{"id":39440,"date":"2025-05-09T11:15:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T11:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=39440"},"modified":"2025-05-09T06:31:17","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T06:31:17","slug":"pope-leo-xiv-why-the-college-of-cardinals-chose-the-chicago-native-and-augustinian-to-lead-the-church-after-francis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/pope-leo-xiv-why-the-college-of-cardinals-chose-the-chicago-native-and-augustinian-to-lead-the-church-after-francis\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo XIV: Why the College of Cardinals chose the Chicago native and Augustinian to lead the church after Francis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Joanne M. Pierce<\/a>, College of the Holy Cross<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the 69-year-old Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost on May 8, 2025, appeared on the main balcony<\/a> of St. Peter\u2019s Basilica for the first time as Pope Leo XIV, he was cheered loudly by the huge crowd of pilgrims, tourists, local Catholics and other onlookers, who had waited hours for the first sign of white smoke and the official announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a specialist in Catholic history and ritual<\/a>, I know how important this moment was for Catholics and others all over the world. A new pope brings with him a sense of excitement often mixed with uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the choice of the College of Cardinals came as a surprise to some<\/a>. Prevost is the first pope from the United States, and, traditionally, the European-dominated College of Cardinals has had reservations about choosing a cardinal from the U.S. for fear of too much American influence in the church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, who is Prevost and what might have influenced the cardinals\u2019 vote?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early experiences<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Prevost joined a Catholic religious order<\/a> at the age of 20: the Order of St. Augustine, called Augustinians, founded in the 13th century. Instead of withdrawing from the world in isolated monasteries, members of this order traveled as mendicants to aid the poor as well as serve as missionaries<\/a> and teachers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prevost studied theology both in the U.S. and in Rome and, as a newly ordained priest, spent a year in Peru. After a short return to the U.S. as an official of the Augustinian order in Illinois, he returned to Peru as a seminary professor to teach canon law, the legal structure of the Catholic Church. He would stay in Peru for the next 10 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1999, he became the prior \u2013 that is, the head \u2013 of the local Augustinian province in Chicago, and was later elected prior of the worldwide Augustinian order. This gave him a truly global experience, since the Augustinians had some 50 communities spread across every continent<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2015, Pope Francis appointed him bishop<\/a> for the diocese of Chiclayo in Peru. In 2019, Francis appointed him a member of several important Vatican dicasteries, or departments, where he became very familiar with the central church administration. Most importantly, he served as prefect \u2013 or chairman \u2013 on the Dicastery for Bishops<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Catholics hold a photo of newly elected Pope Leo XIV, in front of the Cathedral of Chiclayo, Peru, on May 8, 2025, where he served as bishop for several years. AP Photo\/Manuel Medina<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In fact, because of his lengthy pastoral experience in Peru and service at the Vatican, some commentators had noted before Prevost was chosen that<\/a>, if the cardinals were to elect an American pope, it would be him. His service on the Dicastery for Bishops was considered especially important, since members play a key role in selecting new bishops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global church<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

During the 20th century, especially after the Second Vatican Council<\/a> \u2013 a series of meetings of the world\u2019s bishops to modernize the church, ending in 1965 \u2013 the popes began to name cardinals from other parts of the world that were previously considered to be on the periphery of the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this led to popes being chosen from outside of Italy for the first time in centuries. Pope St. John Paul II was Polish<\/a> and the first non-Italian pope since the 16th century. Pope Benedict XVI was another non-Italian<\/a>, born in Germany, who had served as a Vatican official. Pope Francis was born in South America<\/a> to parents who were Italian-born immigrants to Argentina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The College of Cardinals, which had few representatives from other continents until recently, is now much more international. Some 80% of the cardinal-electors were named by Francis, many from countries that had never before had a cardinal<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In reviewing his record, the cardinal-electors might have taken a number of factors into account. Prevost would be an effective administrator as head of the church, and was an expert in church canon law. He had decades of experience doing pastoral work in South America, as well as in North America. And as prior general of the entire Augustinian Order, he would likely have traveled widely to visit many of the communities he supervised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Papacy under Leo<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The new pope appeared on the Vatican balcony wearing the traditional papal garments: white cassock, short red cape, decorated red and gold stole, and golden cross hanging around his neck. Francis, on the other hand, had appeared dressed in the plain white cassock of a pope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Certainly, he had not chosen the simplicity of Francis. Was this a sign that he would be more of a traditionalist?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His choice of a papal name, I believe, could indicate a different point of view. Pope Leo XIII wrote a groundbreaking encyclical in 1891, \u201cRerum Novarum<\/a>,\u201d subtitled \u201cOn Dignity and Labor.\u201d In this he stressed the rights of workers to unionize and criticized the conditions in which they worked and lived. He also championed other rights the ordinary worker deserved from their bosses and from their government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Pope Leo XIII. Francesco De Federicis via Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In his first remarks from the balcony, offering a glimpse into the direction of his papacy, Leo XIV stressed the role of Catholics and the church as peacemakers and bridge-builders, in dialogue with other religious traditions and cultures. His first words were \u201cPeace be with you all<\/a>,\u201d describing this peace as \u201ca disarmed peace, a disarming peace.\u201d He further urged Catholics to act together \u201cwithout fear \u2026 united with one another \u2026 to build bridges\u201d through dialogue and outreach \u2013 to bring peace to the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He may not follow exactly in Francis\u2019 footsteps, but he will likely continue walking in the same direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joanne M. Pierce<\/a>, Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joanne M. Pierce, College of the Holy Cross When the 69-year-old Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost on May 8, 2025, appeared on the main balcony of St. Peter\u2019s Basilica for the first time as Pope Leo XIV, he was cheered loudly by the huge crowd of pilgrims, tourists, local Catholics and other onlookers, who had waited […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":39441,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[817,10,36,2450,15533],"tags":[778,16292,885,891,886,860,16374,1979,6610,3656,10623,3655],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39440"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39440"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39442,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39440\/revisions\/39442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}