5 things to know about Pope Leo XIV
2. He has spent considerable time in Latin America.
While Leo XIV was born in the United States, he spent much of his service to the church abroad.
He received a licentiate in canon law from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Italy, in 1984 and a doctorate in canon law from the same institution three years later.
From 1985 to 1986, Leo XIV engaged in ministry work in Chulucanas, Peru. From 1988 to 1998, he served as a community prior, formation director and professor in Trujillo, Peru. After returning to the U.S. for over a decade, the pope moved back to Peru in 2014, where he became the apostolic administrator of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru. He was appointed bishop of the diocese a year later. He served in that position for eight years.
Even after his elevation to a cardinal in 2023 and appointment as the prefect of the Dicastery of Bishops, Leo XIV continued to retain close ties to Latin America. That same year, he was appointed president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
