Robert Francis Prevost: the moderate, good-humoured first US pope

Colleagues recall a calm and grounded leader capable of moderating between factions, with a strong connection to his predecessor

Newly elected Pope Leo XIV, Robert Prevost arrives on the main central loggia balcony of the St Peter's Basilica for the first time, after the cardinals ended the conclave, in The Vatican, on May 8, 2025. Picture: ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images

Robert Francis Prevost – who has chosen the papal name Leo XIV – may not be the Latin American Jesuit wildcard that his predecessor, Pope Francis, was, but his election is similarly historic.

In the figure of the 69-year-old former head of the Augustinian order, the Roman Catholic church has its very first US leader. Until Thursday evening, the idea of the fisherman’s ring being slipped on to a North American hand was seen as a fairly distant possibility. The Vatican’s longstanding opposition to a US pope stemmed largely from the optics of having a pontiff from a political superpower and a country with such a hegemonic cultural and secular global influence.