How Chicago Shaped Pope Leo XIV

Time​ Magazine

10-05-2025

The election of Robert Prevost as Pope Leo XIV took most of us by surprise. More than most, after spending 12 years in Rome with him as a superior of a religious community, and especially as a fellow classmate at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago from 1977 to 1982, the announcement of ' Robertus Franciscus Prevost ' from the logia of St. Peter's Basilica seemed like something from a movie.
I knew him as 'Bob' and will always think of him this way. We studied together as seminarians and served our communities as international superiors. Yet, this announcement changed everything, and now he is to be counted among the vicars of Peter, whose almost 2,000-year history we pondered in the text books we studied as we prepared for priesthood.
What does the new Pope bring to the Church? He is a man formed by his experience in the church of Chicago, especially the south side—a Church that has often been on the front lines of fighting racial injustice—a Church that has also struggled with racism within its own ranks. He is also a product of the Order of St. Augustine —with its rich and profound spirituality and a charism for teaching and reaching out to the poor. He is also formed by his studies at Catholic Theological Union, a seminary for priests from religious communities conceived in a new mode after Vatican II; one that did not isolate seminarians from the realities of the world in some far-off bucolic location. Rather, it was inspired by the last document of the Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes whose first, immortal words echo so prophetically today: 'The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the people of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ.'
Situated in the city, studying for the priesthood with women religious, lay men and women people, made it clear that the vision of the Church bequeathed to us by the Council was alive and needed to be implemented.
Pope Leo XIV, though, is not just a Pope of the U.S. 'near.' He has spent the bulk of his life in serving the international church—especially the global south 'far.' As a missionary in northern Peru and later as Prior General of the Augustinian order, he comes to this new ministry with an international sensitivity that would be hard to find in other cardinals. While holding a graduate degree in Canon Law, his time in Latin America has taught him that the Church is not to be solely defined as a 'perfect society' ruled by canon law. Rather, it is the faith of the people—Pope Francis' 'Santo Pueblo y Fiel' (Holy Faithful People)—that has imparted the faith to generation after generation in so many parts of the Catholic world. It is obvious that popular religious expressions of the faith, as a real inculturation of the gospel, are an aspect of evangelization to which Pope Leo will be especially sensitive. Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, being a theological school known for outstanding professors of missiology and its international student body, helped prepare Pope Leo for his subsequent ministry that crossed borders and cultures.
It is also obvious that Pope Leo will be following in the path pointed out to the Church by Pope Francis. The issue is simple. If the Church is to continue to effectively proclaim the Gospel, it must be in a position to listen to everyone—especially those on the margins. The way the Church teaches also needs to be more in action than through mere words. Outreach to those who have traditionally not had a strong voice—to the poor, to women, to the vast part of the Church that no longer belongs to Europe or North America, will also be a focused concern for Pope Leo. Dealing with sensitive issues such as LGBTQ persons as well as weighing in on politically charged questions such as the unjust invasion of Ukraine and the plight of Israel and the Palestinians will undoubtedly be a concern on which he will focus.
As a seminary classmate, fellow priest, and fellow Christian, I rejoice in the election of Robert Prevost as our new Holy Father. The nearness of God's grace and God's love is surely manifest in the election of a Holy Father whose origins are from somewhere that to many may seem unlikely and even miraculous. Someone born in Chicago!