“Habemus Papam!” We have a Pope.
We now know who the new Pope is — Robert Francis Prevost, now forever known as Leo XIV. He is the first American Pope and the second pontiff to hail from the Americas. At age sixty-nine, he is the second youngest pope in the modern era, with Saint John Paul II having reached the papacy at age 58.
In his first “Urbi et Orbi,” an apostolic address and blessing to the City of Rome and the world, Pope Leo XIV gave a special greeting to “my dear diocese of Chiclayo, in Peru.” Having spent years working in Peru’s poorest communities, the new Pope’s love for that country became so strong that he became a naturalized citizen.
Pope Leo XIV is also a former leader of the Augustinians, the religious order founded by St. Augustine. In his inaugural remarks, he described himself as “a son of St. Augustine … who said, ‘With you I am a Christian, for you, I am a bishop.’”
As a leader of the Augustinians, the new Pope has traveled the world, becoming fluent in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and French in addition to his native English. Having spent so much time overseas, he is truly our first international Pope.
In January 2023, Pope Francis called Robert Prevost to Rome to name him as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. The Dicastery for Bishops is the Vatican office that selects and manages bishops globally. Nine months later, Pope Francis elevated Archbishop Prevost to the rank of cardinal.
Having served the Catholic Church in numerous capacities, Prevost became known as a capable administrator, a quality that surely impressed the cardinal electors as they searched for a successor to Pope Francis.
Today, we know something about who the new Pope is and his background. The question remains what kind of Pope do we have?
There is an inexact analogy one may draw upon here. In 1787, when the U.S. Constitution was being drafted in secrecy, many wondered what would emerge. So secret were the proceedings, that the windows in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall were nailed shut during a hot summer’s July to prevent outsiders from listening in.
What kind of Pope do we now have? I suspect that even the new pontiff doesn’t know how to fully respond. But there are clues.
First, the name. Thirteen prior popes chose the name Leo to guide their pontificates. The last one, Leo XIII, was best known for his advocacy of social justice. In 1891, Leo XIII published an encyclical known as Rerum Novarum. In it, he noted that “working men have been surrendered, isolated and helpless, to the hardheartedness of employers and the greed of unchecked competition.” To remedy the excesses of the new Industrial Age, Leo XIII called for their reinvigoration of “workingmen’s unions.”
In today’s era of globalization and economic upheaval, Pope Leo XIV is signaling his commitment to social justice that will have resonance far beyond the walls of the Vatican. In this, he is likely to be a prophetic voice, one with a worldwide platform that echoes Pope Francis’s repeated calls for social justice and mercy.
An interview Cardinal Prevost gave in 2023 provides important clues about his new pontificate. Asked to name the essential leadership qualities of a bishop, he responded: “Pope Francis has spoken for four types of closeness: closeness to God, to brother bishops, to priests, and to all God’s people.” He added, “One must not give into the temptation to live isolated, separated in a palace, satisfied with a certain social level or a certain level within the church.”
Speaking to the thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Leo XIV gave a clear indication that his pontificate will be a continuation of the themes struck by Pope Francis. Calling upon Jesus Christ to “help us to build bridges, with dialogue, with encounter, uniting all of us to be one people always at peace,” adding, “Thank you, Pope Francis!”
Last year, Cardinal Prevost was a participant at the Synod on Synodality. Gathering priests, bishops, cardinals, and lay persons from all over the world, the assembly spent three weeks discussing the issues facing the church including the role of women, the gay and transgender Catholic community, and the importance of making the Catholic Church a listening church, one akin to Pope Francis’s desire that it be a field hospital that hears all and welcomes all.
Fr. James Martin, a participant at the Synod, recalled that Cardinal Prevost was his tablemate. In a social media post, Martin described Pope Leo XIV as a “kind, open, humble, modest, decisive, hard-working, straightforward, trustworthy, and down-to-earth man.”
And yet there is much we do not know.
In his autobiography, Pope Francis wrote, “I never imagined that I would write four encyclicals and all those letters, documents, apostolic exhortations, nor that I would have made all those journeys to more than sixty countries.”
What the new Pope will write, where he will go, and what impact he will have on the Catholic Church has yet to unfold.
Finally, going from being referred to as “Your Eminence” to “Your Holiness,” changes a man. Before Pope Francis became Pope, the reserved Jesuit rarely smiled for photographers. But as Pope, a smiling Francis kissed babies, hugged children, and prized his “closeness” with those who suffer.
Cardinal Prevost was once depicted as a man without excesses. Father Michael Falcone, an Augustinian priest and former classmate of Prevost’s, described him as someone who would bless babies but never take them in his arms.
But henceforth, Pope Leo XIV occupies the world stage. His life will never be the same.
Yet one thing is clear. In his first address, Pope Leo XVI said, “Let us move forward.” This, too, echoes the words of Pope Francis. In a homily at The Catholic University of America in 2015, Pope Francis said, “Siempre adelante! Keep moving forward!”
Under the leadership of Pope Leo XIV, Catholics can be confident that the Catholic Church will keep moving forward.
John Kenneth White is a Professor Emeritus at The Catholic University of America. His latest book is titled “Grand Old Unraveling: The Republican Party, Donald Trump, and the Rise of Authoritarianism.”
