From Chicago To Church Leader: Reflecting On Pope Leo XIV’s First Year
This week marks one year since Cardinal Robert Prevost became Pope Leo XIV.
The late Cardinal Francis George, who once presided over Leo’s hometown of Chicago, famously said that there would never be an American pope until the United States went into political decline.
Whether Leo’s election to the papacy confirms this decline or proves Cardinal George incorrect, the reality of an American pope came as a surprise to most around the world.
Following the controversial papacy of Francis, efforts to predict and understand the cardinals who were most likely to take his place were plentiful.
Every major news outlet submitted its predictions for who would succeed Francis. Maybe another Italian with Cardinal Pizzaballa or Zuppi? Maybe the pontiff would be an African like Cardinal Sarah or Turkson? Or maybe the conclave would make history in electing Cardinal Tagle as the first Asian pope?
But, on most of these lists, Robert Prevost, the American who ministered in Chiclayo, Peru, was absent.
So, almost immediately after Prevost entered the central balcony at St. Peter’s Basilica, there was a scramble to find out who he was and what his priorities would be during his papacy.
And while several books have been published about Leo, it seems the definitive biography of Prevost’s life is finally here.
Elise Ann Allen’s “Pope Leo XIV: The Biography” was published just last week in English. Allen is a Vatican reporter who currently works as a senior correspondent at Crux, a Catholic news site. She knew Prevost before he was pope and was the first to interview him after his election to the papacy.
On this week’s episode, I spoke to Allen to find out who Pope Leo XIV is, what has shaped his ministry and what he might hope to accomplish in his years as pope.
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Matthew Peterson is Religion Unplugged’s podcast editor and audience development coordinator. He took part in this past summer’s European Journalism Institute held in Prague, an annual program co-sponsored by The Media Project.