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The loyal man in Los Angeles, America’s most Catholic city, was pleased and a bit unnerved to learn a Chicago-born priest with deep Peruvian roots on Thursday.
The promotion of Cardinal Robert Francis Prevast, 69, marks the first time when someone in the United States is commissioned to be undoubtedly the highest position in global religion.
It was the result of capturing many followers in the Catholic Church, shifting its focus from a reduced base in Europe to an increasing number of faithful figures in the global South.
“I discounted it,” said Father Alan Deck, a professor of theology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
“He really understands what the reality is in the various cultures of the United States,” Archbishop of Los Angeles Jose H. Gomez said of Pope Leo XIV.
(Carlin Steel/Los Angeles Times)
However, Prevost, who chose to be called Pope Leo XIV, said that as he spent decades serving the church in South America, rose to the leader of the international religious order known as the Augustines, the deck was in a unique position to unite Catholics around the world.
He may also stimulate the revival of faith in the United States, where many parishes have been sparsely populated for decades.
“The choice is absolutely inspirational. I’m excited,” Deck said.
The announcement was double sweet for Carolina Guevara, chief communications officer at LA Archdiocese in Piura, Peru, to celebrate her grandmother’s 105th birthday when the new Pope was announced.
“To have a Pope, who is Peruvian and American, really reflects our immigrant church,” Guevara said. “To hear him break tradition and speak to his hometown in Spanish. It was also a very beautiful moment. It filled our hearts.”
For Catholic Angelenos, particularly Peruvian immigrants, “there will be a great sense of joy,” she said.
Pope Leo XIV appears at the central loggia of St. Peter’s Cathedral after being chosen by the 267th Bible of the Roman Catholic Church.
(Alessandra Tarantino/AP)
And, like Metropolitan Los Angeles, it is difficult to exaggerate how international the new Pope is.
He was born in Chicago to a father of Italian and French ancestry and a mother of Spanish ancestry. He pursued education in the United States and Italy. He was a naturalized citizen of Peru and was a priest for 20 years. He speaks English, Italian, Spanish, Latin and French.
His diverse background and extensive exposure to different cultures have made the Catholic community in California bustling with excitement, hope and friendliness.
“He really understands what the reality is in the different cultures of the United States,” said Jose H. Gomez, Archbishop of Los Angeles. “These cultures are truly a blessing for us.”
Joseph Tom McKeller, director of Pico California, a network of large faith-based communities, was euphoric on Thursday morning minutes after finishing his first speech from the Pope on the balcony overlooking St. Peter Square in Vatican City.
“I’m very emotional, I’m just a bit shaking,” he said. “What we have is the architect of the bridge, who follows in the footsteps of Pope Francis and ensures that the Church is close to those most excluded, those who feel lost in the fierce times of our world.”
“The fact that they chose the Americans they went out to choose. [into the world] I’m saying something about the church’s priorities,” McKeller added.
These priorities had to be changed because the church itself was changing so quickly.
Catholics gather at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles to welcome Pope Leo XIV.
(Carlin Steel/Los Angeles Times)
The Catholic Church, firmly anchored in Rome and depicts top leaders from Europe, has seen a shrinking number of parishioners in countries such as Italy and Spain, and is hardly stable in most of the United States.
True growth is mostly only in the Southern Hemisphere. There, the church still rules many aspects of culture, politics and everyday life.
For example, Brazil has over 120 million Catholics, making up more than half the population. In Mexico, nearly 100 million Catholics make up more than 70% of the population. And in the Philippines, more than 75 million Catholics make up more than 80% of the population, according to the mission of the Catholic world.
So, when the Argentine Cardinal was elected Pope in 2013, many of the churches welcomed it and welcomed it as an almost inevitable evolution. That was when Pope Francis chose to be called and began acting in an unpredictable way.
He rejected the gorgeous traps that were favored by some cardinals, and his practical dedication to the poor was broken in many years’ traditions, adding populist talent to others.
For example, on a holy Thursday, the Pope traditionally washed the feet of 12 male priests. This is a show of humility, in which Jesus intended to wash the feet of his disciples the night before he died. Pope Francis shocked the conservatives when he expanded the ritual, moved outside the scope of the Vatican, making it a symbol of washing the feet of prisoners, women and Muslims.
Francis created the position of female authority, for the first time in the church’s two,000-year history, with the nuns in charge of the Vatican’s main offices. And while maintaining the church’s long-standing doctrine that gay sex is sinful, he said that being gay is not a crime, but that he met LGBTQ+ people all over the world.
The man prays to welcome Pope Leo XIV at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels during Mass.
(Carlin Steel/Los Angeles Times)
Church progressives hope Pope Leo will continue where Francis left off.
Leo has been criticised for his previous comments on the LGBTQ+ community, McKellar said, but he believes the new Pope will continue in Francis’ footsteps.
“You can’t imagine him not being able to build in the opening of the door of Mercy, and we welcome all people, including our LGBTQ+ brothers,” McKeller said.
Others questioned whether the new Pope was familiar with the charm and social media needed to play the role of a Christian frontman.
“One thing I don’t know about Leo is whether he has the modern pope character,” says Richard Wood, president of USC’s Institute of Advanced Catholicism. “I think his humility is obvious and loud, but does he have the charisma that Francis had in the social media era?
He will also face other challenges. Wood pointed out that the Vatican is in real financial difficulties.
“The Vatican has lost many of its donors in America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Can he bring them back to the table?” he asked. “The church is rightly interested in preaching the Gospels, but it is also a secular institution that has to pay bills, and the new Pope will help settle some of it.”
Jose Mendes raises his arms in prayer at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
(Carlin Steel/Los Angeles Times)
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