On May 8, 2025, history was made! Soon after the white smoke billowed through the air, Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost, age 69, was reintroduced to the world as Pope Leo XIV on the grand balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica. Many firsts were accomplished on that day; he is the first pope to have been born in the United States and North America (the second from the Americas), the first to hold Peruvian citizenship, and the first from the order of Saint Augustine. Beforehand, 133 Cardinals had met in secrecy inside the Sistine Chapel to choose the 267th leader of our beautiful faith, the Roman Catholic Church. They reached a decision faster than most expected—in four rounds of voting after just two days.
Born in Chicago on September 14, 1955, the pope grew up with two brothers, Louis and John. Their parents, Louis, an educator, and Mildred, a librarian, were Catholic. Louis told reporters that when the brothers asked Rob to play “normal boy games of their time” (like playing with toy guns), Rob’s first choice was to “play priest.” His mom let him put a sheet over an ironing board to make a play altar, and he used crackers to pretend he was giving Communion. A childhood friend remembers him as a kind boy who never fought with anyone, earning the nickname “Holy.” Brother Louis told reporters that a nun in the second grade told Rob, “You will be pope someday.”
Look for more interesting notes about Pope Leo XIV in the coming weeks.
