On May 8, 2025, I was pushing my three-year-old daughter through Costco. Next to her from the diaper bag, I was shamelessly listening to the commentary about the newly elected pope. I was shopping for our local Title I schools, a ministry of our parish. These shopping trips take the better part of the morning and require a significant amount of effort to plan, so going home was not an option.
This ministry, while sometimes inconvenient, has kept me grounded for the past few years by remaining in touch with the needs of the lowest-income students in my community (and their families). As a suburban mom, I chose to take on this ministry from the saintly woman who started it, precisely because it causes me to never lose sight of the needs of those who are my neighbor, and those who are poor. Maintaining my connection to the unmet needs of my neighbor is how I reconcile my faith in a culture swirling with stifling poverty and excess wealth.
As I loaded my trunk (still listening), I heard “Roberto Prevost.” The name did not register. Who was this cardinal I had heard no one mention? American?! Surely, I thought, I had misunderstood. Little did I know how the story behind this obscure name was about to become balm to my servant heart.
Hiding in Plain Sight
I had not misunderstood. The College of Cardinals and the Holy Spirit had chosen this American, Peruvian missionary to be the Bishop of Rome. Like you, I began to listen closely and learn everything I could about the new Vicar of Christ. Although relatively out of the limelight in papal speculation, it turns out that the Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost has been in formation for this role for his entire life.
Matthew Bunson, author of LEO XIV: The First American Pope, has published the first commentary on Pope Leo XIV. In it, he does a beautiful job walking readers through Father Robert Prevost’s life from childhood in urban Chicago, his seminary formation, and his vocational charism, his time in Peru, right up to his election as the successor of Saint Peter. Bunson offers nuanced insight into the American cultural climate that formed his early years, the Augustinian charism that formed his religious life, and the indelible mark that his work as a missionary has left on his pastoral leadership.
American Catholicism
As demonstrated through the neighborhoods that sprung up around industrialized communities (Chicago and others) of the 1950s, the parish and parish school were at the heart of the life of a community. This was true for the Prevost family, as well as many Catholics at the time. While the population of these burgeoning cities continued to grow, so did the need for churches. However, after World War II, “suburbanization” began encouraging families to work in the city and live away from it – creating “bedroom communities.” As more and more cities became the place of employment only, parishes and schools began closing their doors, as is the case for both the parish of his childhood (St. Mary of the Assumption) and the seminary (St. Augustine Seminary High School) of his formation for the priesthood. A portrait, it seems, of the rise and fall of Catholicism in the United States.
The Augustinian Charism
Pope Leo XIV is the first of many things, though few are more telling than his Augustinian charism. A charism is a particular identity and mission lived out by a religious community. Dominicans have a teaching charism, Benedictines commit to a life of work and prayer, Poor Clares offer intercessory prayer for the world from their cloistered communities, and Jesuits are committed to education and missionary work. In the case of the Augustinians, familiarizing ourselves with the mission of the Augustinian order is a must in order to get to know our newest pope:
Before all else, beloved, love God and then your neighbor, for these are the chief commandments given to us. (1) The main purpose for your having come together is to live harmoniously in your house, intent upon God, with one heart and one soul. (3) Let all of you then live together in oneness of mind and heart, mutually honoring in yourselves the God whose temples you have become." (9) (The Rule, Bunson, p. 44)
Augustinians have a very particular commitment to unity and service work. Although there is a breadth of ministries that the Augustinians embrace, these are the guiding principles. We heard this particular aspect of his identity from his first words addressed to the Church on May 8, which included a particular emphasis on being and becoming a unified Church and the people of God so that we might be leaven in the world:
For our part, we want to be a small leaven of unity, communion, and fraternity within the world [. . .] We want to say to the world, with humility and joy: Look to Christ! Come closer to him! Welcome his word that enlightens and consoles! Listen to his offer of love and become his one family: “In the one Christ, we are one." (source)
Missionary Charism
Much has already been written about Pope Leo’s country of origin. And yet, his years of experience as a missionary (not to mention his Peruvian citizenship) did as much to form his ministerial identity and relationship with his flock as any other role he has occupied. He has experienced life’s goodness and hardships alongside the people of Chiclayo, Peru.
While leadership roles like that in the office of the Vatican Dicastery and as Augustinian Prior General called upon his gifted leadership and intellect, over and again he cites his time in Peru, in parishes with great need, as especially formative. Given that he chose the name Leo, inspired by the awareness and social doctrine of Pope Leo XIII, it is clear that remaining in touch with the needs of the people is a priority of Pope Leo’s papacy.
It is worth noting that his time in Peru was not simply one assignment, but two. Collectively he spent over eighteen years serving the people of Peru. He was known as “Padre Roberto” until he was made Cardinal in 2023. It is said of him that he maintains a tender place for this title.
A New Chapter
Bunson’s overview of the first pope from the United States offers a beautiful and full picture of the figure we are first getting to know as Pope Leo XIV. One that is tangible in a way that many North Americans have perhaps not yet considered in the context of their own family’s lives: a Chicago native, a Sox fan, a kid brother playing Mass on the ironing board. It could happen. Learning about how he has been uniquely equipped and formed by an impressive collection of experience, I am heartened to have a greater grasp on the ways that the Holy Spirit has been leading him—leading all of us— to this place of new beginnings.
Katie Cassady is a regular contributor to the BIS blog. She is a wife and mom to three little girls in Denver, CO. Steeped in theological reflection, beekeeping and motherhood, she is appreciative of any and all wisdom she can glean from those living intentional lives of faith. Find out more about her here. Read all of Katie's posts here.
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