Pope Leo XIV

As the Catholic Church welcomes its first American pope, here are 10 things to know about Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert F. Prevost.

Among his first messages, Pope Leo XIV expressed his intention to strengthen the Catholic Church's ties with the Jewish community.

Canadian Cardinal Michael Czerny said that when Cardinal Robert F. Prevost was elected Pope and chose the name Leo XIV, "I rejoiced, I really rejoiced."

It was a historic first for the Order of St. Augustine when one of its own, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, was elected as Holy Father.

With a huge and festive crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square, Pope Leo XIV led his first Sunday recitation of the "Regina Coeli" prayer and urged all Catholics to pray for vocations, especially to the priesthood and religious life.

For Toronto’s Cardinal Francis Leo, he came to Rome “like an orphan,” and as he and the other 132 cardinal lectors prepare to leave for their home dioceses, they do so with a new head of the family.

Pope Leo XIV will officially inaugurate his papacy with Mass in St. Peter's Square May 18.

He enjoys gelato after lunch, plays tennis weekly in the gardens of the Augustinian Curia in Rome and roots passionately for the Chicago White Sox.

Where Christians are "mocked, opposed, despised or at best tolerated and pitied" is where the Catholic Church's "missionary outreach is most desperately needed," Pope Leo XIV said in his first homily as leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.

Full text of the first public homily of Pope Leo XIV, given at a Mass for the College of Cardinals in the Sistine Chapel May 9, 2025.