Top 10 FACTS you didn’t know about the New Pope – Leo XIV

Robert Prevost as Pope Leo XIV

By Emmanuel Akyereko

(Managing Editor)

American Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, the new global leader of the Catholic Church – Pope Leo XIV, is a known critic of the US President Donald Trump for his hard-line policies.

Prevost, 69, born in Chicago – has been elected as the New Pope as he succeeds Pope Francis who passed away last Month aged 88.

Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson was one of the frontrunners however, he failed on his second attempt to become the first African Pope in recent years.

Below are the TOP 10 facts you didn’t know about the New Pope.

1. Born Robert Francis Prevost on September 14, 1955, Pope Leo XIV is the 267th occupant of the throne of St. Peter.
2. Born in Chicago, he is the first American to occupy the throne although he is considered as much a cardinal from Latin America because of the many years he spent as a missionary in Peru, before becoming a bishop there.
3. He traces his heritage to Europe as his parents are of Spanish and Franco-Italian descent. He was ordained as a Pope in 1982 but moved to Peru three years later.
4. He holds a Peruvian nationality and spent almost 20 years in the country ministering and working with marginalised communities.
5. He spent 10 years as a teacher at a seminary in Trujillo in northwestern Peru.
6. Prevost is a wild critic of Donald Trump-led US government policies and publicly trumpeted criticisms of Trumps policies as he took aim at the administration’s hard-line policies on immigration.
7. Prevost strongly shares Francis’ views on migrants, the poor and the environment.
8. The new Pope has in the past expressed popular views on hot topics including homosexuality as his opinion in 2012 appeared to have criticised the influence of Western media in the flourishing of the phenomena.
9. US President Donald Trump has said his election comes as a surprise to him although is happy that an American has been elected as a Pope.
10. The last time a Pope was known as Leo was Pope Leo XIII was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903.