The 16 months since the election of Cardinal Robert Prevost to the papacy have included a new encyclical on artificial intelligence, a media-tempest-inducing interaction with the U.S. president and a series of firsts (trips, consistories and more) for the first U.S.-born pontiff. A quiet man and a relative newcomer to Rome, Leo XIV was elected pope in a bit of a surprise. Vaticanistas and scholars scrambled to demystify the Chicago-born Augustinian’s background in the early days of May 2025.
Two veteran Vatican journalists have now published substantive biographies of Prevost to help Catholics get to know the man once known as Padre Roberto. Christopher Lamb’s American Hope: What Pope Leo XIV Means for the Church and the World lays out the basics of the new pope’s biography and some early clues about his governing style. Meanwhile, Elise Allen provides a substantive, in-depth and well-sourced biography in Pope Leo XIV: The Biography, originally published in Spanish and translated into English by Stephen R. Di Trolio.
In five easy-to-read chapters, Lamb introduces us to Prevost’s early influences, his education at home and abroad and his closeness to Pope Francis. As the title implies, this biography is aimed at Catholics in the United States, offering its best insights about where Leo’s church leadership and our country’s political leadership diverge in substance and style. Leo’s emphasis on unity and transparency provide what Lamb calls a “spiritual counterweight” to the political polarization of the contemporary United States.
In the past year, Americans have witnessed several media skirmishes between Washington and Rome. Though not unexpected, given both the bombastic personality of the current U.S. president and the novelty of a Chicagoan pope, these confrontations illuminate important differences between ecclesial and secular government. In an era of technocrats and A.I. “bros” who encourage business to “move fast and break things,” Lamb sketches a portrait of a pope formed by the Augustinian charism of focused listening, community building and shared discernment.
As echoes of an “America First” ethos still reverberate in contemporary U.S. politics, Lamb emphasizes Prevost’s extensive international experience. As many countries experience a rise in authoritarian rule, Lamb assures us that Leo remains committed to implementing synodal governance at all levels of the church, which, rather than surrendering the authority of the papacy, in fact enhances that authority.
Throughout American Hope’s portrait of the pope, Lamb gives emphasis to issues that could potentially matter to U.S. Catholics. Questions of unity and diversity in the church, the role of women, fidelity to the vision of Pope Francis and even the rise of artificial intelligence guide the narrative, which is punctuated with quotes from Americans as diverse as Margaret O’Brien Steinfels and will.I.am. What emerges is a portrait of a quiet but determined Prevost, whose intention in choosing the name Leo is rooted in his conviction that technology has once again thrust humanity into an uncharted and potentially death-dealing labor landscape.
Lamb emphasizes Prevost’s experience as a seminarian at Catholic Theological Union, where, unlike many other bishops who were trained in all-male seminaries, the current pope studied alongside and was mentored by women scholars. While we cannot know the fullness of the effects of this coeducational milieu, Lamb does note that Leo “does not look down on women, which, unfortunately, isn’t always true of those in the highest positions of the church.” It’s a start.
Elise Allen provides a deeper dive into the pope’s life (before and now) in Pope Leo XIV: The Biography. With a culminating chapter that is essentially an extended interview with Pope Leo at Castel Gandolfo conducted by Allen in July of 2025, this biography delves deep into Prevost’s background in Chicago, in Peru and in the Augustinian order. Allen describes in detail the crucibles that forged the man who would become Leo XIV, from his bout with typhoid early during his time in Chiclayo in Peru through his battles with Opus Dei as a Peruvian bishop to his abrupt arrival and swift integration into the Roman Curia.
Allen’s firsthand reporting features interviews with Prevost’s family members, his superiors in the Augustinian order and his local community in Peru as well as his collaborators in Rome, along with her extended dialogue with the pope himself. We get insider accounts of how Prevost governed his diocese (with processes that match what we would now call synodal discernment, heavy on lay participation) and his religious order (with focused listening and deep conversation followed by definitive decision making and respect for proper procedures). Allen delves into the intricacies of Prevost’s time in Peru, including conflicts with other pastors and bishops, which he navigated in a collegial and respectful way.
We learn how Padre Roberto empowered laypeople, especially women who were already doing a bulk of parish work, and put many into leadership roles that remain today. We also get a glimpse of the complexities of being a U.S.-born missionary at a time of political upheaval in Peru.
What emerges from both these texts is an image of a pope who, like his predecessor, is a product of the Second Vatican Council. Pope Leo is clearly committed to the vision of a church where laypeople and clergy are co-responsible for both the interior life of the church and the church’s social action in the world. As a theologian, I am heartened to see a pope who understands both how the patriarchal entrenchment of the Curia works and also how to work through and past that entrenchment through listening and action when needed.
Allen and Lamb both emphasize that Leo is likely to be a pope who institutionalizes the vision of Pope Francis, who was himself a dreamer more than someone who knew how to operate the levers of power. But Leo differs from Francis. He has served as the head of an international religious order as well as a bishop of an economically disadvantaged diocese in Latin America; he has also been the head of a vital dicastery who worked closely with the pope.
What some fear are echoes of Pope Paul VI’s introverted, quiet style of leadership are described by Allen as characteristics of a leader who has experience at every level of church governance and is familiar with how to build and use power. What all these characteristics mean is that the papacy of Leo XIV has the potential to be profoundly consequential. In Leo we have a leader who is comfortable with broad consultation and definitive action, who will listen to a wide range of stakeholders and work within Rome’s mechanisms to effect real change.
As an ecclesiologist, I found hope in reading both these biographies. If Leo XIV’s first encyclical is any indicator, these authors have correctly seen the pope as a possibly transformative figure at a time of global upheaval. Rather than being an extroverted, off-the-cuff, candid interviewee on planes (as Francis was), Leo is poised, measured and institutional at heart. The synodal process that Francis brought to the global institutional church was already operative in parts of Latin America, including in Peru when Prevost was there. His habit of including and empowering laypeople, especially women, but also anyone who is qualified and willing to do the church’s work, bodes well for a church still seeking to embody the vision of full and active participation of all members, and still working to become and remain a sacrament of the reign of God on earth.
Far from being an Americanist pope, Leo’s multiculturality affords him a level of authenticity when he critiques global politics that are very much influenced by U.S. foreign policy. His educational background and fascination with systems, engineering and finance are assets to a church that has largely been run on handshakes and interpersonal understandings.
Plus, both authors stress how much Prevost loves to drive. It doesn’t get more American than that.
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