The first American pope holds a mathematics degree from Villanova
Before he became Pope Leo XIV, Robert Francis Prevost of Chicago earned a mathematics degree, spent years as a missionary in Peru and took Peruvian citizenship. His 2025 election surprised observers, making him the first pope born in the United States and the first drawn from the Order of Saint Augustine.
Born on September 14, 1955, in Chicago's Bronzeville neighbourhood, Prevost grew up in suburban Dolton with two older brothers. His father, a Navy veteran of World War II, became a school superintendent; his mother, from a mixed-race Black Creole family with Louisiana roots, worked as a librarian and teacher. Both were deeply involved in their parish, and his mother would rouse the boys for 6:30 a.m. Mass before school. He play-acted the Mass at home and chose the Augustinians in eighth grade, later joking that the Salesians came second.
At an Augustinian minor seminary in Michigan he edited the yearbook, captained the bowling team and led the debate team, and was one of just 13 in his class to graduate. At Villanova University he completed his mathematics degree in 1977, studied Hebrew and Latin as electives and worked as a cemetery groundskeeper. He joined the Augustinian order that same year, was ordained in 1982 and earned a doctorate in canon law in Rome in 1987.
His career moved between continents. He served in Peru in the 1980s and 1990s as a pastor, seminary teacher and administrator, led the worldwide Augustinian order from Rome between 2001 and 2013, and went back to Peru to lead the Chiclayo diocese between 2015 and 2023. Pope Francis then brought him back to Rome to head the Dicastery for Bishops, and he was made a cardinal.
He picked his papal name to echo Leo XIII, who shaped modern Catholic social teaching during the Second Industrial Revolution, signalling concern for workers amid a new upheaval driven by artificial intelligence. As pope he has opposed armed conflict and nationalism, defended the rights of immigrants and issued fresh warnings about the technology.
Source: Pope Leo XIV
