ARTICLE:
New biography reveals Pope Leo XIV's journey from Peru to the papacy
(our website) - There's been no shortage of books authored profiling the first American pope, Leo XIV, since his May 8, 2025, election. But only one concludes with a 35-page, in-person interview with the pontiff himself.
"Pope Leo XIV: The Biography" (Image/Penguin Random House) by Elise Ann Allen, senior correspondent for the Catholic news site Crux - founded by her husband and acclaimed Vatican analyst John L. Allen, Jr., lost to cancer in January - takes readers on the traditional journey from childhood to present.
But it's also sprinkled with the insights of someone who has known, broken bread with and hosted the now-pope in her home since 2018, when he was still Bishop Robert Francis Prevost.
The pope's own words in discussion with Allen are woven throughout, as well as the words of family, friends, parishioners and colleagues who have known him - i.e., what he says about himself, and what others say of him.
Making a difference
Within the first few pages, Allen addresses the current fractured and fractious global environment - dominated as it is by geopolitical conflicts and economic inequality - and asks just how Pope Leo can expect to make a difference.
The answer might surprise.
"What pastoral and spiritual message can Leo, as an American, potentially offer to this contemptuous and often toxic environment that plagues the world, especially his home country of the United States?" she queries. "It can be summed up in one word: friendship."
Allen tells readers the pope believes friendship can truly change the world; indeed, that it is the path to peace; a "path beyond polarization." It's that simple - and yet, as everyone knows, it's also that complex. Friendships take hard work and constant cultivation; friendships require both give and take.
Along the way, Allen's text is punctuated with anecdotes both charming and revealing: As bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, the pope liked to drive his own car and sing along to music (The Mamas & the Papas); a childhood neighbor repeatedly predicted he would be the first American pope; he won't start a fight, but nor will he run away from one; he is demanding with himself, but merciful with those around him; he is a tireless worker, to the point of being a workaholic; as a bishop, he promoted the laity and empowered women; he didn't actually think he'd be elected pope.
The path to papacy
For those who were surprised by Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost's election - the conventional wisdom, and his own, being that the hegemony of the United States would never allow for an American pope - Allen's concise summary of his suitability appears in the chapter devoted to his tenure, and many overseas trips, as prior general of the Augustinian order.
"This exposure and hard work on an international level cemented him as a citizen of the world," she notes. "Having been born in a powerful western nation and formed as a canon lawyer in Rome and a missionary in South America, he then became a global leader, also in Africa and Asia."
"Over time," Allen concludes, "this solidified the arguments for his candidacy for the papacy when the occasion arose, especially after being appointed first a bishop and then as the leader of the Dicastery for Bishops."
This, then, is the key not only to Pope Leo's election - it's also a succession of vocational experiences critical to understanding his papacy.
A pope for our time
As his extended apostolic journey to Africa has just proven, Leo's earlier global grounding has produced a pope capable of the species of thoughtful diplomacy that delivers both warm pastoral connections and forceful social messages.
The exclusive interview at the end of the book covers a wide range of topics, including the nature of the papacy; geopolitics; polarization; synodality; the LGBTQ community; the liturgy; reform of the Vatican Curia; the clerical abuse crisis; ecumenism and interfaith dialogue; artificial intelligence; and hope.
Allen dubs Pope Leo "a pontiff for modern times" and "a missionary for the twenty-first century" - and as such, he is perhaps uniquely positioned to be an agent of positive change.
While Vatican watchers anticipate just how he will achieve that task, they would do well to equip themselves with a copy of "Pope Leo XIV: The Biography" for an informative and intriguing "insider" introduction to both the man and his mission - past, present, and future.
Kimberley Heatherington is an our website correspondent. She writes from Virginia.
