By T N Ashok
CHICAGO: As America, especially the United States and Chicago celebrated the elect of an American pope, the newly elected pontiff Leo XIV, former Cardinal Robert Prevost , celebrated his first Mass at the Sistine Chapel, a day after being chosen on the second day of the conclave.
In his first homily, he urged cardinals to make themselves “small,” echoing the humble approach of predecessor Pope Francis. HIs predecessor Pope Paul Francis was also from American continent Argentina, who ushered in sweeping reforms in the papacy, giving red hats to as many as 70 countries out of the American and European continents to power to vote.
Simplicity and caring for the poor and weak and needy was the hallmark of his papacy. The new pope was also elected in the hope that he would continue the tradition. At 69, Pope Leo XIV has a long way to achieve his goals.
Leo, the first US-born pontiff, is a 69-year-old from Chicago and a leader with global experience. He spent much of his career in South America and holds dual citizenship in the US and Peru. He is expected to build on Francis’ reforms.
The selection defied conventional wisdom — but could be a message to the White House. While President Donald Trump called the choice of a US pontiff a great honour, Leo appears to have reposted criticism of his administration in the past.
The archbishop of New York said he, like many Americans and Catholics from other countries, he didn’t initially predict Cardinal Robert Prevost of Chicago would become the new pope. “I knew of him, but I thought – eh, one of the peripheral guys,”
Cardinal Timothy Dolan told CNN’s Erin Burnett in an interview on Friday. “I didn’t kind of really zero in on him until … I showed up to the congregation meetings the Wednesday morning after the funeral of the Pope,” Dolan said. “Immediately, people began to ask me, “Conoscequesto Roberto, questo Roberto Prevost?” (Do you know this Roberto, this Roberto Prevost?) “I said, ‘Sorry, I wish I could help,’” Dolan recalled. “They kind of thought naturally, because he had been born in the United States, we would be familiar with him.” But as more members of the church asked him about Prevost, “I said, ‘Dolan, you better get to know this guy.’”
Pope Leo XIV and former first lady Jill Biden share a connection as alumni of Villanova University, and their paths crossed in 2014. Dr. Biden, then-second lady of the US, and then-Father Robert Prevost received honorary doctorates of humanities degrees at the university’s commencement ceremonies in 2014, each looking on during the conferrals of the degree.
A few minutes later, Biden, who earned a master’s degree from Villanova in 1987, delivered the commencement address. The future pope is seen sitting behind Biden throughout her speech, laughing when she described herself as a “Philly girl.” “Pope Francis recently paraphrased Saint Ignatius by saying, quote, ‘Love is expressed more clearly in actions than in words.’
So graduates, I hope you keep sharing your time, your skills that you learned here at Villanova and your heart with the rest of the world,” she said closing her address. The two shook hands after her address and spent the ceremony seated near each other in the front row with only the university’s president sitting between them. In a post on X , former President Joe Biden, a devout Catholic, wrote, “Habemuspapam — May God bless Pope Leo XIV of Illinois. Jill and I congratulate him and wish him success.”
Pope Leo XIV’s brother shared more about their family’s history and how their grandparents immigrated to the United States. John Prevost told CNN’s Whitney Wild his dad’s parents “came over on a boat” as orphans, without specifying where they were from. There are not many records documenting the lineage of that side of the family, he said. His mother’s parents came to the United States from Haiti, according to Prevost.
They originally settled in New Orleans before moving to Chicago, where their mother was born, he said. Prevost said their mother and father didn’t talk a lot about why their parents came to the US growing up. They met at DePaul University in Chicago, he said. “I know my mom was raised by her sister because by then her parents were dead, so she didn’t have a whole lot of stories to tell,” he said.
Still, growing up Prevost said the house was filled with music and his mother’s cooking skills — which is something Pope Leo also shares “when he has the opportunity” to be in the kitchen.
Immigration issues loom large: The new pope, who is the first pontiff from the United States, faces times of turbulence in both the church and the country. His stance on migrants in particular could put Leo’s Rome at odds with President Donald Trump’s Washington. John Prevost previously told CNN affiliate WBBM that his brother “sees the United States headed in the wrong direction in terms of immigration.”
Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the Archbishop of Newark in New Jersey, said that when Pope Leo was the leader of the Augustinian order, he would have spent half his time in Rome and “half of the year in other places.” “If you’re privileged to work in another culture, other than the one you were raised in, you have to change,” Tobin said. “It’s… like a broadening experience.” “And I think Bob has had – or Pope Leo – has had that,” Tobin said, inadvertently referring to the new pope by his former name. “He’s learned to think in different ways.”
Tobin added that his experience in Rome and the many languages he has learned, which include Italian, Spanish, Latin and some Quechua, will serve him well. “I don’t think he’s one that likes to pick fights with people, but he is not one to back down if the cause is just,” Tobin added. “I guess the last thing I’d say about Bob is that he really is a listener, and then he acts once he’s heard.”
John Prevost, Pope Leo XIV’s older brother, was sitting in the living room reading a book when he got word white smoke rose above the Sistine Chapel. Little did he know, it would be a moment that would make history. His brother would become the first US-born pontiff.
Prevost said he turned the TV on and called his niece. “We didn’t know anything up front,” he told CNN. “When I heard his name, she started screaming,” Prevost said. “History was made.” He said they all accepted that his brother would become a priest from a young age, “but in today’s world, who thought there would ever be a Pope from the United States.”
When asked about what their parents would say about his brother becoming the Pope, Prevost said, “they would be dumbfounded at first and then they would be totally amazed and as proud as one could be for something like this.”
Today he is Pope Leo XIV — but to John Prevost, he is still his younger brother and “it’s bittersweet” to have to share him with millions of Catholics around the world. “When we dropped him off for freshman year of high school, the ride home was very sad, in the sense, that like you just said, he’s leaving — he’s gone,” the new Pope’s older brother told CNN’s Whitney Wild at his home in Chicago. “Now, it’s even worse in the sense that, will we ever get to see him unless we go over to Rome.”
In fact, serving the church is something Pope Leo knew he wanted to do at a young age, Prevost said. When he went to seminary school, it wasn’t a surprise for anyone in the family or the neighbourhood, Prevost said. “Somewhere, the seed was planted” for priesthood, Prevost said. “And it grew.”
Even though they are thousands of miles apart now, Prevost said he still talks to his brother daily. He said the Pope called him Friday to ask if reporters were still at his house. “‘Are the reporters gone?’ I said no. He said, ‘OK, goodbye,’” Prevost said, laughing.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, was not impressed by the food served at the conclave. “The food? Let’s just say it was a good, good, good impetus to get this over with,” Dolan said Friday, bursting into laughter.
Cardinal Joseph Tobin, Archbishop of Newark, was also disappointed. He seconded Dolan about the food at the conclave, but said the cardinals were served “an incredible meal” elsewhere at the Vatican after the voting finished. “They’ve been holding back until we got the job done,” he joked. Neither cardinal said what they were served during the conclave.
Two US cardinals dismissed the idea that the conclave elected Pope Leo XIV to act as a “counterweight” against US President Donald Trump. While the two men share a nationality, they are very different figures, and as CNN’s Stephen Collinson noted the implicit comparisons and potential disagreements between them will be impossible to ignore.
Asked whether the cardinals alighted on Prevost to counteract Trump, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, said this was not a significant factor in the conclave’s decision, and that Prevost was elected to act as a unifier within the church and around the world.
“I don’t think the fact that Cardinal Prevost was from the United States had much weight. It should not startle us that we would look to Pope Leo as a bridge builder. That’s what the Latin word ‘pontiff’ means,” Dolan said.
“Will he want to build bridges to Donald Trump? I suppose, but he would want to build bridges with the leader of every nation. So I don’t think at all my brother cardinals would have thought of him as a counterweight to any one person,” he added.
Cardinal Wilton Daniel Gregory, Archbishop of Washington, also said that the conclave was not “a continuation of the American political election.” “It wasn’t an election conclave – it was a desire to strengthen the Christian faith among God’s people,” Gregory said.
“Nobody does drama, like the one holy, Catholic and apostolic church,” said Cardinal Timothy Michael Dolan of New York, reflecting on the “electricity” in St. Peter’s Square when Pope Leo’s was announced as the new leader.
“I was honoured to be here 12 years ago. The amazing moment of enthusiasm, unity, hope and promise,” Dolan said. “The fact that he was born in the United States of America, boy, that’s a sense of pride and gratitude for us,” Dolan said, calling him a “citizen of the world” and also noting Leo’s Peruvian citizenship from his time as a missionary. But now, Dolan said “he’s the father of the church universal, where he came from –– secondary.”
Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the Archbishop of Newark, recalled the moment that Cardinal Robert Prevost accepted his election as pope on the second day of the conclave. “The voting is like watching a glacier move,” Tobin said at a news conference Friday, describing the experience of his first conclave.
“But sometimes glaciers under stress move a lot faster,” he added. “I really think that we were not simply counting on the forces that were within that room. We were remembering that it’s the Holy Spirit who brings the church together.” Tobin said he had known “Bob” Prevost for about 30 years. (IPA Service)
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