Pope Leo XIV celebrates his first Mass on Friday after his historic election as the primary North American pope, meeting with the cardinals who selected him to guide the Catholic Church and follow in Pope Francis’ reform-minded footsteps.
Leo, the Chicago-born Augustinian missionary Robert Prevost, surprised the world Thursday when he emerged on the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, overcoming the standard prohibition against a pope from the United States.
The 69-year-old wore the standard red cape — which Francis had eschewed on his election in 2013 — and trappings of the papacy, suggesting a return to a point of rule-following after Francis’ unorthodox pontificate.
But in naming himself Leo, the brand new pope could even have desired to signal a powerful line of continuity: Brother Leo was the thirteenth century friar who was a fantastic companion to St. Francis of Assisi, the late pope’s namesake.
“Together, we must try to search out out easy methods to be a missionary church, a church that builds bridges, establishes dialogue, that’s all the time open to receive — like on this piazza with open arms — to give you the option to receive everybody that needs our charity, our presence, dialogue and love,” Leo said in near-perfect Italian in his first comments to the world.
Prevost had been a number one candidate for the papacy since Francis tapped him to be head of the Vatican’s powerful Dicastery for Bishops, which vets bishop nominations around the globe. There had long been a taboo on a U.S. pope, given America’s superpower status within the secular world, but Prevost prevailed, perhaps because he’s also a Peruvian citizen and had lived for years in Peru, first as a missionary after which as bishop.
Francis, the primary Latin American pope, clearly had his eye on Prevost and in some ways saw him as his heir apparent. He sent Prevost to take over an advanced diocese in Peru in 2014, then brought him to the Vatican in 2023. Earlier this 12 months, Francis elevated Prevost into the senior ranks of cardinals, giving him prominence going into the conclave that few other cardinals had.
Since arriving in Rome, Prevost had kept a low public profile but was well-known to the boys who count. Significantly, he presided over one of the crucial revolutionary reforms Francis made, when he added three women to the voting bloc that decides which bishop nominations to forward to the pope.
“Even the bishops of Peru called him the saint, the Saint of the North, and he had time for everybody,” said the Rev. Alexander Lam, an Augustinian friar from Peru who knows the brand new pope.
The crowd in St. Peter’s Square erupted in cheers Thursday when white smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel shortly after 6 p.m. on the second day of the conclave. Waving flags from around the globe, tens of hundreds of individuals were surprised an hour later when the senior cardinal deacon announced the winner was Prevost.
U.S. President Donald Trump said it was “such an honor for our country” for the brand new pope to be American.
“What greater honor can there be?” he said. The president added that “we’re a bit bit surprised and we’re blissful.”
An Augustinian pope
The last pope to take the name Leo was Leo XIII, an Italian who led the church from 1878 to 1903. That Leo softened the church’s confrontational stance toward modernity, especially science and politics and laid the inspiration for contemporary Catholic social thought. His most famous encyclical, Rerum Novarum of 1891, addressed staff’ rights and capitalism initially of the commercial revolution and was highlighted by the Vatican in explaining the brand new pope’s alternative of name.
Vatican watchers said Prevost’s decision to call himself Leo was particularly significant given the previous Leo’s legacy of social justice and reform, suggesting continuity with a few of Francis’ chief concerns. Specifically, Leo cited one in all Francis’ key priorities of creating the Catholic Church more attentive to put people and inclusive.
“He is continuous a variety of Francis’ ministry,’’ said Natalia Imperatori-Lee, the chair of non secular studies at Manhattan University within the Bronx. But she also said his election could send a message to the U.S. church, which has been badly divided between conservatives and progressives, with much of the right-wing opposition to Francis coming from there.
“I believe it will be exciting to see a special sort of American Catholicism in Rome,’’ Imperatori-Lee said.
Archbishop Bernard Hebda, of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, told reporters he never thought he would see an American pope, given the questions of how he would navigate coping with a U.S. president, especially someone like Trump.
“And so I just never imagined that we might have an American pope, and I even have great confidence that Pope Leo will do an exquisite job of navigating that,” he said.
Looking ahead
Leo was expected to rejoice Mass with cardinals within the Sistine Chapel on Friday, deliver his first Sunday noon blessing from the loggia of St. Peter’s and attend an audience with the media Monday within the Vatican auditorium, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said.
Beyond that, he has a possible first foreign trip at the top of May: Francis had been invited to travel to Turkey to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, a landmark event in Christian history and a crucial moment in Catholic-Orthodox relations. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, welcomed Leo’s election and said he hoped he would join the anniversary celebration.
The recent pope was formerly the prior general, or leader, of the Order of St. Augustine, which was formed within the thirteenth century as a community of “mendicant” friars — dedicated to poverty, service and evangelization. Vatican News said Leo is the primary Augustinian pope.
In Peru, he’s often known as the saintly missionary who waded through mud after torrential rains flooded the region, bringing help to needy people, and because the bishop who spearheaded the lifesaving purchase of oxygen production plants through the COVID-19 pandemic.
“He worked so hard to search out help, that there was not simply enough (money) for one plant, but for 2 oxygen plants,” said Janinna Sesa, who met Prevost while she worked for the church’s Caritas nonprofit.
“He has no problem fixing a broken-down truck until it runs,” she added.
___
Franklin Briceno in Lima Peru, Colleen Barry in Schiavon, Italy and Giada Zampano in Rome contributed.
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely liable for this content.
