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Pope Leo XIV
A Chicago-born mathematician turned missionary, canon lawyer and church administrator, Leo XIV brings a measured, consensus-minded style and long experience in Peru to the papacy, with a particular focus on what artificial intelligence means for human dignity and work.
Personality
Leo XIV is generally seen as measured and consensus-minded. Supporters in the 2025 conclave described him as a dignified middle-of-the-road choice, and his doctoral thesis on Augustinian community life presents authority as a service that begins with listening. He trained in mathematics at Villanova before turning to canon law. He is informal in private: he has called himself quite the amateur tennis player, still plays at Castel Gandolfo, plays online word games with his brothers, and is a lifelong Chicago White Sox fan.
Under pressure
As a young missionary in Peru in the 1980s and 1990s, Prevost worked through years of political violence. He was described as a defender of local people against the Shining Path guerrillas and criticised abuses and corruption under President Alberto Fujimori, and his first year there was largely spent on disaster relief after severe El Niño storms. He knew his nationality could count against him in the conclave, telling a friend by text that an American could not be elected. As pope he has spoken plainly on conflicts, calling Russia's invasion of Ukraine a senseless war and urging a ceasefire in Gaza in one of his first major speeches.
The arc
Born at Mercy Hospital on Chicago's South Side in 1955, Prevost studied mathematics at Villanova, joined the Augustinians in 1977 and was ordained in 1982. He earned a doctorate in canon law in Rome and spent most of 1985 to 1998 in Peru as a parish priest, teacher and official. He led the worldwide Augustinian order as prior general from 2001 to 2013, became Bishop of Chiclayo in 2015, and in 2023 was called to Rome to head the Dicastery for Bishops and made a cardinal. Elected pope on 8 May 2025, he has since visited Turkey, Lebanon, Monaco, four African countries and Spain.
Legacy
Leo XIV's election broke several long-standing patterns: he is the first pope from the United States, the first to hold Peruvian citizenship and the first Augustinian pope. By taking the name of Leo XIII, author of the 1891 social encyclical Rerum novarum, he signalled that Catholic social teaching would be applied to a new industrial revolution driven by artificial intelligence. His first encyclical, Magnifica humanitas, signed on the 135th anniversary of Rerum novarum and published in May 2026, argues that technology must serve human dignity, work and the common good rather than concentrate power. His pontificate is still in its early years.
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