A first American pope? Cardinal Robert Prevost’s name comes up as a potential successor to Pope Francis

Vatican City — Of the 266 popes who have led the Catholic Church, not one of them has been from the United States. While the relative youth of the nation means fewer than 20 of those men served after the U.S. Declaration of Independence in 1776, one prominent U.S. bishop has a possible explanation for the lack of an American leader of the world’s Catholics up until now.

Robert Barron, bishop of the Diocese of Winona–Rochester in Minnesota, was appointed less than a week ago by President Trump to the new White House Commission on Religious Liberty.

This week, however, he’s at the Vatican with hundreds of other prelates as the cardinal electors gather for the conclave to choose a new pontiff to succeed Pope Francis.

Barron has spent days speaking with the cardinals — including the 133 cardinal electors tasked with electing the new pope — as they try to figure out among themselves who is best to lead the church next.

“Cardinal George of Chicago, of happy memory, was one of my great mentors, and he said: ‘Look, until America goes into political decline, there won’t be an American pope.’ And his point was, if America is kind of running the world politically, culturally, economically, they don’t want America running the world religiously. So, I think there’s some truth to that, that we’re such a superpower and so dominant, they don’t wanna give us, also, control over the church.” 

That said, one American name has popped up repeatedly amid the gossip over leading contenders for the role of pontiff: Cardinal Robert Prevost.

He is undoubtedly qualified, as the only clear qualifications for the role of pontiff are that candidates be male and Roman Catholic. But emerging on top, with the necessary backing of just over two-thirds of the voting cardinal electors, will require far more than just eligibility.

Originally from Chicago, Prevost is the head of the church’s Dicastery for Bishops. The powerful position means he oversees the selection of new bishops. 

For any cardinal electors who may be turned off by Prevost’s American nationality, it’s not his only one. He’s a dual citizen, holding nationality in both the U.S. and Peru, where he served for many years.

While Prevost is seen overall as a centrist, on some key social issues he’s viewed as progressive. He has long embraced marginalized groups, a lot like Francis, who championed migrants and the poor. 

But, also like Pope Francis, the Illinois native opposes ordaining women as deacons, for instance, so on that point he’s seen as conservative on church doctrine.

contributed to this report.

Chris Livesay

Chris Livesay is a CBS News foreign correspondent based in Rome.