Chicago native Robert Francis Prevost has gone by “Bob” for most of his life. On Thursday, the 69-year-old became Pope Leo XIV — the first American ever to lead the Catholic Church and the first native English speaker since 1159. His fellow cardinals elected him after only one day of deliberations.

In many ways, Leo is regarded as a pope in the mould of the late Francis, who two years ago elevated Prevost to a key role in selecting new bishops. But he is also a pragmatic consensus choice who should be able to navigate widening geographic divisions between the Global North and Global South, as well as doctrinal divisions between progressives and traditionalists — even if no one should expect a return of the Latin Mass.

“God loves everyone,” he said in his first public remarks as pope, delivered from the balcony at St Peter’s Basilica. “We can be a missionary church, a church that builds bridges, that is always open to receive everyone.”

Pope Leo is stepping on to one of the world’s most powerful platforms. And he appears willing to make use of it, as Francis did, even if it means criticising his home country. His most recent post on social media was a retweet last month of someone condemning President Donald Trump’s “illicit deportation” of Kilmar Abrego García to El Salvador.

In February, Prevost shared two articles that reacted negatively to the way in which Vice-President JD Vance, a Catholic convert, characterised the concept of “ordo amoris” during a Fox News interview. Vance said it means prioritising one’s family over one’s fellow citizens and, “then after that”, the rest of the world. Prevost posted an article contradicting Vance from the National Catholic Reporter, arguing that “Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others”.

In 2022, with Francis’s support, Prevost added three women to the group that votes on whether bishop nominations should advance to the pope.

At the same time, Prevost has expressed socially conservative views that are consistent with traditional Catholic doctrine, including a 2012 speech that described the “homosexual lifestyle” as “at odds with the gospel”. More recently, he opposed the Peruvian Government’s plan to teach that there are more than two genders.

In recent days, insiders have said that if Prevost was to be picked, it would be in spite of, not because of, his Americanness. Indeed, he spent much of his career in the Global South. Prevost’s nickname in Rome has been “Latin Yankee” because, after growing up on Chicago’s South Side, he spent two decades in Peru, where he became a dual citizen. As a young man, he earned a degree in mathematics from Villanova University in Pennsylvania in 1977 and taught physics as a substitute teacher in Chicago while he earned a master’s in divinity at the Catholic Theological Union. He was ordained in 1982 and later led the Order of St Augustine.

Pope Leo takes over a Catholic Church that faces immense challenges, including serious financial problems. He has been criticised in some quarters for not aggressively dealing with priests accused of sexual abuse during former postings, although his former diocese in Peru says that he always handled accusations according to church policy. Transparency on this issue is essential as the Church seeks to regain trust from wayward parishioners.

A pope has special obligations to the billion-plus Catholics around the world, yet he also is considered an exemplar of moral leadership for all humankind. In recent years, Prevost has spoken eloquently about how bishops must not live in isolation or hide behind their authority, but serve their flocks in public as pastors and teachers. He now has an enormous opportunity to follow his own good advice.