The white smoke that fell from the Sistine Chapel reported on Thursday the selection of a new Pope – the first in America.
Thousands of kilometers from there in Illinois, a feeling of ecstasy welcomed the man previously known as Robert PREVOST, who now finds himself in one of the most positions examined and powerful In the world, at a time of acute turbulence.
“I am struggling, Gobsmacked, surprised,” said Mark Piper, parishioner of St Barnabas church on the south side of Chicago. “I did not expect an American pope.”
“There is certainly a feeling of pride in the fact that he comes from Chicago,” said Father Sergio Romo, pastor of the parish of St Andrew, of the pontiff born and raised in the third largest American city.
“Before the conclave, people asked:” What are the chances of an American pope? ” And I transmitted conventional wisdom that it was a very thin possibility, “he said. “Many people call me and say:” Oh, you were wrong! “”
The name prevost had circulated in recent weeks as possible compromise candidate to succeed Pope Francis – But the Paris markets had put the ratings of the man of Chicago at less than 1%.
Pope Leo XIV, as he will be known, faces a jet full of challenges, especially Precarious finances of the Vatican And requests to protect children against sexual abuse by priests.
He will also have to direct the church through the geopolitical turbulence arising from his native United States under President Donald Trump.
THE Vatican For decades, the United States has been considered an ally in maintaining a liberal world order in the quest for religious freedom in more authoritarian regions. But the unpredictability of Trump fueled anxiety in the Holy See.
The cardinals have chosen a leader who, although more ideologically aligned with the relatively progressive vision of the world of his predecessor Francis, could face the American president.
“Once, we had to have a pope who would speak in favor of human rights in Russia and China,” said Massimo Faggioli, professor of theology at Villanova University, where the pontiff studied. “You now need someone who can tell the truth to American power.”
Born in Chicago in 1955, Prevost dug a career in the church shortly after leaving school. He studied mathematics in Villanova before joining the order of St Augustine and being ordained a priest at the age of 26.
His years of training were spent in Peru, where he worked for more than a decade in the Archdiocese of Trujillo. Prevost rose the ranks of the local church whose bishops were divided between the leftists, strongly influenced by the theology of the Liberation of Latin America and the archi-conservatives with close links with Opus Dei.
Considered a moderating influence, Prevost returned to Peru as a bishop from 2015 to 2023. There he declared in Spanish in his first speech as a Pope on Thursday, “a faithful people accompanied their bishop and shared his faith”.
“He chose to be one of us, to live with us and to carry in his heart the faith, culture and dreams of this nation,” said Peru, Dina Boluarte, in a televised speech on Thursday.
Prevost had drawn the attention of Pope Francis, who appointed him bishop in 2015 and quickly promoted him. The Argentinian pontiff summoned him to Rome in 2023 to direct the powerful Dicastère for the nominations of bishop – a job that allowed him to build networks through world Catholic leadership.
However, prevost’s surprise ascent at the best work of the church – and the head of Catholics of 1.4 billion in the world – left the spectators trying to grasp his fundamental beliefs and to seek clues to his style of leadership.
His selection of the name Leo suggests that prevost will continue in the progressive vein of his predecessor. Leo XIII, pope at the turn of the 20th century, was the author of Rerum novarum The encyclical letter, often considered as the first stage of the progressive acceptance of political modernity by the Catholic Church, and included a Christian defense of the rights of workers.
“He returned until 1900 and chose Leo XIII,” said Greg Pierce, the publisher of Acta Publications in Chicago. “It will send a message to Donald Trump and his friends … This pope will not turn around for a kind of return to the old manners.”
But the new pontiff is also a member of the Augustinian order, which tends to marry more traditional theological opinions.
“The conclave was torn apart, but Prévost was tolerable of both parties – the conservative and progressive champions,” said David Deane, who teaches Christian doctrine at Atlantic School of Theology in Halifax, Canada.
“On the one hand, he is a Trump critic and [US vice-president JD] Vance and their approach to immigration. He is a defender of minorities, a supporter of the synodal way and the environment. But he also opposed the women of deacons and priests, he is a hard to abort and opposes “the ideology of the genre”.
John Allen Jr, editor -in -chief of the independent Catholic News site site, said that the new pope would have a stiff rope to walk between Catholic social education and the maintenance of Washington and his Catholics “Maga” influential on the side.
Pope Leo should “navigate between clearly defending his values without damaging his relationship with the United States government, said Allen.
“If you want to do something, you have to work with them,” he added. “It will be an extraordinary delicate balance to find.”
Additional Guy Chazan report in Washington, James Fontanella-Khan in New York and Joe Daniels in Bogotá
