Pope Leo XIV

Osservatore Romano

Rome/Vatican [ENA] Pope Leo XIV, in Latin Leo PP. XIV (born Robert Francis Prevost; Chicago, 14 September 1955), since 8 May 2025 is the 267th Pope of the Catholic Church and Bishop of Rome, 9th Sovereign of the Vatican City State, Primate of Italy, in addition to the other titles proper to the Roman Pontiff. In 1975 Robert Prevost was a Chicago math teacher, a devout Catholic and had been accepted into Harvard Law School.

Apparently he had everything a young man could dream of. But then—he made a decision and said no to Harvard, no to fame, no to comfort and choose something few dare to choose: a life of complete mission to the Lord and joined a missionary group moving to Peru. It was not the Peru of the cities, of the tourist spots, but the the most remote peruvian villages—where children die from treatable diseases and families walk miles just for clean water. There were no roads, no running water, no WiFi, just mountains, silence and poverty. Robert didn’t just live among the people, he became one of them and learned Quechua—the language of the Incas, prayed under the stars when he wasn’t building shelters, taught math to barefoot kids under

broken rooftops. He became something else entirely a shepherd, a quiet warrior of faith. And slowly—his legend grew and is acts were echoed through the Andes. Eventually—the Vatican noticed , Pope Francis noticed, and he was called back to lead his entire Augustinian order. In 2020 he was appointed Archbishop and assigned to govern other bishops globally. But Robert had never chased tradition. He wasn’t just fluent in Latin or Canon Law. On September 30, 2023 Pope Francis made it official: Robert Prevost was named a Cardinal. On 8th May 2025 as Leo XIV he made the following speech. «Thank you. Brothers and sisters, dear brothers and sisters. This is the first greeting of Christ resurrected, the good pastor who gave life for the Lord.

And I would also like this greeting of peace comes into your hearts and joins your families and joins everyone, everyone. Whoever they are, all peoples and the whole earth, peace be with you. This is the peace of Christ resurrected. It's a peace that's disarmed and disarming, humble, and will also persevere. And it comes from God, God who loves all of us, unconditionally. And let us hear even the weak voices. And Pope Francis, in fact, was always courageous and he blessed Rome. The Pope that blessed Rome gave his blessing to the world, to the whole world on that Easter morning. So let us follow up that blessing. God loves us. God loves all of you and sin will not prevail. We are all in the hands of God.

And at the same time, without fear, let us be united, hands in hand, with God and amongst ourselves, let's move forward. Because we are the disciples of Christ. Christ preceded us. The world needs your light. Humanity necessitates, needs him, just as a bridge. In order to be able to get to God and to reach God's love. Help us, you must also help us and help one another to build bridges, build bridges through dialog, through meetings, and we all must be a single people, always living in peace. Thanks to Pope Francis. And I would also like to thank all my brother cardinals who have chosen me to be the successor of Peter and to walk together with you as a united church, always trying to find peace, justice, and always trying to work as men and

women faithful to Jesus Christ without fear. And to proclaim. Evangel and also to be missionaries. I am a son of St. Augustine. In fact, I belong to the movement of St Augustine and St Augustin said, I am Christian with you. To that extent, we can all walk together. We can all work together towards that land. God has prepared us for. And to the Church of Rome, I'd like to give you a special greeting. Together, we must try to find out how to be a missionary church, a church that builds bridges, establishes dialogs that's always open to receive on this piazza with open arms to be able to receive everybody that needs our charity, our presence, dialog and love. I would just like also to say something in Spanish, just a few words.

And I particularly like. To say hello to my compatriots from Peru. It was a great pleasure for me to work in Peru. So to all of you, brothers and sisters, of Rome, Italy, of the whole world, we need to be a church that is joined, a church, that walks the path of peace, that's always looking for charity, that's is always looking to be close, especially to those that are suffering. And today, It's the day in which we pray to the Madonna of Pompeii. Our mother, Mary, always wants to walk along with us, to stay close to us and to help us, to help with her love and her intercession. So I would like to pray with you. Let us pray together for this new mission, for the whole church. And for peace throughout the world.

Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. To all the faithful here present, and to all those who receive his blessing through the radio, through television, and other technologies of communication. You can recognize him in the way recognized by the church. Let us hope that he's preserved for a long time and ensure peace to the church throughout the world». History began again from Rome.