Available April 2026, journalist Elise Ann Allen and PRH Christian release the new biography of Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (February 5, 2026)—As global attention turns to May 8, the one-year anniversary of Pope Leo XIV’s election, journalist Elise Ann Allen will release Pope Leo XIV: The Biography (on sale April 28, 2026; Image; ISBN 9798217155705). The biography arrives as journalists, policymakers, religious leaders, and laypeople alike undertake a worldwide assessment on what Pope Leo XIV’s first year in office signals for global public life.
Allen, a Crux correspondent who first met the man formerly known as Robert Prevost in 2018, includes exclusive transcripts from his first-ever public interview as pope, as well as stories and reflections from those who know him personally.
PRH Christian Senior Vice President and Publisher Campbell Wharton said,
“Elise Ann Allen’s rare, firsthand access to Pope Leo XIV makes this biography especially insightful. She wasn’t observing Robert Prevost from a distance, but spent years in the room with him—listening and asking hard questions before the world watched him become the first American pope. What emerges is a portrait rooted in humility, and a vision of leadership that is going to help the Church rethink authority, community, and moral responsibility in a fractured world. The book is a fascinating front row seat into Pope Leo’s life and thinking, and how these might influence the ways he is potentially going to shape the Catholic church for the next generation.”
Based on years of reporting and extensive conversations, Pope Leo XIV: The Biography offers an inside account of the man behind a papacy that has drawn global attention. Allen uses her unprecedented access to trace Prevost’s childhood in Chicago, his years as an Augustinian priest and a missionary in Peru, and the influential role he came to play in the Vatican as head of bishops—which ultimately led to his unexpected election in the 2025 conclave. She shares the consistency of Prevost’s character before and after his appointment, writing, “I was especially impressed by his humbleness, frankness, tranquility, and sense of transparency that he conveyed in our conversations.”
Allen positions Pope Leo XIV as a voice whose influence extends beyond leading the spiritual life for 1.3 billion Catholics worldwide. The book highlights Leo XIV’s expanding role as a global statesman. Allen examines how he’s joined other world leaders in shaping international conversations on moral authority, inequality, political division, labor, and technological disruption, while also advancing internal Vatican reforms.
Originally published in Spanish in fall 2025 as El Papa León XIV: Ciudadano del mundo, misionero del siglo XXI (ORIGEN), the book now reaches English-language readers in time for Pope Leo XIV’s first papal anniversary.
Pope Leo XIV: The Biography will release in hardcover, e-book, and audio formats from Image, a Catholic imprint of Penguin Random House, on April 28, 2026.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Elise Ann Allen is a correspondent in Rome for the specialized media outlet Crux. Before joining Crux, Allen worked with Catholic News Agency, first as a multimedia and content management assistant in Denver, Colorado. She holds a degree in philosophy and communication from the University of Northern Colorado.
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER:
Image—an imprint of PRH Christian, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC—has been dedicated to publishing solid, unswerving, admirable Catholic resources for over fifty years. The quality of books published by Image is unparalleled and each offering is sure to deepen the Catholic reader’s faith. Notable authors include Pope Francis, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Bishop Robert Barron, Brant Pitre, Flannery O’Connor, and Henri Nouwen.
To request interviews or excerpts, please contact:
PRH Christian publicists Ava Perego at perego@penguinrandomhouse.com and
Becca Schriner at rschriner@penguinrandomhouse.com
