Pope Leo XIV, previously often known as Robert Prevost, is the primary American pontiff.
He was elected on Thursday, lower than three weeks after the loss of life of Pope Francis, and his elevation instantly made historical past. Leo grew up in Chicago, majored in math at Villanova College, and spent many years serving the Catholic Church in Peru.
Considerably, Pope Leo can be the primary pontiff to hail from the Augustinian order, which was based in 1244.
The Augustinians are a mendicant order, which suggests they rely largely on charitable donations for his or her wants. They prioritize neighborhood and missionary work, with a particular emphasis on serving the poor and the weak.
These beliefs might have influenced Leo’s resolution, whereas he was nonetheless a cardinal, to share critiques of the Trump administration on-line, notably on problems with immigration — which places him at odds with one other outstanding American Catholic: Vice President JD Vance.
In a January interview with Fox Information, Vance used his religion as a justification for the Trump administration’s America First agenda. “You like your loved ones and you then love your neighbor, and you then love your neighborhood, and you then love your fellow residents in your individual nation, after which after that, you possibly can focus (on) and prioritize the remainder of the world,” Vance mentioned.
Shortly after that interview, Leo shared a hyperlink to a Nationwide Catholic Reporter article titled “JD Vance Is Improper: Jesus Doesn’t Ask Us to Rank Our Love for Others.”
Immediately, Defined wished to get to know this new pope and higher perceive why the conclave chosen him. So we referred to as up Terence Sweeney. He’s an assistant instructing professor within the humanities division and honors program at Villanova College — not solely the pope’s alma mater (class of ’77) but additionally the one Augustinian college in america.
His dialog with Noel King, edited for size and readability, is under. There’s rather more within the full podcast, so take heed to Immediately, Defined wherever you get podcasts, together with Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
How stunned have been you (by Pope Leo’s choice)?
I used to be each stunned and never stunned. I’ve been speaking about him with mates and college students for the previous couple of weeks. Yesterday morning, I popped into the workplace of Father Allen, an Augustinian on campus, and I mentioned, ‘Are we gonna have an Augustinian pope?’ And he mentioned he didn’t assume so.
Certain sufficient, just a few hours later, I bought a textual content message from my good friend who mentioned, ‘You referred to as it.’
However on the identical time, I used to be very stunned. I used to be looking forward to him, however he’s an American, and historically, that’s seen as, ‘Oh, it received’t occur.’ So I each form of referred to as it and was completely shocked.
So inform us who he’s. Who’s Robert Prevost, or Pope Leo XIV?
Prevost is a child who grew up in Chicago and went to Villanova College. He had met Augustinians as a younger man and joined the order simply after school. Possibly most notably, (he) then proceeded to spend most of his life as a priest after which a bishop within the missions in Peru. He may have gotten assigned to a pleasant parish in a wealthier a part of america, however as an alternative, he went to Peru to be with the poor, to do work there, to do ministry there, and I believe that’s in some ways the center of who he’s.
You possibly can give it some thought like this: I’ve a reasonably comfortable spot at Villanova. I’ve a home. It’s snug. To abruptly shift gears to a completely new tradition, studying the language totally in a spot that perhaps doesn’t have as many perks as an American suburban parish would possibly, I believe that’s an actual signal of desirous to be with these on the margins of world energy and economics.
I don’t assume we’ve had a pope in centuries who has had this expertise of working within the missions. We’ve had pastor popes, scholar popes, diplomat popes. However a pope who spent most of his life in a poor a part of a rustic doing missionary work — I don’t even know if we’ve ever had one.
When Pope Francis died, there was a giant dialog about whether or not the church would choose anyone who was extra conventional or who was considered as extra progressive, the way in which Pope Francis was. What sort of alternative is Pope Leo XIV? The place does he fall on that spectrum?
In some methods, like Pope Francis, he form of throws us off of those spectrums.
He took the title Leo, which is a reasonably conventional papal title. He’s the 14th, proper? He’s not the primary. He’s carefully figuring out with each the primary Pope Leo, Pope Saint Leo the Nice, and Pope Leo XIII, who’re richly a part of the custom. Leo XIII is notable for his work on one thing referred to as Catholic social thought: what the church brings to the questions of economics and justice and politics. And that has tended to be one thing that what we name progressive Catholics have actually centered on.
I believe it was additionally notable that the language of his first deal with to the folks in St. Peter’s Sq. was richly tied in with Pope Francis: He talked about bridge-building and peace being with all of you. And I believe there are some indicators that he desires to hold on a whole lot of what Pope Francis did, however perhaps make extra connections, we would say, between the form of Pope Francis aspect of the church and the Pope Benedict aspect.
You’ve talked about a number of occasions that he’s an Augustinian. What’s an Augustinian, precisely?
The Augustinians are a bunch of friars. They have been based in 1244, they usually’re grounded in three ideas: dwelling in neighborhood, a extremely sturdy sense that wherever we go, we go collectively. (A) deep sense of the center. If you happen to ever see an icon of St. Augustine, he’s usually holding a coronary heart. (That symbolizes) the sense that what we have to do is make connections with different folks of their hearts. And a extremely sturdy name to the mission to exit. The unique Augustinians usually went into cities and varied locations to be with folks the place they have been.
After Robert Prevost was chosen yesterday, instantly it got here to the floor that he had expressed some opinions on immigration. I noticed folks — and also you had written about this up to now — drawing a line between the Augustinian custom and the present controversies that america is dealing with over immigration. What’s the Augustinian place on immigration?
Essentially, one of the essential elements of being an Augustinian is usually referred to as the order of loves. It’s this concept that our hearts have to develop. Our hearts can get very slender. We will fall in love solely with ourselves. So we have to discover a strategy to have our hearts develop to make room for God, who’s infinite. While you make room for God, you make room for everybody, notably for these in want. One of many huge duties of his preach for Individuals — for every kind of Catholics, every kind of individuals — helps us broaden our hearts.
Notably, we now have a vice chairman who’s Catholic. JD Vance has spoken concerning the order of loves. You possibly can take into consideration what he mentioned as having a whole lot of the correct phrases, however getting the tune unsuitable. He described one of many crucial concepts that the order of loves teaches us: that we rightly prioritize people who find themselves nearer to us. He’s emphasizing that and saying: Individuals rightly prioritize Individuals. However he’s lacking the purpose of the order of loves, that (the center) was imagined to develop, to go outward. Whereas Vance appears to be speaking about it as a means of retracting and going inward.
Pope Francis challenged him on this. Then Prevost retweeted an article in America journal about difficult Vance on this. That’s an early indication that he, as pope, goes to very a lot stand with a broadening of our loves.
It is extremely 2025 for a brand new pope to be retweeting criticism of a vice chairman. What do you assume it tells us about Pope Leo XIV?
I believe that he sees his workplace as a bishop, and now as bishop of Rome, as a prophetic one. He has a activity of prophetic witness. That prophetic witness goes to discuss a whole lot of issues. He’s going to discuss the setting. He will certainly discuss immigration. He’s going to discuss abortion. He’s going to discuss quite a few issues which might be going to throw American binaries off.
We’ve to needless to say he’s a profoundly pro-refugee and pro-life pope, and one thing I share with him, the sense that the love that we broaden out is supposed to go notably to the smallest and probably the most forgotten. And I believe he sees that, and I believe he’s going to talk in that prophetic witness as did the popes earlier than him.
