Who was the first American to become Pope?
He was a dark horse candidate from Chicago - and nobody at the Vatican thought an American could win.
The answer
On May 8, 2025, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected as Pope Leo XIV, becoming the first American-born pope in the Catholic Church's 2,000-year history. Born in Chicago in 1955, Prevost is also a citizen of Peru, where he served as a missionary and bishop for many years. He is the first pope from the Augustinian order. Vatican insiders had considered an American papacy unrealistic given the United States' status as a superpower, making his election on the fourth ballot a surprise. Prevost chose the papal name Leo, last used by Leo XIII (1878–1903). As Pope, he leads the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.
Source: CNN
- pope
- catholic-church
- history
- vatican
More from History & Civilization
- Who built the first known computer, and when?
- What were the Egyptian pyramids really built for, and who built them?
- How much knowledge was lost when the Library of Alexandria was destroyed?
- How did Genghis Khan shape the genetics of an entire continent?
- When did humans start cooking food, and how did it change us?
- What was the deadliest pandemic in human history?