13 things about Chicago, Illinois’s Robert Prevost

Robert Francis Martinez Prevost is the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State. He is an alumnus of St. Augustine Seminary High School in Holland, Michigan, United States, Columbia University in New York City, New York, USA, Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania, USA, Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, Illinois, USA and the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Italy.

While attending Catholic Theological Union, Prevost taught mathematics at St. Rita of Cascia High School in Chicago. He is the successor of Pope Francis, who was born in Flores, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Prevost has two brothers namely Louis Martin Prevost and John Joseph Prevost. Louis is a military veteran based in Florida, USA while John is a retired Catholic school principal.

BIOGRAPHY

Robert was born at Mercy Hospital in Bronzeville, Chicago and raised in Dolton, Illinois. His mother Mildred Agnes Martinez Prevost worked as a librarian while his father Louis Marius Prevost was a U.S. Navy veteran who served as superintendent of Brookwood School District 167 in Glenwood, Illinois.

Mildred is of Haitian, African, French and Spanish descent. She was born in Chicago to Joseph N. Martinez and Louise Baquie Martinez.

Louis Marious is of French and Italian descent. He was born in Chicago to John P. Prevost and Susanne Prevost.

Robert’s papal name is Pope Leo XIV. Here are 13 more things about him:

1. In 1973, he graduated from St. Augustine Seminary High School.
2. In 1977, he graduated from Villanova University with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics.
3. In 1982, he graduated from Catholic Theological Union with a master’s degree in divinity.
4. In 1984, he graduated from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas with licentiate of canon law and in 1987, he graduated from the same university with a PhD in canon law.
5. From 1985 to 1986, he served as chancellor for the Territorial Prelature of Chulucanas in Chulucanas, Piura, Peru.
6. From 1988 to 1998, he headed the Augustinian seminary in Trujillo, La Libertad, Peru, taught canon law in the diocesan seminary, served as prefect of studies, acted as a judge in the regional ecclesiastical court and led a congregation on the city’s outskirts.
7. In 2000, he permitted James Ray, an Augustinian priest suspended from public ministry since 1991 after accusations of sexual abuse of underage boys, to reside at St. John Stone Friary in Chicago under supervision and in 2002, Ray was relocated.
8. In 2001 to 2013, he served as the prior general of the Augustinians.
9. From 2013 to 2014, he served as director of formation at the Convent of St. Augustine in Chicago and first councilor and provincial vicar of the Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel.
10. In 2014, Villanova University conferred an honorary PhD in humanities upon him.
11. From 2018 to 2020, he served on the permanent council within the Conferencia Episcopal Peruana in Peru and in 2019, he was elected president of its Commission for Education and Culture.
12. On September 14, 2024, he turned 69.
13. In 2025, he became the first American pope.

TIMELINE

Pope Leo XIV is fluent in English, French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish an he can read German and Latin.

1970s

• In September 1977, he joined the Order of Saint Augustine as a novice and resided at Immaculate Conception Church in Compton Heights, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.

1980s

• On June 19, 1982, Archbishop Jean Jadot ordained him a priest for the Augustinians in Rome.

1990s

• His mother turned 78 on December 30, 1989 and died in Chicago Heights, Illinois on June 18, 1990.
• His father turned 77 on July 28, 1997 and died in Homewood, Illinois on November 8, 1997.
• On March 8, 1999, he assumed his role as elected prior provincial of the Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel in Chicago.

2000s

• In September 2000, he approved the move to permit Ray to live at St. John Stone Friary, which is near St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Grade School.

2010s

• On November 3, 2014, Pope Francis appointed him apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo in Piura and titular bishop of Sufar in Mauretania Caesariensis, Algeria.
• On September 26, 2015, he became a citizen of Peru and was named bishop of Chiclayo.
• On July 13, 2019, he was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Clergy, which is based at Palazzo delle Congregazioni of Piazza Pio XII in Rome.

2020s

• On April 15, 2020, he became apostolic administrator of Callao, Peru.
• On November 21, 2020, he joined the Congregation for Bishops in Rome.
• On March 1, 2021, Pope Francis received him in a private audience.
• On January 30, 2023, Pope Francis appointed him prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops in Rome with the title archbishop-bishop emeritus of Chiclayo.
• On September 30, 2023, he was created cardinal-deacon of Santa Monica degli Agostiniani in Rome.
• On February 6, 2025, he was promoted to cardinal-bishop and assigned to the Suburbicarian Diocese of Albano in Rome by Pope Francis, who died at the Domus Sanctae Marthae in Vatican City on April 21, 2025.
• On May 8, 2025, he was elected pope during the papal conclave that involved 133 cardinals at the Sistine Chapel of the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City.