CNBNews

Photo credit VaticanNews.com

By Kelly A. Tussey

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was born on September 14, 1955 in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated in 1977 from Villanova University in Delaware County, Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics. He then studied canon law at the Pontifical Saint Thomas Aquinas University and on June 19, 1982 was ordained as a priest. Pope Francis promoted Prevost to archbishop on January 30, 2023 and he was made a cardinal in January 2024. He has global experience, having spent most of his career as a missionary in South America.

At 69 years of age, he is now the 267th Pontiff of the Catholic Church. Making history as the first American born pope he will be known as Pope Leo XIV and will lead the 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide. In his first appearance Pope Leo XIV, message was one of peace.