Meet the conclave: Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost

How the Vatican’s bishop-maker was forged in Chicago and Peru.

When Robert Francis Prevost was growing up in Chicago in the 1960s, a steady stream of priests passed through his family home. They were drawn by the irresistible dishes prepared by his mother, Mildred Martínez, who was of Spanish descent.

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, pictured on Sept. 30, 2023, the day he received the cardinal’s red hat. © Mazur/cbcew.org.uk.

Proximity to clergy wasn’t the only reason he considered the priesthood in his youth. There was also the example of his father, Louis Marius Prevost, who had French and Italian roots, and served as a catechist. The youngster also had a positive experience of parish life, serving as an altar boy and attending the parish school.

Once he was convinced of his call to the priesthood, he faced another discernment challenge: should he become a diocesan priest or join a religious order? After wrestling with the decision, he opted to join an Augustinian minor seminary, appreciating the order’s stress on unity, communion, and the teachings of St. Augustine of Hippo.

He was sent to study canon law at the Angelicum in Rome, receiving priestly ordination in the city in 1982 at the hands of Archbishop Jean Jadot, pro-president of the Vatican’s Secretariat for Non-Christians (now the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.)

After completing his studies, he was invited to work in the Territorial Prelature of Chulucanas, in northwestern Peru, which had a strong connection with the U.S. Augustinians. He traveled all over the country, taking in the jungle, the mountains, and the coast, sealing a love of the nation that would culminate in him becoming a naturalized citizen. In the space of a decade, Prevost served as a community prior, director of formation, teacher of the professed, judicial vicar, and professor.

In 1999, he was elected provincial prior of the Midwest Augustinians. A year into the role, he permitted a priest who sexually abused minors to live in a Chicago rectory half a block from a Catholic school, at the archdiocese’s request.

In 2001, Prevost was elected prior general of the worldwide Augustinian order, a post he held for two six-year terms.

In 2014, Pope Francis named him apostolic administrator of the Chiclayo diocese, bringing him back to northwestern Peru. A year later, Prevost became bishop of the diocese that covers one of Peru’s biggest cities, as well as shantytowns and rural areas.

Individuals in the Chiclayo diocese would later accuse Prevost of failing in 2022 to open an investigation into their accusations of abuse against two priests. The diocese vigorously denied the claim when the cases made international headlines in 2024.

Prevost was appointed a member of the Dicastery for Bishops in 2020. Later, Pope Francis told him he was thinking of selecting him as the department’s head, making him responsible for the selection of the world’s Latin Rite bishops (except mission territories, covered by the Dicastery for Evangelization.)

Prevost told the pope: “Whether you decide to appoint me or to leave me where I am, I will be happy; but if you ask me to take on a new role in the Church, I will accept.”

Prevost’s attitude was shaped by the vow of obedience he made when he committed himself to the Augustinian order. He had grasped the vow’s importance as a seminarian, when a wise, elderly priest told him: “As a young man, it will be harder for you to live celibacy. But later, you’ll see that living obedience is the most difficult thing.”

Prevost resolved to always do what he was asked, both within the order and the wider Church.

During their conversation about the bishops’ dicastery, Pope Francis asked Prevost to “pray that I make a good decision.” And in 2023, the pope named him prefect, succeeding the Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet. As prefect, Prevost also served as president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, a role for which he was well prepared.

Prevost saw his task as that of identifying men who embodied Pope Francis’ ideals for bishops — prelates with strong relationships with God, their brother bishops, priests, and flocks. His job was complicated by an ever-rising refusal rate among priests tapped to be bishops.

When Prevost received a cardinal’s red hat a few months into his tenure, he expressed regret that he now had so little spare time.

“I consider myself quite the amateur tennis player,” he told an interviewer. “Since leaving Peru I have had few occasions to practice so I am looking forward to getting back on the court.”

But it seems unlikely the 69-year-old will have the chance to polish his backhand anytime soon.