Report by Brad Balfour
There are so many symbolic things in the election of American Bishop Robert Prevost who became the pope of the Catholic Church, that it’s hard to contain them in any one piece. Being renamed Pope Leo XIV is a particularly symbolic gesture in and of itself. That’s because the previous Pope Leo — who was pope around the turn of the 20th Century — had ushered in many of the modern precepts of the Roman Catholic Church.
His papal name was inspired by Pope Leo XIII, who developed modern Catholic social teaching amid the Second Industrial Revolution. Leo XIV believes that the ongoing Fourth Industrial Revolution –– particularly advances in artificial intelligence and robotics –– poses “new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice, and labor”.
Pope Leo XIV celebrated his first Mass last weekend in the Sistine Chapel with the cardinals who elected him. Italian media trumpeted the historic significance of Chicago-born missionary Robert Prevost becoming the first North American pontiff.
“The American Pope: Peace” was the headline in daily Corriere Della Sera, while La Repubblica simply went with “The American Pope.” Both newspapers dedicated roughly half their pages to papal coverage and noted that when the 69-year-old Prevost emerged on St. Peter’s balcony on Thursday, he wore a traditional burgundy stole with gold embroidery draped over his shoulders. This is in contrast to Francis, his predecessor, who opted for all-white vestments upon his election in 2013. There may be differences between them but Prevost represents a continuity with the late Pope.
From an ordinary life born Robert Francis Prevost on September 14, 1955, in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in the nearby suburb of Dolton, he became a friar of the Order of Saint Augustine in 1977. He then was ordained as a priest in 1982. In 1973, as an 18-year-old math whiz from Chicago’s South Side, he was ready to begin his freshman year.
The young Prevost arrived at Villanova at a time of significant social change in history. The school just outside of Philadelphia was at a cultural crossroads. While campus protests swept the nation, students at Villanova were clashing with religious leaders over what they considered to be outdated conservative policies. As a student, the future pope had a front-row seat to this institutional identity crisis. And perhaps in parallel to the way Prevost witnessed the school’s reckoning, he now faces becoming the leader of a divided Catholic Church.
Prevost’s service included extensive missionary work in Peru during the 1980s and ‘90s. There he served as a parish pastor, diocesan official, seminary teacher, and administrator. Elected prior general of the Order of Saint Augustine from 2001 to 2013, he returned to Peru as Bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023. In 2023, Pope Francis appointed him prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, making him a cardinal that same year.
He had a profound relationship to both Peru and Pope Francis, expanding his connection to the Americas beyond just being a North American. A United States citizen by birth, Leo XIV is the first pope to have been born in North America, the first to hold Peruvian citizenship (having been naturalized in 2015), the second pope from the Americas (after his predecessor Francis), and the first from the Order of Saint Augustine.
As a cardinal, he emphasized missionary dialogue, and engagement with social and technological challenges. He also grappled with issues such as climate change, global migration, church governance, and human rights, while expressing alignment with the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
Obviously, as has been stated in many articles published since his elevation to Pope, Leo is quite a contrast from the other American looming large in the media and world — President Donald J. Trump. In many ways the opposite of Trump, the world’s other most powerful American, Provost offers a contrast for those who have had issues with DJT and what he represents as an American.
When the Vatican’s Conclave of cardinals decided that an American-born cardinal would be the next Pope, it was important not only because he came from the new world but also that he offered a very different take on being an American.
Whereas Trump started out wealthy, Prevost came from humble origins. His rise to success was slow and methodical, his rise unexpected and never one in the spotlight. The opposite could be said of President Trump. From a young age, he seized public attention, effectively injecting himself in a s spotlight from an early age. While Prevost lived as a celibate priest, Trump was hyped for the wives and women who surrounded him.
Then there’s the matter of money. Trump celebrates it and the power it embodies. Prevost provides an opposite image of poverty with a focus on humility versus the trappings of power.
Leo is an international figure who stresses universality. Educated in multiple languages, he’s lived in many places with various cultures and peoples. Trump has stressed America First — we need to look out for our interests regardless of everyone else. But both are in this world.
Despite their differences, there is hope that there can be a way forward, forged ahead to bring the two together. As Trump himself has suggested, the Pope could play a role in bringing peace to Ukraine.
And while Prevost/Leo has offered criticisms of some of the administration’s policies, there are possibilities that these global figures will find common ground along the way. Let’s hope so.