The Holy Spirit once again in this century posed in Latin America to choose the Peter of this time for the Catholic Church. Cardinal Robert Prevosts – of dual nationality: American and Peruvian – was chosen on May 8, feast of Our Lady of Pompeya and the Virgin of Luján.
And the world was also grateful because it was not long in waiting: in fact on Thursday, May 8, from the third smoking it resulted in its choice, and what we met from it was pleasant to the ears and hearts of the people (although I must say that I announced it on Radio Cultura, two Sundays do two Sundays in the program of Pablo de Vita and I had it in my radar with preference).
An Augustinian Pope
A phrase from St. Augustine that cited in his first words directed since the loggia of the blessings to the Roman people gathered in the Plaza delineate his formation and almost safely his Pontiff being: “With you I am a Christian, for you I am a bishop.” Then: humble and close. Its formation of Augustine origin lets us clearly intuit that both community life and poverty and detachment will be aspects that will surely have relief during their pontificate.
Leo XIV: Social Doctrine of the Church + San Francisco’s best friend
Perhaps in the next few days we know the reasons for the choice of his pontifical name, but for now – and at least it is what appears to me in his first 24 hours as Pope – I see an evocation of Pope Leo XIII who with his encyclical rerum novarum gave name and dictated teaching on the abuses and abuse suffered by the workers of that time marked by the nascent industrial revolution. I also see in his name the friend of San Francisco de Asís: León, “The Ovejuela de Dios” in the words of the same “poor”. Two humble lions that also converge in the Argentine Pope Francis who, with his gestures of simplicity and poverty, surprised since his first day as the head of the Church that March 13, 2013. And Premost expressed his admiration and affection for Francisco for a long time: they met in Buenos Aires when Bergoglio was the Buenos Aires archbishop.
Peru in his heart (and in his passport)
That Robert Prevost has dual nationality and that each one indicates a north and a south of America is almost a declaration of principles. Talking to Peruvian friends, they told me that happiness in Chiclayo – a day where the Episcopal Ministry exercised – is immense and sincere. In the United States, Latin communities can be certain that Pope Leo XIV will advocate migrants, and “more bridges-never walls” with the same decision that Francisco did.
Key positions in the Vatican structure
At the time of the new Pontiff, the Cardinal Prevost was deployed activities such as the prefect of the Dicasteria for the bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America: a panoramic view of the governance of the global church, added to a large commitment to the continent that again sees a Pope in which the hopes of the world Catholic people are placed and also of those who approached the “ “Francisco’s semester,” that opened windows that are not going to close again.
The world already has a new Pope, the story of Leo XIV just began to be written and everything suggests that what will have a taste of consolidation of the steps ahead that have occurred in the pontificate of Francisco and continuity in the proposals for renewal and synodality that still wait for their turn to be reality.
*Virginia Bonard is a journalist and writer, author of “The Virgin of San Nicolás” and “Our faith is revolutionary. Jorge Mario Bergoglio”, edited by Grupo Planeta.
By Virginia Bonard
