“Bringing to the Papacy his expertise in Canon Law, and his years of Pastoral Experience in the Order of Saint Augustine, we hope and pray for a fruitful Papacy, and that Pope Leo XIV would bring us forward into the Modern Age, especially as we journey through the Jubilee Year,” states The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cebu in a post on Friday, May 9, 2025, on the election to the papacy of then Robert Francis Cardinal Prevost. 

The post also mentioned that it was over a century ago when a Pope took on the regnal name, or pontifical name, Leo.

“147 years later, the name Leo is once more the successor of Saint Peter. The Papacy of Pope Leo XIII was known for many things, but being the Pope who walked the Church into the Modern Era is one of them. As the Church enters a new era with Pope Leo XIV, let us take a moment to look back, look forward in hope, as we remember the past with gratitude, and look to the future with optimism,” the Archdiocese of Cebu added.

Further, the post mentioned that:

Robert Francis Cardinal Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, is from Chicago, Illinois in the United States of America. 

He was ordained a priest for the Order of Saint Augustine in Rome on June 19, 1982. 

He became the Provincial of the Augustinians in Chicago in 1999, and in 2001, he became the Augustinian Prior General. 

On November 3, 2014, Pope Francis appointed Prevost as apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru and titular bishop of Sufar. 

He was consecrated Bishop on December 12, 2014. He became Bishop of Chiclayo a year later. In 2019, he was appointed as a member of the Congregation for the Clergy. A year later, he was made a member of the Congregation for Bishops.

On January 30, 2023, he was made prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. Later that same year, on September 30, he was made a Cardinal by Pope Francis.

(Courtesy: The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cebu)