Pope Leo XIV becomes history’s first American pontiff. Who is Robert Prevost?

Cardinals from around the world chose Robert Francis Prevost to lead the Catholic Church’s 1.4 billion followers, making him the first Pope from the United States. Upon his election, he took the name Leo XIV. Although long considered a potential candidate, some had doubted the possibility of a US pope, given the country’s existing global influence. Prevost, however, also holds Peruvian citizenship and spent several years there, initially as a missionary and later as a bishop

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