Pope Leo XIV made time in his busy schedule to welcome his friend Father Hugo Sánchez and Sánchez’s mother to the Vatican.

Pope Leo was born in the United States, but for his adopted nation of Peru, he is a “Chiclayano” – a son of the bustling northern Peruvian city where everyone seems to have a story about him.

Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost has been chosen by the conclave to be the next pope. He will be known as Pope Leo XIV. Prevost, a missionary who spent his career ministering in Peru and leads the Vatican’s powerful office of bishops,

Thousands of Catholics packed the plaza outside the Cathedral of Santa Maria de Chiclayo in this northern Peruvian city to celebrate a Mass of thanksgiving for an adoptive son: Pope Leo XIV.

Cardinal Robert Prevost may be the first person from the U.S. to become the head of the Catholic Church but his surprising election by the world's cardinals as Pope Leo XIV probably had less to do with his birthplace than his former workplace.

Pope Leo XIV has been known as the “Latin Yankee” in Rome for the decades he worked in Peru, ministering to the dispossessed and marginalized.

Those who knew Pope Leo XIV as a younger man say his path to the papacy has prepared him well for the challenges ahead.

Robert Prevost’s Catholic roots were planted in Chicago’s south side suburbs, where he grew up playing “pretend priest” and embodies the spirit of a “second Pope