VATICAN CITY – Robert Prevost may have made history Thursday by becoming the first pope from the United States. But in Peru, he is known as the saintly missionary who waded through mud after torrential rains flooded the region, bringing help to needy people, and as the bishop who spearheaded the life-saving purchase of oxygen production plants during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“He worked so hard to find help, that there was not only enough for one plant, but for two oxygen plants,” said Janinna Sesa, who met Prevost while she worked for the church’s Caritas nonprofit in Peru.
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“He has no problem fixing a broken-down truck until it runs,” she added.
Pope Francis, history's first Latin American pope, clearly saw something in Prevost early on.
He first sent him to Chiclayo in 2014, then brought him to the Vatican in 2023 as the powerful head of the office that vets bishop nominations, one of the most important jobs in the Catholic Church.
On Thursday, Prevost ascended to become Pope Leo XIV — the first pontiff from the United States.
Prevost, 69, had to overcome the taboo against an American pope, given the geopolitical power already wielded by the U.S. in the secular sphere.
The Chicago native is also a Peruvian citizen and lived for years in Peru, first as a missionary and then as bishop.
He evoked his broad missionary experience in his first public remarks as pope, speaking in Italian, then switching to Spanish — and saying not a word in English as he addressed the crowd in St. Peter's Square.
“Together, we must try to find out how to be a missionary church, a church that builds bridges, dialogues, that’s always open to receive — like on this piazza with open arms — to be able to receive everybody that needs our charity, our presence, dialogue and love,” he said.
The new pope had prominence going into the conclave that few other cardinals have.
Prevost was twice elected prior general, or top leader, of the Augustinians, the 13th century religious order founded by St. Augustine.
After Francis sent him to Chiclayo, he acquired Peruvian citizenship in 2015, until Francis brought him to Rome in 2023 to assume the bishops' office and presidency of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. In that job he would have kept in regular contact with the Catholic hierarchy in the part of the world that counts the most Catholics and presumably was crucial to his election Thursday.
The Rev. Alexander Lam, an Augustinian friar from Peru who knows the new pope, said he was beloved in Peru for his closeness to his people, especially poor people. He said he was a champion of social justice issues and environmental stewardship.
“Even the bishops of Peru called him the saint, the Saint of the North, and he had time for everyone,” Lam said in an interview with The Associated Press in Rome. “He was the person who would find you along the way. He was this kind of bishop.”
He said that when Francis travelled to Peru in 2018, Prevost camped out with his flock on the ground during the vigil before Francis' Mass. "Roberto has that style, that closeness. Maybe they are not great institutional gestures, but are in human gestures.”
Ever since arriving in Rome, Prevost has kept a low public profile, but he is well known to the men who count.
Significantly, he presided over one of the most revolutionary reforms Francis made, when he added three women to the voting bloc that decides which bishop nominations to forward to the pope. In early 2025, Francis again showed his esteem by appointing Prevost to the most senior rank of cardinals.
The selection of a U.S.-born pope could have profound impact on the future of the U.S. Catholic Church, which has been sharply divided between conservatives and progressives. Francis, with Prevost’s help at the help of the bishop vetting office, had embarked on a 12-year project to rein in the traditionalist tendencies in the United States.
Prevost's election “is a deep sign of commitment to social issues. I think it is going to be exciting to see a different kind of American Catholicism in Rome,’’ said Natalia Imperatori-Lee, a professor of religious studies at Manhattan University in New York City.
The bells of the cathedral in Peru’s capital of Lima tolled after Prevost's election was announced. People outside the church expressed their desire for a papal visit at one point.
“For us Peruvians, it is a source of pride that this is a pope who represents our country,” said elementary school teacher Isabel Panez, who happened to be near the cathedral when the news was announced. “We would like him to visit us here in Peru.”
The Rev. Fidel Purisaca Vigil, the communications director for Prevost’s old diocese in Chiclayo, remembers the cardinal rising each day and having breakfast with his fellow priests after saying his prayers.
“No matter how many problems he has, he maintains good humor and joy,” Purisaca said in an email.
Born in Chicago in 1955, Prevost joined the Order of St. Augustine in 1977. He attended Villanova University near Philadelphia, where he received a Bachelor of Science in 1977, and he got a Master of Divinity degree from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago in 1982.
In Rome, at the Augustinian headquarters just off St. Peter's Square, the mood was festive.
The Rev. Franz Klein, treasurer general of the Augustinian order, said he was shocked by the news.
“For us, the Augustinian order, this is one of the biggest moments in history," he said. "I’m surprised and very happy.”
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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
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Briceño reported from Lima, Peru. Francesca Primavilla and Trisha Thomas contributed.
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This story has been amended to correct that Prevost was a bishop in Peru.