Robert Prevost elected first American pontiff: What to know about Pope Leo XIV

Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost, became the first American pontiff in history after he was elected following just over a day of voting.

Leo, 69, is from Chicago and graduated in 1977 from Villanova University, an Augustinian Catholic institution outside Philadelphia, with a degree in mathematics. He joined the order of St. Augustine that same year and later obtained degrees from the Catholic Theological Union and the Pontifical College of St. Thomas Aquinas.