by Carmen Ãlvarez Cuadrado / Santi Taboada

Pope Leo XIV has turned 71, one year after celebrating his 70th birthday on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

“It’s a coincidence, but perhaps providential, that this servant was born precisely on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross,” Pope Leo said during his 2025 birthday celebration. “I really can’t separate the two celebrations.”

And, like any birthday celebration, there were candles to blow out and a toast to make.

Pope Leo is not the first pontiff to mark a milestone birthday in a memorable way.

In 2017, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated his 90th birthday with a beer in hand. Pope Francis also spent some of his birthdays sharing cake with children.

Now, as Pope Leo celebrates another year, the occasion offers a chance to look back at the life of Robert Prevost and his path to the papacy.

He was born Sept. 14, 1955, in Chicago, the youngest of three brothers. He grew up with his mother, Mildred.

Prevost became an Augustinian at age 22 and trained as a philosopher, mathematician, theologian and canon lawyer.

He was ordained a priest in Rome in 1982. At age 30, he was sent on mission to Peru, a country that later granted him citizenship.

In 2001, he was elected prior general of the Augustinians, a position he held until 2013.

He later went to Chiclayo as diocesan administrator. A year later, Pope Francis appointed him bishop.

Prevost remained there until 2023, when Francis called him to Rome to serve as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. Soon afterward, Francis made him a cardinal.

Then came the conclave.

Prevost entered dressed in red and emerged in white.

Today, the Chicago native once known as Robert Prevost is known around the world as Pope Leo XIV.