“Habemus Papum.”
“We have a Pope.”
That announcement, made on May 8 to the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City, preceded the appearance of Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who, as the new Holy Father, had taken the name Leo XIV.
Then, from the loggia, the central balcony of the Basilica’s façade, Pope Leo XIV delivered his blessing: “To all people, wherever they are, to all people of the Earth, may peace be with you.”
In remarks that followed, this newest successor of St. Peter said, “We have to seek together to be a missionary church, a church that builds bridges and dialogue.”
It seems a prophetic commentary that in today’s world, where the value of human life is too often questioned, where human dignity is too often violated, and where crises within families afflict society, hope will prevail as long as we remain faithful, charitable, and loving.
If we unite hand in hand with God and one another, through dialogue and encounter, we can learn to live as one people in peace.
Robert Prevost was born in Chicago in 1955, where he attended high school run by an Augustinian seminary. He received his college degree in mathematics from Villanova University, was ordained in 1982, served as a parish priest, and spent two decades in Peru as a missionary and later as a bishop. He acquired Peruvian citizenship in 2015. In 2023, Pope Francis brought Prevost to Rome, where he led the office responsible for vetting nominations for bishops. He became a cardinal that same year.
In a world increasingly marked by political division — where human rights and religious freedoms compete for attention alongside commerce, nationalism, the climate crisis, and the assertion of military and economic power that often prevail in the leveraging of outcomes — the power of the papacy remains a unique moral authority that can advocate for the marginalized, the displaced, and the poor. I’d like to think that those 133 cardinals from around the world have selected just the right man to demonstrate how best to live a life grounded in love, justice, and mercy — lives we, too, can strive to embrace.
Peter Wibell, Rutledge