For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church was primarily Italian until the cardinal from Poland was elected as the pope in 1978, and was then succeeded by the Germans and Argentines.

Now, the Pope is an American under the name of Leo Xiv.

He comes from the south side of Chicago, home to the tortured White Sox of the Daley political dynasty until they fell into Washington and finally the White House, Michelle and Barack Obama.

Leo spent most of her career serving in Peru and leading the powerful bishop’s office in the Vatican, who was born on September 14, 1955 at Robert Francis Prevost, then known as Mercy Hospital, on the corner of Southern Prairie Avenue and 34th Street.

But despite Prevost's debut in Chicago, his parents and two older brothers already live south of the sprawling city in Dolton, a working-class suburb.

The house is a neat brick house, and Prevosts purchased a new product in 1949 at East 141st Place.

Prevost's father, Louis Prevost, served in the Navy during World War II and served as school principal in the southern suburbs of Chicago.

Mildred Martinez Prevost, the mother of the future pope, is a librarian with a master's degree in education, and two sisters are nuns.

But the family’s focus was St. Mary’s in the hypothetical parish on 137th Street, which was a busy church and school at the time, crossing the Chicago/Dalton border.

The Prest family often attended Masses, which were still in Latin. It was there that his classmates realized that Robert was already practicing what he would say one day.

"We used to pray with our hands, our fingers pointing to heaven, and after a while, you're tired of doing that," former classmate Marianne Angarola, 69, told the Chicago Sun Times. "Robert Prevost never folded his hands. He was just godly. Not in your face. It's part of his aura, like he's hand-chosen, he hugged it. He's not surprised. He's fine."

While most of St. Mary's boys went to local Catholic high schools, such as Mendel College Preparation, Prest left his home to attend St. Augustine's Theological High School, a boarding school in the Netherlands, Michigan, run by a pastor of the Order of St. Augustine.

After graduation, he headed east to Villanova University, Pennsylvania, a private Catholic college where he received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1977. At that time, he found his appeal and formally joined the Order of St. Augustine in 1978.

Four years later, in June 1982, Prevost was appointed as a pastor after studying theology at the Chicago Catholic Theological Union. He then went to Rome, and in 1987 he received his Ph.D. in Canon from the Pope St. Thomas Aquinas.

He returned to Chicago, but only before being sent to Peru in 1985, he sent orders in Peru and taught Canon Law at the Diocese Seminary in Trujillo for 10 years.

By 1999, Prevost returned to Chicago and appointed the leader of the Order of Augustine Midwest, who had been supervising until 2010.

Part of his turf includes Providence Catholic High School in New Lenox, where during his tenure, Rev. Richard McGrath, the principal of the school, abused at least one student and kept child pornography images on his phone.

The Sun reported in June last year that the Augustinians paid $2 million in settlements to abused students, and Prest never explained why he did not remove McGrath from his position.

By 2014, Prefoster returned to Peru after Pope Francis appointed the Acts Chief Executive of the Diocese of Chichile and later Bishop Chicarlo.

But in Peru, he was again accused of failing to investigate and punish a pastor who sexually abused three sisters from 2007 to 2015.

Chiclayo's parish denied cover-up, and Prevost was never accused of abuse of his flock.

Nor did the allegations make him rise in the ranks.

Francis promoted him to Archbishop in January 2023 and became Cardinal a year later.

In public statements, Prest often responded to Francis, calling for “to reach out to the poor, the people who need it most, the people who need it most.”

But while Francis promoted greater acceptance of the LGBTQ people, in 2012, Prevost was less tolerant in his speech to a group of bishops, complaining that Western culture promoted “sympathy for beliefs and practices that contradict the gospel,” the New York Times reported.

Meanwhile, Prevost, another job as the man who runs the office, helped decide who will be appointed bishop, making him a contender for the Vatican’s highest job, landed on Thursday.

Pope Leo speaks in Spanish and Italian, but speaks in English, overlooking his cheering flock and thanking the pope who paved the way for him. He also put forward a vision for a future where Francis will likely applaud.

"We can be a missionary church, a church that builds bridges, always open to welcome everyone, just like in this square, welcoming everyone, charity, dialogue and love."