CHICAGO (OSV News) — Catholics and non-Catholics alike were abuzz with excitement in Chicago May 8, after one of the city’s native sons became pope. Taking the name Leo XIV, the new pontiff has made many firsts.
On the sunny street outside Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, a cab driver, Veronica Canadas, sat in her white taxi, listening intently to media coverage of the announcement of the new pope. She had just learned that Cardinal Robert F. Prevost was elected.
With a big smile on her face, Canadas told OSV News she was “more happy than I can be” to know there was a new successor to St. Peter. And on learning he was a local, Canadas said she was “even more happy … because I live in this city, and for me it’s meaning that we are not alone, especially in these times. God (gave) us this pope for hope.”
A native of Ecuador, Canadas who has lived in Chicago since 1995, said she was also happy that Pope Leo XIV spent a significant part of his priesthood in Peru. This meant he knew Latin American culture, she said. And having him as pope would give hope to Latinos “because of the situation in this country right now, against all immigrants and against, especially, Latino communities.”
Pope Leo XIV, 69, has been with the Augustinian order almost since childhood, having wanted to be one of their priests since he was 13 years old, according to Bishop Daniel Turley, another Augustinian from Chicago and a retired bishop of Chulucanas, Peru. As Father Robert Prevost, the future American pope served under Bishop Turley in the order’s vicariate which includes Chulucanas, Iquitos and Apurímac, Peru, starting in 1988.
“This is unbelievable,” Bishop Turley told OSV News. “It’s the first American pope in the history of the church, and our church is 2,000 years old. So that’s really something. He’s the first Augustinian in the history of the order to become pope, and of course, he’s the first one from Chicago … so he is special.”
Bishop Turley, 82, said the new pope, who grew up in the south suburban towns of Dolton and Riverdale, was “very gifted” as formation director, professor and manager of the Augustinians’ seminary project at the order’s mission in Trujillo, the third largest city in Peru, just south of Chulucanas. He said then-Father Prevost oversaw building the seminarians’ housing and chapel, and was “an excellent professor” whose students “loved him” at the major seminary, Colegio Seminario de San Carlos y San Marcelo in Trujillo.
Bishop Turley said he had no doubt Pope Leo XIV would work hard to promote world peace and to “do everything possible to respect the dignity of every human being.”
The bishop wrote out numbers on scraps of paper at his desk in the Midwest Augustinians’ pre-novitiate house at St. Rita Parish, and remarked that while they were both originally Chicago Southsiders, they each also became dual citizens of Peru.
“So yeah, he was about 33 years outside of the country” in Rome and Peru,” he said. “I was 56 years (in Mexico, then Peru) outside.”
Being both baseball fans from Chicago, he said they decided to forgo their town’s intense team rivalries, living so far away in Peru. They cheered both the White Sox and the Cubs.
Augustinian Father John Lydon, retired president of Catholic University of Trujillo, is now formator at his order’s theologate in Chicago, where the future Pope Leo had the same role. He lived with the new pope for 10 years when they both taught at the major seminary. They also were classmates at Villanova University near Philadelphia, where he said they would grab an occasional beer together.
Father Lydon said his good friend becoming pope was “great news!” He described Pope Leo, both as a priest and bishop, as being very personable and an intellectually gifted teacher, with great concern for the poor, especially in the part of Trujillo where they served.
Across the street from the Augustinian theologate in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood is the Catholic Theological Union, where Pope Leo studied before his priesthood. The outgoing president, Dominican Sister Barbara Reid beamed before a row of TV cameras at a news conference.
“We are overjoyed that someone who was formed initially for ministry here at Catholic Theological Union … that someone who is beloved and known to us is now the beloved leader of the whole, entire church,” she said. “And even others who are not Catholic claim the pope as their own.”
Outside Holy Name Cathedral downtown, a man who said he was Jewish took photos of the cathedral. He told OSV News he was “very happy” for Catholics and especially glad that Pope Leo XIV was a native Chicagoan.
The Archdiocese of Chicago’s vicar general, Bishop Lawrence J. Sullivan, told a news conference inside the cathedral that it was an exciting day for the church.
“Additionally, it’s a day of great excitement for Chicago, for the United States to have one of our own be elected as the pope, as the Holy Father,” he said.
Bishop Sullivan acknowledged that he did not know the new pope personally, but he knew of his “humble and very prayerful” way.
Longtime Chicago Southwest Side resident Imelda Salazar, a parishioner of the Augustinian-administrated St. Rita Parish, told OSV News she knows the new pope and has joined him for dinner hosted at a close friend’s house at least once a year over the past decade.
“I’m still digesting (the news),” said Salazar, 52. “But the first thing is, it’s one of us. I thought, what a pride, that he’s from the Southwest Side. He’s an Augustinian!”
Salazar is heavily involved in the grassroots Southwest Organizing Project, which has a goal to get Chicagoans involved in public leadership. She said, with Pope Leo XIV as head of the universal church, “It’s like, wow! Let’s really work with him to continue the legacy of Pope Francis on synodality, like let’s journey together as Catholics.”
Salazar said she met then-Bishop Prevost of Chiclayo, Peru, about nine years ago, when her friend, an Augustinian seminarian, was going to be ordained by him. She was struck by how “very, very welcoming” he was, and took a real interest in her community organizing work.
Bishop Turley said he “truly believes” the late Pope Francis had a hand in Pope Leo XIV becoming the next vicar of Christ through assigning him greater leadership roles in the church, ultimately making him prefect of the Holy See’s Dicastery for Bishops and a cardinal.
“Pope Francis really liked very much Cardinal Prevost. He’s the one who named him, ‘I want you to be bishop of Chiclayo, … I want you to come to Rome.’ That was all Pope Francis directly,” he said.
The bishop said he believes the late pope is in heaven, and he has no doubt his intercession had a hand in conclave.
“I think his first miracle is that the Holy Spirit moved the cardinals to choose Cardinal Prevost,” he said.
By Simone Orendain | OSV News
News & Commentary
Chicago abuzz with ‘unbelievable’ joy the first American Pope is a hometown son
CHICAGO (OSV News) — Catholics and non-Catholics alike were abuzz with excitement in Chicago May 8, after one of the city’s native sons became pope. Taking the name Leo XIV, the new pontiff has made many firsts.
On the sunny street outside Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, a cab driver, Veronica Canadas, sat in her white taxi, listening intently to media coverage of the announcement of the new pope. She had just learned that Cardinal Robert F. Prevost was elected.
With a big smile on her face, Canadas told OSV News she was “more happy than I can be” to know there was a new successor to St. Peter. And on learning he was a local, Canadas said she was “even more happy … because I live in this city, and for me it’s meaning that we are not alone, especially in these times. God (gave) us this pope for hope.”
A native of Ecuador, Canadas who has lived in Chicago since 1995, said she was also happy that Pope Leo XIV spent a significant part of his priesthood in Peru. This meant he knew Latin American culture, she said. And having him as pope would give hope to Latinos “because of the situation in this country right now, against all immigrants and against, especially, Latino communities.”
Pope Leo XIV, 69, has been with the Augustinian order almost since childhood, having wanted to be one of their priests since he was 13 years old, according to Bishop Daniel Turley, another Augustinian from Chicago and a retired bishop of Chulucanas, Peru. As Father Robert Prevost, the future American pope served under Bishop Turley in the order’s vicariate which includes Chulucanas, Iquitos and Apurímac, Peru, starting in 1988.
“This is unbelievable,” Bishop Turley told OSV News. “It’s the first American pope in the history of the church, and our church is 2,000 years old. So that’s really something. He’s the first Augustinian in the history of the order to become pope, and of course, he’s the first one from Chicago … so he is special.”
Bishop Turley, 82, said the new pope, who grew up in the south suburban towns of Dolton and Riverdale, was “very gifted” as formation director, professor and manager of the Augustinians’ seminary project at the order’s mission in Trujillo, the third largest city in Peru, just south of Chulucanas. He said then-Father Prevost oversaw building the seminarians’ housing and chapel, and was “an excellent professor” whose students “loved him” at the major seminary, Colegio Seminario de San Carlos y San Marcelo in Trujillo.
Bishop Turley said he had no doubt Pope Leo XIV would work hard to promote world peace and to “do everything possible to respect the dignity of every human being.”
The bishop wrote out numbers on scraps of paper at his desk in the Midwest Augustinians’ pre-novitiate house at St. Rita Parish, and remarked that while they were both originally Chicago Southsiders, they each also became dual citizens of Peru.
“So yeah, he was about 33 years outside of the country” in Rome and Peru,” he said. “I was 56 years (in Mexico, then Peru) outside.”
Being both baseball fans from Chicago, he said they decided to forgo their town’s intense team rivalries, living so far away in Peru. They cheered both the White Sox and the Cubs.
Augustinian Father John Lydon, retired president of Catholic University of Trujillo, is now formator at his order’s theologate in Chicago, where the future Pope Leo had the same role. He lived with the new pope for 10 years when they both taught at the major seminary. They also were classmates at Villanova University near Philadelphia, where he said they would grab an occasional beer together.
Father Lydon said his good friend becoming pope was “great news!” He described Pope Leo, both as a priest and bishop, as being very personable and an intellectually gifted teacher, with great concern for the poor, especially in the part of Trujillo where they served.
Across the street from the Augustinian theologate in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood is the Catholic Theological Union, where Pope Leo studied before his priesthood. The outgoing president, Dominican Sister Barbara Reid beamed before a row of TV cameras at a news conference.
“We are overjoyed that someone who was formed initially for ministry here at Catholic Theological Union … that someone who is beloved and known to us is now the beloved leader of the whole, entire church,” she said. “And even others who are not Catholic claim the pope as their own.”
Outside Holy Name Cathedral downtown, a man who said he was Jewish took photos of the cathedral. He told OSV News he was “very happy” for Catholics and especially glad that Pope Leo XIV was a native Chicagoan.
The Archdiocese of Chicago’s vicar general, Bishop Lawrence J. Sullivan, told a news conference inside the cathedral that it was an exciting day for the church.
“Additionally, it’s a day of great excitement for Chicago, for the United States to have one of our own be elected as the pope, as the Holy Father,” he said.
Bishop Sullivan acknowledged that he did not know the new pope personally, but he knew of his “humble and very prayerful” way.
Longtime Chicago Southwest Side resident Imelda Salazar, a parishioner of the Augustinian-administrated St. Rita Parish, told OSV News she knows the new pope and has joined him for dinner hosted at a close friend’s house at least once a year over the past decade.
“I’m still digesting (the news),” said Salazar, 52. “But the first thing is, it’s one of us. I thought, what a pride, that he’s from the Southwest Side. He’s an Augustinian!”
Salazar is heavily involved in the grassroots Southwest Organizing Project, which has a goal to get Chicagoans involved in public leadership. She said, with Pope Leo XIV as head of the universal church, “It’s like, wow! Let’s really work with him to continue the legacy of Pope Francis on synodality, like let’s journey together as Catholics.”
Salazar said she met then-Bishop Prevost of Chiclayo, Peru, about nine years ago, when her friend, an Augustinian seminarian, was going to be ordained by him. She was struck by how “very, very welcoming” he was, and took a real interest in her community organizing work.
Bishop Turley said he “truly believes” the late Pope Francis had a hand in Pope Leo XIV becoming the next vicar of Christ through assigning him greater leadership roles in the church, ultimately making him prefect of the Holy See’s Dicastery for Bishops and a cardinal.
“Pope Francis really liked very much Cardinal Prevost. He’s the one who named him, ‘I want you to be bishop of Chiclayo, … I want you to come to Rome.’ That was all Pope Francis directly,” he said.
The bishop said he believes the late pope is in heaven, and he has no doubt his intercession had a hand in conclave.
“I think his first miracle is that the Holy Spirit moved the cardinals to choose Cardinal Prevost,” he said.
By Simone Orendain | OSV News