Pope Leo XIV asked Sunday for prayers for China’s Catholics to be in communion with the Holy See, as he made his first public remarks about one of the thorniest foreign policy issues facing his new pontificate.

History’s first American pope recalled that on Saturday the Catholic Church marked a special feast day to pray for the church in China. Pope Benedict XVI had initiated the feast day as part of his efforts to unify China’s estimated 12 million Catholics who were divided between an official, state-controlled church that didn’t recognize papal authority, and an underground church that remained loyal to Rome through decades of persecution.

Leo noted that on the feast day “in the churches and shrines in China and throughout the world, prayers have been raised to God as a sign of the solicitude and affection for Chinese Catholics and their communion with the universal church.”

Speaking from his studio window during his noontime blessing, Leo prayed that Catholics in China and elsewhere “obtain the grace to be strong and joyful witnesses of the Gospel, even in the midst of trials, to always promote peace and harmony.”

Pope Francis took Benedict’s unifying efforts further by approving a controversial deal in 2018 over bishop nominations. The details of the deal were never released, but it affords the state-controlled church a say in its church leaders, though Francis insisted he retained veto power over the ultimate choice.

The deal has been criticized by some, especially on the Catholic right, for having caved to Beijing’s demands and sold out the underground faithful in China. The Vatican has said it was the best deal it could get and it has been renewed periodically since then.

Leo will have to decide whether to continue renewing the accord. There have been some apparent violations on the Beijing side with some unilateral appointments that occurred without papal consent. The issue came to a head just before the conclave that elected Leo pope, when the Chinese church proceeded with the preliminary election of two bishops, a step that comes before official consecration.

Leo told the archbishop of Hong Kong, Cardinal Stephen Chow, that he had “visited China several times and got to know the Chinese culture and reality,” according to the Fides missionary news agency, citing comments Chow made in his diocesan weekly newsletter after the conclave.

Chow added that he expected Leo would follow Francis’ direction for the church in China. He said he had given Leo a small statue of Our Lady of Sheshan, a statue of the Madonna that is particularly venerated by Chinese faithful and is celebrated on the feast day, May 24.

Chow, a Jesuit, said he had implored Leo “to not forget the church in China and the Chinese people,” according to the newsletter. “He nodded his head to indicate that he will not forget,” according to Fides.

The Vatican has been working for years to try to improve relations with China that were officially severed over seven decades ago when the Communists came to power. Relations had long been stymied over China’s insistence on its exclusive right to name bishops as a matter of national sovereignty, while the Vatican insisted on the pope’s exclusive right to name the successors of the original Apostles.

The 2018 deal was aimed at uniting the flock, regularizing the status of seven bishops who weren’t recognized by Rome and thawing decades of estrangement between China and the Vatican.

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Pope Leo XIV Elected to the papacy on May 8, 2025, Leo XIV became the first American pope in history. He was born Robert Prevost in Chicago in 1955, served as a missionary in Peru, and was head of the Augustinian order from 2001 to 2013. (more)

Leo XIV pope Ask the Chatbot a Question Ask the Chatbot a Question Also known as: Robert Francis Prevost

Table of Contents

Table of Contents Ask the Chatbot

Top Questions Who is Leo XIV? Leo XIV is the pope, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. Born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago in 1955, he was elected to the papacy on May 8, 2025, becoming the first American pope in history. What did Leo XIV do before becoming pope in 2025? Before becoming pope in 2025, Leo XIV was an Augustinian priest who did extensive missionary work in Peru and served as prior and director of missions and vocations of the Augustinian province in Chicago. He was head of the worldwide Augustinian order from 2001 to 2013. He was made a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2023. What is Leo XIV’s educational background? Leo XIV attended Villanova University (near Philadelphia), earning a B.A. in mathematics in 1977. He later studied at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and received a master’s in divinity in 1982. He also studied canon law at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, earning his license in 1984 and his doctorate in 1987.

Leo XIV (born September 14, 1955, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.) is the pope, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. He was elected to the papacy on May 8, 2025, succeeding Pope Francis and becoming the first American pope in history. An Augustinian priest who performed extensive missionary work in Peru and served as head of the Augustinian order from 2001 to 2013, he was made a cardinal by Francis in 2023. He brings a reputation for being a fair, deft administrator and a political moderate, and he is expected to continue his predecessor’s agenda for the church.

Background and education Hailing from the far South Side of Chicago, Prevost was one of three children born to Louis and Mildred (Martínez) Prevost, a school principal and a librarian, respectively. He attended a local Catholic elementary school and served as an altar boy, then entered St. Augustine Seminary High School in Holland, Michigan, graduating in 1973. From there Prevost enrolled in Villanova University near Philadelphia, earning a B.A. in mathematics in 1977. That same year he began his novitiate in the Augustinian order and took his solemn vows four years later. He was ordained a priest in 1982. Prevost studied at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and received a master’s in divinity in 1982. He then headed to Rome to study canon law at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas. He earned a license in canon law in 1984. His doctoral thesis (1987) was on the role of the local prior in the Augustinian order. Get Unlimited Access Try Britannica Premium for free and discover more. Subscribe

Missionary work in Peru and career in Chicago In 1985 Prevost began missionary work with the Augustinians in Peru, and he was quickly made chancellor (1985–86) of the territorial prelature in Chulucanas. From 1987 to 1988 he served as director of vocations and missions of the Midwest Augustinian Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel in Chicago. Beginning in 1988 he would spend the next decade in Peru as director of an Augustinian seminary in Trujillo. He took on many roles there, including teaching canon law and serving as a parish priest, prefect of the diocesan seminary in Trujillo, and judicial vicar of the Trujillo archdiocese. Prevost returned to Chicago in 1999 to serve as prior of Our Mother of Good Counsel. His tenure in this role later proved controversial after he allegedly signed off on a decision to allow a priest who had been accused of sexually abusing minors to live in a monastery close to a school. His defenders would later say that he was following the U.S. church’s protocol, which had yet to adopt new standards regarding clergy abuse accusations.

Head of the Augustinians and elevation to bishop and cardinal Prevost was elected prior general of the entire Augustinian order in 2001, which required him to live in Rome. Serving two terms in this role, he earned a reputation as an effective administrator. In 2014 Francis appointed Prevost apostolic administrator of the diocese of Chiclayo in Peru, and the following year Prevost was made bishop of the diocese. He also served as second vice president and as a council member of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference from 2018 to 2023. Prevost’s time in Peru at this stage received criticism for his alleged mishandling of sexual abuse allegations against two priests, although the diocese maintains that he followed correct procedures and that the accusations were investigated. At the same time, he and other Peruvian bishops were seen as a stabilizing force during political upheavals and disagreements between proponents of liberation theology and the conservative Peruvian-based religious group Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV; Sodality of Christian Life). The Peruvian Episcopal Conference noted that Prevost played a crucial role in a truth commission that exposed corruption and abuse in SCV, which was officially dissolved by Pope Francis in April 2025. Prevost was appointed prefect of the Roman Curia’s Dicastery for Bishops in January 2023, a powerful role that put him in charge of selecting bishops around the world. He was also appointed president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. Later that year he was made a cardinal by Francis.

First American pope Celebrating the first American pope Crowds in St. Peter’s Square reacting to the announcement that U.S. Cardinal Robert Prevost has been elected pope, choosing the name Leo XIV, in Vatican City on May 8, 2025. (more) A citizen of both the United States and Peru (naturalized in 2015), he is the second pope to come from the Western Hemisphere (his predecessor, Pope Francis of Argentina, was the first). As the first pope from North America, Leo’s election is especially historic and breaks from the traditional view that a papal candidate should not be selected from a global superpower. However, some observers have noted that his dual citizenship and experience working with the poor in Peru could assuage concerns of the United States influencing church governance. Why hasn’t there been an American pope?

CNA Staff, May 14, 2025 / 06:00 am

Catholics around the world continue to celebrate the election last week of Pope Leo XIV, the first pope from the United States. In addition to being a natural-born American citizen, Leo is also a naturalized citizen of Peru, having ministered there for decades.

His election as pope raises several interesting questions from a nationality law perspective. Chiefly: can a U.S. citizen become king of a foreign country and still remain an American citizen?

The pope is, after all, an absolute monarch; he possesses, as the Vatican’s Fundamental Law explains, “the fullness of the power of government, which includes the legislative, executive, and judicial powers” of the Vatican City State — a sovereign country that maintains relations with over 175 other nations — and the Holy See, which is the central governing authority of the Church.

Paul Hunker, an American immigration attorney and a Catholic, told CNA that U.S. federal law — specifically 8 U.S. Code § 1481 — spells out some very specific conditions under which a U.S. citizen can lose his or her citizenship.

These can include committing an act of treason, obtaining naturalization in a foreign state, and, crucially, accepting a position as a foreign head of state. The key, though, is that in order to be “expatriating,” these things must be done by a person voluntarily and with the intention of relinquishing their U.S. nationality.

The U.S. State Department says it generally presumes that U.S. citizens, even if they accept a foreign government post, want to keep their citizenship unless “clearly and credibly” established otherwise.

Hunker said in the pope’s case, Leo would likely need to affirm an intention to renounce his citizenship directly to a consular officer at the U.S. embassy in Rome — something Leo has not signaled any intention to do.

“I think unless he comes forward and says, ‘I have the intention of relinquishing my U.S. nationality,’ then he is not considered to have lost his U.S. citizenship,” Hunker said.

Trending 1 2 3 4 5

“At a deep level, I think it says something great about our country: When you’re born here, the government can’t kick you out — unless you affirmatively say that you’re renouncing your citizenship.”

However, the State Department does go on to say that it may “actively review cases in which a U.S. national is elected or otherwise appointed to serve as a foreign head of state, foreign head of government, or foreign minister,” as such cases “raise complex questions of international law, including issues related to the level of immunity from U.S. jurisdiction that the person so serving may be afforded.”

Whatever ultimately transpires regarding Leo’s U.S. citizenship, Pope Leo will potentially have to continue filing a tax return with the IRS as an American citizen living abroad — another potentially complex oddity that is uncharted territory since Poland, Germany, and Argentina, the homelands of the last three popes, don’t tax their citizens abroad. It might require a private letter from the IRS or a specific law from Congress addressing Leo’s situation, the Washington Post reported.

But what about Leo’s Peruvian citizenship? Under the Peruvian Constitution, Peruvian nationality — even if obtained through naturalization — is not lost except by express renunciation before a Peruvian authority. Thus, the status of Leo’s Peruvian citizenship is similar to that of his U.S. citizenship: He’ll likely keep it unless he specifically chooses to renounce it.

So now that he’s the pope, does Leo also have Vatican citizenship? Yes and no.

Andrea Gagliarducci, a Vatican analyst for CNA, said Leo would already have had a Vatican passport, as every cardinal and curial official is given one as part of their office; possessing the passport gives them what is known as “functional citizenship.”

However, Gagliarducci noted that under canon law, it’s not really accurate to say that the pope is a “citizen” of the Holy See, because the Holy See and the pope are one and the same.

“The pope is not [a] citizen, he is the whole Holy See,” Gagliarducci explained. “The pope does not need a passport nor a citizenship, because he is the source of every citizenship.”

(Story continues below)

Given Leo’s broad new temporal powers as pope, there would appear to be no reason he couldn’t maintain his other citizenships if he wanted to — there’s even precedent for this, as in 2014 Pope Francis renewed his Argentinian passport, though Francis never returned there during his 12-year pontificate.

For his part, Gagliarducci said Francis’ maintenance of his Argentinian citizenship was simply “not necessary.”

“I mean, there is no harm in keeping the passports, but they are no longer needed and useful. The Vatican gives you a passport and lets you retain all of your citizenship along with that passport,” he said.

“[But] you cannot consider the pope a Peruvian, a U.S. citizen, or whatever. He is the Holy See. This is different; it is another world.”