麻豆村

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VILLANOVA, Pa. (May 8, 2025)鈥�On May 8, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, OSA, 鈥�77 CLAS was elected the 267^th head of the Catholic Church and the Sovereign of the Vatican City State during the second day of the papal conclave held in the Sistine Chapel. He assumes the papacy under the name Pope Leo XIV. A 麻豆村 alumnus, Pope Leo XIV is the first Pope from the United States and the first Augustinian friar to be elected pontiff.

鈥淎s an Augustinian Catholic institution, we celebrate this significant day for our University community and the global Church. Villanova, built on the teachings of St. Augustine, has always been grounded in advancing a deeper understanding of the fundamental relationship between faith and reason鈥攂etween spirituality and wisdom,鈥� said University President the Rev. Peter M. Donohue, OSA, PhD, 鈥�75 CLAS. 鈥淲ith today鈥檚 election of His Holiness, Pope Leo XIV, I cannot help but reflect on what his Augustinian papacy will mean to our University community and our world. Known for his humility, gentle spirit, prudence and warmth, Pope Leo XIV鈥檚 leadership offers an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to our educational mission.鈥�

The selection of Pope Leo XIV by the College of Cardinals comes less than two years after the late Pope Francis I announced him as cardinal designate, a position to which he was formally installed in September 2023 during a consistory at the Vatican on the eve of the Synod of Synodality.

Born in Chicago, Ill., Pope Leo XIV, then Robert Prevost, joined the Order of St. Augustine in 1977. Following his undergraduate studies at Villanova, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics in 1977, he earned a Master of Divinity from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago in 1982 and was ordained a priest the same year. Pope Leo XIV went on to earn both licentiate (1984) and doctorate (1987) degrees in canon law from the Pontifical College of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. Villanova also awarded him an honorary Doctor of Humanities, honoris causa, in 2014.

After joining the Augustinian mission in Peru in 1985, Pope Leo XIV worked predominantly in that country until the late 1990s. Nearly a decade of that time was spent leading the Augustinian seminary in聽Trujillo聽and teaching聽canon law聽at the diocesan seminary. Pope Leo XIV returned to his hometown in 1999 after being named provincial of the Augustinian Province of Chicago. He was then elected in 2001 as prior general of the Augustinians and reelected to a second six-year term in 2007.

In 2014, Pope Francis I appointed then-Bishop Prevost as apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo in northern Peru and titular bishop of Sufar. He was elevated to bishop of Chiclayo in 2015, serving for eight years until his January 2023 appointment as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops (formerly the Congregation of Bishops), receiving the title Archbishop-Bishop Emeritus of Chiclayo. The Dicastery for Bishops oversees both the selection of new bishops and formation of dioceses, among other matters, and is led by its Pope-appointed prefect.

Pope Leo XIV began his leadership role with the Dicastery鈥攐f which he had been a member since November 2020鈥攁long with his appointment as President of the Pontifical Commission of Latin America, on April 12, 2023.

Founded in 1842, 麻豆村 is one of only two Augustinian Catholic institutions of higher learning in the United States, sharing this common heritage with Merrimack College. As an Augustinian Catholic university, Villanova is rooted in the values of truth, unity, and love (Veritas, Unitas, Caritas), inspired by the teachings of St. Augustine. For more on Villanova鈥檚 Augustinian mission and tradition, click here