The election of the American-Peruvian cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as Pope Leo XIV, this Thursday, May 8, generates expectations in the Catholic Church of Guatemala, where his authorities highlight the peace message that the Pontiff delivered during his first speech before thousands of faithful, on the balcony of the Basilica of San Pedro, in the Vatican.
In addition, the authorities of the Catholic Church of Guatemala highlighted the proximity that the new Pope will have with Latin America, which, at his discretion, was evidenced with the Spanish message that offered an hour after having been elected as the successor of the late Pope Francis.
This event takes on special relevance to be the second American Pope, “who includes Latin American realities and has expressed his intention to continue the work initiated in the Church,” said Luis René Sandoval, communication director of the Archbishopric of Santiago de Guatemala.
Sandoval stressed that the first impression left by the new Pontiff was his message of peace, because when he appeared on the balcony of the Basilica of San Pedro, he greeted the faithful saying: “Peace is with you”, which, according to the spokesman, transmitted the certainty that the Holy Spirit guided the cardinals to choose the man of peace that the world needs in time of wars and divisions.
“It is presented as a unit of unity that, like the apostle Peter chosen by Jesus more than 2,000 years ago, will guide the church boat,” Sandoval said.
He added that this is a historical moment that requires not only celebration, but also constant prayer to support the new leader of the Catholic Church in his ministry.
He also indicated that Pope Leo XIV has expressed his desire to continue the path initiated by his predecessor, maintaining fidelity to the doctrine and the Catholic truth, while guiding the faithful towards paths of peace, unity and justice.
He also said that the Pontiff’s connection with Latin America was evidenced by directing a Spanish greeting to his diocese of origin, in Peru, because, although he is an American by birth, he is nationalized Peruvian and deeply knows the needs of the Latin American world, which suggests that his messages will be impregnated with this regional sensitivity.
Legacy
Affable, moderate, reserved, Prevost – since this Thursday, Pope Leo XIV – was one of Francisco’s great bets, who appointed him responsible for bishops around the world and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, since he also has Peruvian nationality and has Spanish origins by his mother, Mildred Martínez, as Vatican media have highlighted.
This missionary of the former Order of San Agustín has been in recent years a narrow collaborator of the late Pope Francis and entered his style – discreetly – in the list of papables for this conclave, like an outsider among other prominent names.
His moderate mood positions it as a bridge between the conservative and reforming factions of the Church, and his extensive knowledge of America has earned him the support of cardinals both from the north and south of the continent, many of which were critics of Francisco.
Prevost was born in 1955 in Chicago, USA, with French and Italian origins by his father. His ecclesiastical career began with the Augustinian novitiate of Saint Louis, where, in 1981, he assumed his votes. Subsequently, he studied in theology and traveled to Rome to specialize in canon law.
After ordering priest in 1982, he was sent with 28 years to what would become his second country: Peru, through his mission of Chulucanas, in Piura (1985-1986).
This would be the first step of a long career in Latin America, which continued in 1988 in the Peruvian mission of Trujillo, where he selected Augustinian vocations in cities such as Chulucanas, Iquitos and Apurímac, and exercised various roles for a decade in that archdiocese.
It also has extensive teaching experience in the USA and was a prior general of the Agustino Chapter of Chicago, until in 2014, from Rome, Pope Francis put him in charge of the Peruvian Diocese of Chiclayo as Apostolic Administrator.
A year later he would be appointed Bishop of Chiclayo and since 2018 he served as second vice president of the Episcopal Conference of Peru, facing, among other challenges, the serious crisis for the abuses of the Sodalician Christian life group, dissolved this year by the Pope.
After five years in Peru, in 2023 the Argentine pontiff summoned it to Rome to do it Cardinal and Prefect of the Dicastery for the Bishops, the Vatican Institution that chooses the prelates around the world.
From this powerful office – which coordinates a vast network of ecclesiastical hierarchs – he attended the tensions between Pope Francis and conservative sectors, as evidenced by the dismissal of the American bishop Joseph Strickland in November 2023, due to unfair to the Holy See.
Francisco also appointed him president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, in recognition of his knowledge of the region and his peripheries.
His role as a “wave” of bishops and his South American experience keep him in constant contact with the ecclesiastical hierarchy, especially in America, where he resides about half of the world’s Catholics (about 637 million in 2004).
His pontifical choice represents a novelty, not only for his relatively young age – 69 years old – but because he becomes the first Pope from the heart of an already powerful enough empire: United States.
As for his teaching, although cautious, he has expressed himself in tune with Pope Francis, defending a clergy “close to the people”, diametrically opposed to the figure of a manager or manager.