He is the leader of the Catholic church and ‘father’ to more than a billion people.
But Pope Leo XIV came from much more humble beginnings in a Catholic community of a Chicago suburb
Born in September 1965 at Chicago’s Mercy Hospital, Robert Prevost, was brought home to a quaint 1,200-square-foot brick home in Dolton, Illinois.
His parents, Mildred Martinez and Louis Prevost, purchased the property in 1949 with a $42-a-month mortgage.
Louis was a WWII Navy hero, while his mother, Mildred, worked as a librarian.
After the war, he became a school district superintendent.
‘She was one of the ladies that we called church ladies,’ Marianne Angarola, 69, who graduated with the Pope, told the Chicago Sun-Times of Mildred.
Angarola said the family went to religious services every single day, and Mildred organized church fundraisers.
Newly elected American Pope Robert Francis Prevost came from humble beginnings in southern Chicago suburbs (pictured: then-newly ordained Rev. Robert Prevost and Pope John Paul II)
Prevost entered the church’s school – which had recently moved to a modernized location to accommodate a growing Catholic population – where his peers soon realized he stood out among the rest (pictured: Prevost with his second grade class)
He and his siblings had a religious upbringing in a quaint 1,200-square-foot brick home in Dolton, Illinois (pictured)
Prevost was known to those who grew up with him as a kind-hearted and devout child, with a fresh sense of humor. Her served as an altar boy in his youth.
When Prevost entered the St. Mary’s school – which had recently moved to a modernized location to accommodate a growing Catholic population – his peers quickly realized he stood out among the rest.
‘We used to pray with our hands, you know, our fingers pointing to heaven, and, after a while, you get tired of doing that, and you just want to fold them over,’ Angarola recalled.
‘Robert Prevost never folded his hands over. He was just godly. Not in an in-your-face way.
‘It was part of his aura, like he was hand-selected, and he embraced it. And he wasn’t weird. He was nice.’
The rigorous Catholic curriculum involved daily masses that were only performed in Latin.
When second grade rolled around, the students had to meticulously study prayers and sacred texts to prepare for communion, with most of the young children dreading it.
But Prevost never made a fuss about learning, Angarola asserted.
Prevost has become the first American Pope in the history of the Catholic church (pictured: Prevost on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica)
Swiss guards gather after white smoke rose from the chimney on the Sistine Chapel
People watch newly elected Pope Leone XIV as he appears at the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica
Another childhood friend and neighbor of Prevost’s, Noelle Neis, 69, noted that he was the smartest boy in her class.
‘Back in the day, they used to seat us by our classroom performance, so he always sat in the number one seat, which was in the first row in the back,’ Neis told the outlet.
But his academic rigor did not take away from his friendly and playful nature.
‘He was kind of a little trickster, too. Used to poke me in the back of the head with a pencil all the time because I was a kidder,’ Neis fondly reflected.
‘So he definitely had a sense of humor that a lot of people wouldn’t know because he wasn’t really that outgoing.’
DailyMail.com reached out Old St. Mary’s Catholic Church, which was formerly St. Mary of the Assumption.
A spokesperson explained that after several mergers, there are no direct ties to the Pope at the religious institution that could comment on his papacy.
After eighth grade, Prevost left home to study at St. Augustine Seminary High School, a seminary school run by Order of St. Augustine priests.
Newly elected Pope Leo XIV appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican
Cheering crowds were seen waiting outside in St Peter’s Square as they waited to discover who has been elected as the next pontiff
For college he attended Villanova University in Pennsylvania, earning a bachelor’s degree in math in 1977.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Villanova for comment.
Prevost was ordained five years later and earned a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, The Washington Post reported.
While furthering his religious education, he taught high school math in schools near where he grew up.
Most of his holy career was sent overseas, notably in Peru, where he was sent as a missionary and a professor in 1985.
His travels mean he is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and French as well as English.
In 1999, he returned to Chicago as the Order of St. Augustine’s Midwest leader, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
During his tenure, Prevost faced criticism for allowing a priest accused of child sexual abuse to live at an Augustinian monastery near a Catholic school in Providence, Rhode Island.
He was also called out for his relationships with Peruvian priests who had similar accusations made against them, as per the outlet.
Nuns pray in the crowd following the announcement that Cardinal Robert Prevost has been elected by the conclave as the new pope
Newly elected Pope Leo XIV delivered his first words as pope, offering a message of peace and dialogue ‘without fear.’
Prevost went on to become the Order’s international leader from 2001 to 2013, when he relocated to Rome to assume the role.
He returned to Peru in 2014 to lead the Diocese of Chiclayo for seven years. In 2015, he became a bishop.
In 2023, Pope Francis named him the president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and leader of the Dicastery for Bishops.
The following year, he made his way up the ranks once again and became Cardinal.
As his first words as Pope from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, he offered a message of peace and dialogue ‘without fear.’
The pontiff recalled he was an Augustinian priest, but that he was above all a Christian and a Bishop as he urged the crowd to ‘walk together.’