The nine months since the unexpected elevation of Cardinal Robert Prevost to the papacy as Pope Leo XIV have given the Church and the wider world an opportunity to understand a little better this unassuming Augustinian – the first American to occupy the ancient throne of Peter. As a bishop in rural Peru, Prevost tended to his flock unobtrusively, away from the glare of the press or commentariat. When he emerged on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica to give his first blessing as supreme pontiff, the prognosticators had precious little to go on. By now, Leo’s words and his moments of silence, his actions and deliberate restraint, give clues as to the man, his leadership and the tone of his papacy.