'I worked with new Pope Leo and everyone I knew gave him the same nickname'

A friend of has revealed the telling nickname he earned after gaining much popularity in Peru.

Robert Francis Prevost, 69, was yesterday elected at the after securing enough votes in the . He is the 267th occupant of the throne of St Peter, and is notably the first American to ever become Pope.

The Rev. Alexander Lam, an Augustinian friar from Peru who knows the new pope, said he was beloved in Peru for his closeness to his people, especially poor people. He said he was a champion of social justice issues and environmental stewardship.

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“Even the bishops of Peru called him the saint, the Saint of the North, and he had time for everyone,” Lam said in an interview with The Associated Press in Rome. “He was the person who would find you along the way. He was this kind of bishop.”

He said that when Francis travelled to Peru in 2018, Prevost camped out with his flock on the ground during the vigil before Francis’ Mass. “Roberto has that style, that closeness. Maybe they are not great institutional gestures, but are in human gestures.”

Chicago-born Prevost began studying to become a priest with the Catholic Church at the age of 18, before going on to graduate from Villanova University in Pennsylvania with a degree in mathematics in 1977.

Following his graduation Prevost first went to Peru in 1985 as a missionary before being named the Roman Catholic Diocese for the Chulucanas region that same year. Prevost returned to work as a pastor in Chicago in 1987 for one year before becoming the head of the Augustinian seminary in Trujillo, Peru - a role he kept for a decade.

In 1998, he was elected as the head of the Augustinian Province of Chicago, making him one of the leading religious figures in the United States. While he makes history as the first American pope, the religious leader has not been shy about his disapproval of President in the past.

Despite this, the US leader was one of the first notable figures to congratulate Pope Leo on his new role, he will 'look forward to meeting' the new pontiff in a post on his Truth Social platform.

On Thursday evening Pope Leo stepped out onto St Peter's balcony to greet the crowds gathered in the square - and the - for the first time as the 267th pope. He waved to the thousands in the square as they cheered and chanted his name. He spoke in Italian and then switched to Spanish, recalling his many years spent as a missionary and then archbishop of Chiclayo, Peru.

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