Description

A revealing biography featuring an exclusive first interview with the new Pope Leo XIV, written by one of the world’s most respected Vatican correspondents

Who is Robert Prevost, the man who is now Leo XIV?

What personal traits led him to be chosen as pontiff at a time when the Catholic Church was debating whether to continue the legacy of Francis I or roll back the reforms advanced by him? How did he rise as pope in an overwhelmingly majority vote and what could it mean?

Elise Ann Allen, correspondent in Rome for Crux, the prestigious website specialising in Vatican news, outlines a detailed and intimate profile of the new pope. From his childhood in Chicago and his early vocation as an Augustinian to his years as a missionary in Peru and his key role in the Vatican as head of the bishops, Allen reveals the experiences that forged his character and established him as a spiritual leader and citizen of the world.

Including the first interview that Leo XIV officially granted as pope, this biography is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the new pope, his priorities, convictions and vision for the future of the Church.

Publisher Review

An extraordinary achievement . . . Elise Ann Allen has given us a masterful and amazingly intimate portrait of our new pope, the result of exhaustive research and dozens of field interviews, including one with the pope himself. * AUSTEN IVEREIGH, biographer of Pope Francis * The most vivid portrait yet of the pope. * CHRISTOPHER HALE, co-founder of Millennial and former senior fellow of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good * Allen, with the necessary detachment of an outside observer, manages to discern the glimmers of hope we so often fail to see, sculpting the silhouette of a pontiff convinced of the mission of a Church committed to healing. Leo XIV knows that darkness endures but also acknowledges the stubbornness of light. * GONZALO BANDA, University College London Institute of the Americas *