From Chicago to Chiclayo, the missionary and Peruvian pope

History has confirmed this, and we saw it recently with Pope Francis and, now, with Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, the new Bishop of Rome and 267th successor to Saint Peter, elected this Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Vatican City.

At 6:08 p.m. (10:08 a.m. in Mexico City), the fumata released white smoke, a sign that the 133 cardinals gathered in the Sistine Chapel since Wednesday had elected, in a fourth round of voting, the first of the afternoon this Thursday, the new pope, a 69-year-old cardinal, born in Chicago, Illinois (USA), a member of the Order of Saint Augustine, with a missionary career of more than 30 years in indigenous communities in Peru, where he obtained his dual nationality, with a solid spiritual and academic formation, in addition to his multicultural roots, which make him an ideal pope for our time.

"He will be a more moderate and pragmatic pope than Francis; he's a discreet beast, more jaguar than lion," says Mónica Uribe, a political scientist and doctor in history from the Universidad Iberoamericana, who specializes in the history of the Catholic Church.

"It won't be John XXIV or Francis II, it will be Leo XIV," says Dr. David Foust, a research professor at ITESO, referring to a preliminary outline of the figure of the new leader of the Catholic Church. The second pope born in America, the first American, and the first Augustinian in the history of the pontificate, he is expected to be progressive on social issues but more moderate on doctrinal matters.

It is curious that the day of his election falls on the feast day of the Virgin of Luján, patron saint of Argentina, the birthplace of his predecessor, Francisco, and that Leo XIII, from whom Prevost takes his name and flag, crowned this Marian devotion.

The new pontiff was very close to the late Pope Francis, with whom he shares some traits: his missionary spirit; both members of religious orders, where they held positions of high responsibility, Bergoglio as provincial superior of the Jesuits in Argentina, and Prevost, superior general of the Augustinians; they were bishops in Latin American dioceses. They did not rise to the papacy from the Roman circles of power but from the dusty streets of Latin America, that is, they had direct pastoral contact with the humblest flocks, in neighborhoods and communities on the outskirts.

And it was Pope Francis who fostered Prevost's ecclesiastical career: first calling him to the episcopate in 2014, then appointing him Bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, in 2015; making him a member of the Dicastery for the Clergy in 2020, and later heading the Dicastery for Bishops, giving him the rank of archbishop. In the consistory of that same year, 2023, he created him cardinal deacon. Just last February, he was promoted to the order of cardinal bishop—one of the six that make up the College of Cardinals—and assigned to him the suburbicarian diocese of Albano.

A 'gringo' with a Peruvian soul

For our analysts, it is no coincidence that in his first speech, by the way the longest in history that a pontiff has given on the day of his election (8 minutes), Bishop Prevost preferred to send a greeting in Spanish to his "beloved diocese of Chiclayo, in Peru," rather than in English, being an American.

It was a moment when his face transformed and his smile became more radiant. "His heart spoke," says Professor Foust, because he is a Peruvian born in the United States. You don't decide where you're born, but you can choose where you're from, and he decided to be Peruvian," he adds.

For Dr. Uribe, Leo XIV "will be like a Pope Francis, but a gringo, with a clear vision of order and progress, which also helps, but with a very popular and very indigenous perspective, popular in the sense of being close to the people and having served in a predominantly indigenous diocese."

"He's also a conciliatory man; he doesn't argue with anyone; he's a 'curialist,' meaning he doesn't see what's going on inside. He knows what's going on, and at the same time, he knows what's happening in the world. The conservative church in the United States isn't very happy," the specialist points out.

Why Leo XIV?

The name chosen by Cardinal Robert Prevost as the new pope is a reference to Leo XIII, the first pope of the 20th century, according to those interviewed. A pope who, in the midst of an industrial revolution, wanted a message about an economic model—"that was not of God"—and strove for subsidiarity of the means of production in favor of people, says Mónica Uribe.

"Leo XIII was the pope who laid the foundations for the Church's social doctrine with the encyclical 'Rerum novarum' (On New Things, 1891)," adds sociologist David Foust, and that at the end of the 19th century, "faced with savage capitalism and uncertain socialism, he wanted to be a bridge, to propose an alternative, and I believe that in today's polarized world, that has meaning, and that is why Pope Leo XIV turned to his predecessor Leo XIII."

A nun from the congregation of the Franciscan Missionaries of Guadalupe, Rosa María de Anda Mata, shares her first impressions with me: "He was my favorite; I'll tell you why: he's a religious man, from the ancient orders; for his studies, for his experience in South American countries, and for being immersed in immigration issues, not to mention the current situation in the United States. I'm not much of an expert on this, but the fact that he took the name Leo XIV is an indication of his social ministry and the unity we so desperately need."

Looking ahead to his pontificate, Dr. Mónica Uribe predicts that "he will be a pope concerned about migration, ecology — he will revive the Amazon Synod — and he will be a very important voice against war." Regarding controversial issues faced by Pope Francis, such as his attitude toward the LGBTQ+ community and communion for divorced and remarried people, Uribe says: "Leo XIV is not going to get involved in those issues; he's going to let them cool down because for him, controlling bodies is secondary."

For now, Pope Leo XIV, with a face at times tense but smiling and simple, appeared on the main balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, wearing the classic papal attire that Francis had left behind: the red cape over the white cassock, the stole of the apostles and the golden pectoral cross, and outlined the first features of his pontificate: he anticipated "a synodal Church close to those who suffer" and wished "peace to all families and to the whole Earth, peace be with you," he said. "This is the peace of the Risen Christ, an unarmed, disarming, humble and persevering peace."

Traits and tastes of the new pope:

• He likes Peruvian ceviche.
• He has played tennis since he was young and is a fan of the Chicago Cubs baseball team.
• Polyglot: fluent in English, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese and Latin.
• He is multicultural, with a father of French origin and a mother of Spanish origin.
• He holds a degree in mathematics and a doctorate in canon law. He is a frequent user of social media.