A leader with extensive international experience, Pope Leo XIV spent most of his career as a missionary in South America and most recently served as head of a powerful Vatican office overseeing bishop appointments. He is expected to continue many of Pope Francis’ reform efforts.

He served for a decade in Trujillo, Peru, and later became bishop of Chiclayo, another Peruvian city, where he served from 2014 to 2023.

In an interview with Vatican News shortly after becoming Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, Prevost remarked: “I still consider myself a missionary. My calling—like that of every Christian—is to be a missionary, to proclaim the Gospel wherever you are.”