The journey of Bob Prevost of the South Side of Chicago to Pope Leo XIV of the Holy See could not have been foreseen when the new pope was a Chicago kid in the 1960s or when he was a math major at Villanova in the 1970s. Every pope since 1523 — 45 men sitting as successors to St. Peter as bishop of Rome — had been Italians.
But the Church was changing. A year out of college, Prevost took his first vows in September 1978, a month before Karol Wojtyła, a Pole, was elected Pope John Paul II. He was followed by Joseph Ratzinger, a German, who was elected Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. And a dozen years ago, Argentine Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected by the assembled cardinals as Pope Francis.
Now there is an American pope, and one who uses Twitter. His online rebuke of President Trump and Vice President JD Vance for their harsh and cruel immigration policies aligns with the humane and compassionate approach of Francis and church teachings. The newly named Leo will be a welcome voice, with a Midwestern accent, against the unchristian attitude of the present administration towards people fleeing oppression and persecution.
And unlike Trump and Vance, Leo understands the importance and dire threat of climate change, again following Francis. Having served as a priest and bishop in Peru for decades, Leo knows deeply of the struggles of the developing world, allowing him to be a bridge between rich and poor nations.
Even the name the new pontiff has selected for himself says something. The last Leo, Leo XIII, who served in the Vatican from 1878 until 1903, was the first pope in more than 1,000 years to not rule the Papal States as a king. But more significantly, it was Leo XIII who promulgated the first modern encyclical on social justice and on workers’ rights.
The 1891 Rerum novarum, with the English title “Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor,” mapped out the need for fairness in working hours and wages and the rights of labor. More than a century later, that need continues today.
Over the weekend, Trump put an image on his Truth Social of him being Pope Donald I, a crude comparison that Cardinal Dolan didn’t appreciate. While Trump did get the citizenship of the new pontiff correct, Leo’s views on how we should treat other humans is so far at odds with the shameful attitude of the president.
Stalin joked at the Potsdam Conference about how many divisions does the pope have. The Soviet dictator, the Man of Steel, was the type of tyrant that Trump chillingly admires. Not since the end of the Papal States in 1870 has the pope commanded troops, but he does lead men (and women).
The new pope Leo spoke from the balcony in St. Peter’s Square only in Italian and Spanish yesterday, which is fair as his new job is being bishop of Rome and he has had decades of pastoral duties in Peru, where he was granted citizenship. But Bob Prevost is still an American and a lifelong White Sox fan, befitting his South Side roots. And soon Americans will hear him in his native English.
