[Sundaycommunity] Article in Le Monde today

[Mary MacMillan]

Interesting - Thanks for sending.
Mary

On Fri, May 9, 2025 at 10:16 AM John MacMillan via Sundaycommunity <
sundaycommunity at lists.integralshift.ca> wrote:

>
>
> Leo XIV, a pope of balance and appeasement By Benoît Vitkine
> <http:///en/signataires/benoit-vitkine/>, Sarah Belouezzane
> <http:///en/signataires/sarah-belouezzane-1/> and Amanda Chaparro
> <http:///en/signataires/amanda-chaparro/> (Cuzco (Peru) correspondent) Published
> today at 10:29 am (Paris), updated at 11:45 amThe American Robert Francis
> Prevost's affiliation with the mendicant order of the Augustinians, known
> for their commitment to tradition and charity, and his understanding of the
> Curia contribute to a reassuring image. Grounded in modernity and mindful
> of the marginalized, his pontificate promises 'unity' and collegiality.
>
> When his name was announced, there was a murmur of confusion among the
> crowd gathered in Saint Peter's Square, Rome. "Prevost? Who is he?" In the
> election for the Throne of St. Peter, observers saw him as a serious
> candidate due to his ability to unite and bring peace to the Church.
> However, to the general public, Robert Francis Prevost, the 267th pope of
> the Catholic Church and the first to come from the United States, is
> unknown.
>
> When white smoke appeared from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel on
> Thursday, May 8, shortly after 6 pm, onlookers were still betting on the
> victory of Pietro Parolin, former second in command to Francis and the
> anticipated favorite for the papacy. "It will be him, Parolin, with the
> papal name Paul VII," predicted two French priests. The speed with which
> the election was concluded – four rounds of voting, totaling 24 hours of
> conclave – seemed to support this hypothesis.
>
> But it was Robert Prevost, from the Order of Saint Augustine, who was
> elected. He took the papal name Leo XIV. This choice places the new pontiff
> in the continuity of Leo XIII, the pope who forged the Church's social
> doctrine, notably through the encyclical *Rerum Novarum* ("Of New
> Things"), published in 1891. In short, the promise of a pontificate rooted
> in modernity and concerned for the poor, the marginalized, the excluded –
> the "peripheries," as Francis would have said, to whom Leo XIV paid a
> heartfelt tribute in his first speech.
> [image: Newly elected Pope Leo XIV appears on the balcony of St. Peter's
> Basilica, Vatican City, on May 8, 2025.] <img src="
> https://img.lemde.fr/2025/05/09/0/0/4000/2666/1920/0/75/0/a630e40_sirius-fs-upload-1-z6rou59vpd1y-1746772264729-327389.jpg"
> alt="Newly elected Pope Leo XIV appears on the balcony of St. Peter's
> Basilica, Vatican City, on May 8, 2025." />
>
> "We have to look together how to be a missionary church (...) always open
> to receiving with open arms for everyone, like this square, open to all, to
> all who need our charity, our presence, dialogue, love," he said in a
> statement that sounded like an action plan, longer than tradition dictates.
>
> With his face framed by glasses, visibly moved, Prevost also called for
> "peace" in the world, pronouncing the word ten times. Described as "shy and
> less outgoing than Francis" by one of his American colleagues stationed in
> Rome, Jesuit priest David McCallum, Leo XIV spoke in a strong, assured
> voice in Italian, tinged with a slight accent.
> The pope of the Americas
>
> The 69-year-old did not appear intimidated by the crowd, nor by the Roman
> pomp: Prevost is a Curia cardinal, prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops
> since January 2023, a position he was appointed to by Francis. In this
> role, he has been able to forge ties with Churches worldwide and
> demonstrate his leadership abilities.
>
> "American pope," the symbolism is immense in a world marked by the erratic
> governance of Donald Trump. Prevost has repeatedly criticized the American
> president, particularly regarding the mass and indiscriminate expulsions of
> migrants. On Thursday evening, the US president hailed "a great honor" for
> his country, but the coexistence between the two men promises to be
> delicate. The American episcopate, which clashed with the Trump
> administration on this issue of migrants, should see its authority
> strengthened.
> Read more Subscribers only Pope Leo XIV, a global citizen who engaged in
> US public debate
> <https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/05/09/leo-xiv-a-global-citizen-engages-in-us-public-debate_6741072_4.html>
>
> In the hustle and bustle of Saint Peter's Square, Leila Brown, 23, from
> Washington State with her younger sister, said she could "never imagined we
> could have an American pope. I thought the Church would be afraid to give
> too much power to Americans in the international context. But I hope he
> will bring love to our country, that we stop hating our neighbor for their
> skin color."
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>
> However, Prevost, a native of Chicago, Illinois, is more likely the pope
> of the Americas than of the United States. When he switched from Italian,
> it was to speak in Spanish and greet his "dear diocese of Chiclayo," in
> Peru, where he was bishop for eight years. The holder of a Peruvian
> passport, he spent three decades in the country.
> [image: During a Corpus Christi celebration in a stadium in Chiclayo,
> Peru, on June 19, 2015.]
>
> A man of cultural syncretism, Leo XIV is also a pope of synthesis. It is
> likely this thirst for unity and peace that secured his election, following
> a pontificate by Francis that some in the Church experienced as harsh. Even
> though the conclave's secrets are not – yet – known, it seems that the
> figure of Pietro Parolin, long described as consensual, ultimately proved
> divisive.
> Subtle game of symbols
>
> For the members of the College of Cardinals most attached to Jorge
> Bergoglio's legacy, the American fits into an obvious continuity. He was
> one of the most determined supporters of the Argentine pope, who made him a
> cardinal in September 2023. In his first address from the balcony of Saint
> Peter's Basilica, he twice saluted his predecessor and followed in his
> footsteps by emphasizing the need for "dialogue," "encounter," and
> "bridges" that the Church must build.
>
> More specifically, in an allusion to a program of action, he mentioned the
> "synodal church" dear to Francis. In 2023 and 2024, Prevost participated in
> the synod on the future of the Church, a large assembly aimed at making the
> institution more inclusive. "We want to be a synodal church, walking and
> always seeking peace," Leo XIV emphasized.
>
> This promise is not just a pledge to the faithful of Francis; it aligns
> with the American's convictions. A missionary, a man of the field,
> recognized like his predecessor for his pastoral qualities, he explained in
> a rare interview with *Vatican News* in May 2023
> <https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2023-05/archbishop-prevost-the-bishop-is-a-pastor-not-a-manager.html>
> that churchmen often care about "teaching doctrine" at the risk of
> "forgetting that our first task is [...] to communicate the beauty and joy
> of knowing Jesus." In the same interview, he also explained that the
> process of choosing bishops should be "more open to listening to the
> different members of the community." Enough to satisfy the "Bergoglians,"
> attached to the advent of a more open and less clerical Church governance.
>
> But through a subtle play of symbols, Leo XIV also managed to address
> those left discontent with the Francis era, conservatives first and
> foremost. On the balcony of the basilica, he appeared wearing the
> traditional ceremonial attire, the red mozzetta and a stole embroidered
> with the figures of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. In 2013, the appearance of
> Francis dressed in a white cassock set the tone for his pontificate:
> Simple, humble, but also, for his detractors, nonchalant, disorganized and
> autocratic. During the general congregations preceding the conclave, many
> cardinals expressed their desire for more peaceful and less personal
> governance, even at the cost of losing flamboyance.
> Navigating the 'universal church'
>
> "Clothing is a symbol and a message, as strong as words," said Roberto
> Regoli, a professor of Church history at the Pontifical Gregorian
> University in Rome. Prevost thus reassures both the outside and the inside
> of the Church. For the specialist, the new pope sends a "message of unity"
> and presents himself as "a pope of balance."
>
> Leo XIV explicitly recalled the need for unity within the Church: "Thank
> you to my Cardinal brothers who chose me to be the successor of Peter and
> to walk together with you as a united church searching all together for
> peace and justice," he declared.
>
> His affiliation with the mendicant order of the *Augustinians*, known for
> their commitment to tradition and brotherly charity, his solid knowledge of
> canon law and the Curia further contribute to building this reassuring
> image. As the head of his dicastery and, previously, of his order, he has
> dealt with churchmen from around the world. A position that undoubtedly
> taught him to navigate the different cultures that make up the universal
> Church. "He is someone who knows how to listen," McCallum, who met him in
> the context of the synod on synodality, agreed. "He is not focused on
> himself and is dedicated to his task. He also knows how to make difficult
> decisions."
> [image: Pope Leo XIV's childhood home in Dolton, Illinois, on May 8, 2025.]
> <img src="
> https://img.lemde.fr/2025/05/09/0/0/4000/2667/600/0/75/0/870508e_ftp-import-images-1-40b7ijjj50zb-5842187-01-06.jpg"
> alt="Pope Leo XIV's childhood home in Dolton, Illinois, on May 8, 2025." />
>
> Born in 1955, Prevost grew up in Dolton, a working-class suburb south of
> Chicago. His father, of French and Italian descent, a lieutenant commander
> during World War II, later became a school principal and catechist. His
> mother, a librarian, was also involved in local parish life.
>
> Scientifically trained, like Pope Francis – Jorge Bergoglio was a chemist
> – Prevost first attended Villanova University in Pennsylvania, where he
> earned a mathematics degree. He then studied theology at the Catholic
> Theological Union in Chicago before entering the Order of Saint Augustine,
> where he was ordained a priest in 1982 at 27. He then turned to canon law
> at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas in Rome before beginning his
> South American career.
> [image: John Prevost, brother of the new Pope Leo XIV, with a 1958
> portrait of the three brothers, in New Lenox, Illinois, on May 8, 2025.]
> <img src="
> https://img.lemde.fr/2025/05/09/0/0/4500/2930/1200/0/75/0/52c7a3b_ftp-import-images-1-fvcvi53obhu0-ea482339b5b34ce3b69ae7618ad820ba-0-3bdbc8808be34378b92cdf50f4352596.jpg"
> alt="John Prevost, brother of the new Pope Leo XIV, with a 1958 portrait of
> the three brothers, in New Lenox, Illinois, on May 8, 2025." />
>
> Prevost's vocation lies in mission, as he said himself during his speech
> on Thursday. He left in 1985 with the Order of Saint Augustine to Peru,
> where he lived as a missionary, with a few interruptions, until 1999. He
> then returned to the United States, where he headed the Augustine Province
> of Our Lady of Good Counsel in the Midwest, before moving to Rome to become
> the order's prior general for 12 years. In this position, he oversaw 2,500
> brothers spread across several continents and learned to manage a global
> institution.
>
> In 2014, his path led him back to Peru, where Pope Francis appointed him
> the apostolic administrator of a diocese, Chiclayo. He later became its
> titular bishop. His mission was to restore order in a territory and
> especially a Church plagued by numerous tensions. At the time, the
> episcopate was torn apart over the case of two bishops: One accused of
> pedophilia, the other of personal misconduct.
> Social fiber
>
> The man who would later become pope acquired Peruvian nationality in 2015.
> "The pope is Peruvian!" echoed many of the country's newspapers on
> Thursday, in unison with joy and pride widely shared by the population. The
> interim president, Dina Boluarte, hailed a "historic" day for Peru.
>
> In the Andean country, his episcopate was not without challenges. The year
> of his naturalization saw the outbreak of the Sodalicio case
> <https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/09/02/in-peru-the-vatican-investigates-sexual-predators_6120557_4.html>,
> considered the most significant sexual scandal in the country's Church
> history. A book, *Mitad monjes, mitad soldados* ("Half Monks, Half
> Soldiers,"), by journalists Paola Ugaz and Pedro Salinas, compiled over 30
> testimonies from former sodalites reporting "sexual, physical, and
> psychological abuse, and sequestrations," committed between 1971 and the
> 2000s in the Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana community, an organization close
> to the far right and very influential in Peru.
>
> Prevost had recommended the dissolution of Sodalicio, achieved in
> mid-April, a few weeks before Pope Francis's death. At the head of his
> dicastery, Prevost also obtained the dismissal of the former bishop of
> Piura, linked to the community.
>
> The cardinal did not hesitate to intervene in the political life of his
> adopted country. In 2017, after the presidential pardon granted to Alberto
> Fujimori, he urged the former autocrat, who led Peru from 1990 to 2000, to
> ask forgiveness from his victims. His social fiber was also evident in
> February 2023 when he emphasized, during the repression of protests against
> interim president Boluarte, that "the right to protest must be respected."
>
> "There are sectors of the population who feel forgotten, ignored, and who
> have legitimate grievances," he noted further.
>
> On Thursday evening, the newly elected pope made an impromptu appearance
> at the Apostolic Palace to greet the cardinals present and members of the
> Curia. Starting Friday, he will celebrate his first mass as pope – in the
> Sistine Chapel, the very place where his election took place. His
> inauguration mass is to follow, on a yet-to-be-determined date. The United
> States customarily sends their vice president. It would, in this case, be
> JD Vance, a Catholic convert and a leading figure of a traditionalist and
> nationalist current within the Church, opposed to the vision embodied by
> Leo XIV.
>
>
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