture created “sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel,” citing both the “homosexual lifestyle” and “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children” as examples, The New York Times reported. 

While serving in Peru, the then-bishop opposed a government proposal to implement teachings on gender in schools. “The promotion of gender ideology is confusing, because it seeks to create genders that don’t exist,” he said of the plans.

However, the new pope later took a more muted stand on Pope Francis’ endorsement of the "Fiducia Supplicans," a declaration by the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, that allowed blessings of individuals that are in a same-sex relationship. The document stirred controversy across the Catholic world and even garnered a repudiation from conservative African bishops. Prevost said that national bishops' conferences should interpret and apply the directive based on their cultural contexts. 

Allegations of mishandling sexual abuse allegations while bishop

The former cardinal drew criticism from some in Peru for allegedly mishandling sexual abuse claims, though his former diocese strongly denies the suggestion. 

A woman in Chiclayo, along with two others, alleges they were sexually abused by two priests during their childhood, years before Cardinal Prevost became bishop. She accuses him of mishandling the case and failing to prevent one of the priests from continuing to celebrate Mass. 

The Chiclayo diocese stated that Cardinal Prevost initiated an investigation, which the Vatican later closed. The inquiry was reopened under his successor. Supporters of Cardinal Prevost claim he is being targeted by a smear campaign linked to a Peruvian Catholic movement that Pope Francis later dissolved, The New York Times reported before the conclave. 

In Chicago, activists alleged that when Cardinal Prevost led the Midwestern Augustinians, his office failed to inform a nearby Catholic school that a priest — whom church officials had found to have abused boys over many years — was being housed in a nearby monastery beginning in 2000. As head of the order in the area at the time, Cardinal Prevost would have had to have authorized the priest’s transfer to that location, the Times reported.