Pope in First Speech Reminds the World “Evil will not prevail”
Asia News – 8 May 2025
Robert Francis Prevost, born in Chicago, has dual citizenship, American and Peruvian, and was a close collaborator of Francis. His characteristic is the ability to dialogue. He is 69 years old and has been in Peru for a long time. He is a member of the Augustinians
Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost is the new Pope. He has chosen the name Leo XIV. Born in Chicago, 69 years old, he is a prominent figure in the panorama of the American episcopate. A close collaborator of Francis for having been Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, he is the first American Pope. The least “American” among the American cardinals (the second largest group), he has a missionary past and knows Latin America well.
A member of the Augustinian Order , from 2001 to 2013 he was prior general of the Congregation and bishop of Chiclayo, Peru. He now heads the Dicastery for Bishops and is president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America .
He has a centrist and pragmatic profile, capable of mediating between the different souls of Catholic America. He has a deep sensitivity towards social and cultural issues and could give continuity to a pontificate oriented towards dialogue .
The speech and the first words: “Peace be with you”
“Peace be with you all,” he said, as soon as he was elected. “This is the first greeting of the risen Christ, the Good Shepherd. I would like peace to reach your families, all peoples, all the earth. Peace be with you. A disarmed, disarming, humble peace. God loves us all, unconditionally.”
“We still keep in our ears the voice of Pope Francis, who blessed Rome, and the entire world, on Easter Day. Allow me to follow up on that same blessing. God loves us, God loves you all. And evil will not prevail: we are all in the hands of God. Therefore without fear, united hand in hand with God and among ourselves, let us move forward. We are disciples of Christ, Christ precedes us. The world needs his light. Humanity needs him as the bridge to be reached by God and his love. Help us build bridges, with dialogue, to always be at peace. Thank you to Pope Francis.” “I would like to isolate all the brother cardinals who have chosen me to be the successor of Peter, to walk together with you to seek peace, justice, and work with men and women, faithful to Jesus Christ, to be missionaries.” “I am a son of Saint Augustine, an Augustinian. And with you I am a Christian, for you a Bishop. To the Church of Rome a special greeting. We must try together to be a missionary Church, which builds bridges, dialogue, like this square open to receive all those who need it.”
Then a greeting in Spanish to his diocese, in Peru. And, returning to Italian: «We want to be a Church close to those who suffer». Finally the passage on the Madonna of Pompeii, and the prayer of the Ave Maria together with the faithful.
The biography of the new Pope
He was born on September 14, 1955 in Chicago , Illinois, United States. In 1977 he entered the novitiate of the Order of Saint Augustine, in the province of Our Lady of Good Counsel, in Saint Louis.
On August 29, 1981, he professed his solemn vows. He studied at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, graduating in Theology.
At the age of 27 he was sent by the Order to Rome to study Canon Law at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum) . He received priestly ordination on 19 June 1982 .
He obtained his Licentiate in 1984, then was sent to work in the mission of Chulucanas, in Piura, Peru (1985-1986). In 1987 he obtained his Doctorate and was elected director of vocations and director of the missions of the Augustinian Province “Mother of Good Counsel” of Olympia Fields, Illinois (USA).
In 1988 he was sent to the mission of Trujillo as director of the joint formation project of the Augustinian aspirants of the Vicariates of Chulucanas, Iquitos and Apurímac. There he was prior of the community (1988-1992), director of formation (1988-1998) and teacher of the professed (1992-1998). In the Archdiocese of Trujillo he was judicial vicar (1989-1998), professor of Canon Law, Patristics and Morals at the Major Seminary “San Carlos y San Marcelo”.
In 1999 he was elected Prior Provincial of the Province of “Mother of Good Counsel” (Chicago). After two and a half years, the Ordinary General Chapter elected him Prior General, a ministry that the Order entrusted to him again in the Ordinary General Chapter of 2007.
In October 2013 he returned to his Province (Chicago) to be teacher of the professed and provincial vicar ; positions he held until Pope Francis appointed him, on November 3, 2014, apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo (Peru), elevating him to the episcopal dignity of titular bishop of the Diocese of Sufar.
On November 7, he took canonical possession of the Diocese in the presence of the Apostolic Nuncio James Patrick Green; he was ordained bishop on December 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in the Cathedral of his Diocese. He has been Bishop of Chiclayo since September 26, 2015 .
Since March 2018, he has been the second vice president of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference. Pope Francis appointed him a member of the Congregation for the Clergy in 2019 and a member of the Congregation for Bishops in 2020.
On April 15, 2020, the Pope appointed him Apostolic Administrator of the diocese of Callao.
Since January 30, 2023, he has been Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
Created and proclaimed Cardinal by Pope Francis in the Consistory of 30 September 2023 of the Deaconry of Santa Monica .
