Vatican City: Bishop Robert Francis Prevost, the American-American missionary to Peru, was named by Pope Francis on Monday as the successor to the retired Canadian who has recently been accused of sexual misconduct in the influential bishop's office at the Vatican.
Prevost, a Chicago native and a former senior official of the Augustinian Order, which began service in Peru in the 1980s, holds the important office of the Pontifical Council that helps scrutinize bishop nominations globally and appoints bishops. Also looks into claims of misconduct or negligence against.
Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the outgoing head of the department for bishops, was one of the few Vatican princes whom Pope Francis kept in an apparent show of confidence in the years since Pope Benedict XVI's pontificate.
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At 78, Ouellette is three years older than the normal age for a bishop to retire, and speculation about his replacement has been rife for months.
Ouellet has recently been the subject of allegations of misconduct from his time as archbishop of Quebec, which he vehemently denies.
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Ouellet filed a civil suit against his accuser in Canada for alleged defamation after the Vatican dropped the case against him last year due to insufficient grounds to proceed.
From 2001 to 2013, Prevost, 67, served as head of the Augustinian Order in Rome. In 2014, he was appointed apostolic administrator and later bishop of Chiclayo in northern Peru, an area where the Chicago Augustinians have long had a presence. He also served as head of the order for the Chicago province.
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Prevost, like Ouellet, will serve as head of the Vatican's Pontifical Commission for Latin America.