As a Filipino American I prayed for Tagle, but rejoiced for Prevost

It is my conclave story captured in one frame: Moments prior to the proclamation extra omnes (outside everyone), I chanced upon a scene from the video coverage at the Sistine Chapel. The camera focuses on Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, with his hand partially shielding his mouth, speaking in a hushed tone to his amused seatmate, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, while both of them look at something off frame. This image was an emblem of my own conclave journey, which remained on the edge of mystery, until white smoke appeared.

Truth be told, I was hoping Cardinal Tagle would be chosen as the successor of Pope Francis. The good-natured cardinal from the Philippines, whose guileless simplicity, relatability, and charismatic leadership endeared him to 85 million Filipino Catholics and many more around the globe, had already been viewed as an “Asian Francis,” a papabile, for several years—to which he had responded, several times: “If I were God, I would not choose me.”

I had the privilege of interviewing Cardinal Tagle in May 2015 in a faculty-and-student forum at Catholic Theological Union (CTU) in Chicago, the graduate school where I teach, just a couple of hours before he was awarded an honorary doctorate. The first question I asked him was about how, as a bishop, he was known to commute by bike or by bus to share meals with people, and once showed up unannounced at a small rural chapel to substitute for a sick parish priest at 4:00 a.m. during Simbang Gabi (traditional dawn masses leading to Christmas).

“More than the diary of a bishop, this really sounds like a diary of a country priest,” I said. “Is the Archbishop of Manila still a country priest at heart?” Ever self-effacing, Cardinal Tagle qualified that these activities were simply part of his duties as shepherd to the flock. I could almost hear the audience issue a revision: These are the duties of a good shepherd.

Yes, Tagle heads the Vatican’s highest priority Dicastery of Evangelization and has a sterling academic background. But when he engages with people and talks to them, especially those who are at society’s margins it is unmistakable that he is a good shepherd, and still a country priest at heart—papabile or not.

Hopes and speculations about Cardinal Tagle as a candidate for the papacy reflect what many Catholics envision the church and its mission should be: at the margins where suffering humanity holds an additional claim to God’s presence and grace. Catholic social teaching and contextual theologies understand this to be “an option for the poor.”

The church should not be in a state of inertia, waiting for the faithful to bring their prayers and needs before a cold, marble altar. The church must, rather, be present where the wounded are. The good news of God’s reign must come home to the poor and the least. This is at the heart of the mission of Jesus Christ: “To proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18–19).

So it made sense to look to Cardinal Tagle as another prophetic voice from and for the Global South.

An international news agency asked me to be on standby for a reaction interview immediately following Habemus Papam: They wanted a “Filipino voice” in case Tagle was elected. As I waited for the white smoke, I stared at the seagulls perched on the Sistine Chapel chimney for what felt like an eternity. I kept whispering in prayer, “Why not Tagle, why not Tagle?”

When the white smoke appeared, and then cleared, and the cardinal protodeacon stepped out to announce the new pope, I strained my ears to catch the name: Eminentissimum ac Reverendissimum Dominum Robertus Franciscus Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinalem Prevost.

Did I hear right? Prevost from the United States?! And a few moments later, I shouted a few more decibels louder, “Prevost from Catholic Theological Union, MDiv class of 1982?!”

Along with Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson of Ghana—one of the framers of Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’ (On Care for our Common Home)—Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was on my personal shortlist but I did not expect him to be elected, not by a long shot. The question to ask now is “Why not Prevost?”

The son of a mother of Hispanic descent, and a French-Italian father with a Creole branch in his family tree, the Chicago-born Cardinal Prevost worked in Peru from 1985 to 1987 under the Augustinian mission where he taught in a diocesan seminary, led a parish in the outskirts of Trujillo, and served as judge in a Catholic court. After spending some years in the United States doing vocation work, then as head of the Augustinian Province of Chicago, he returned to Peru as Bishop of Chiclacayo for a period of nine years from 2014 to 2023. He had been an “adopted” Peruano until he was called to the Vatican to head the Diacastery of Bishops in 2023.

Although he was born in the world’s number one geopolitical and economic power, the multilingual Prevost transcends national and cultural boundaries in the service of the mission; more than an American, he is a border-crossing shepherd. His opting for the name Leo XIV authenticates his abiding commitment to the promotion of human dignity and social justice; Pope Leo XIII, author of the first Catholic social encyclical Rerum Novarum (On Capital and Labor) and an advocate for worker’s rights during the Industrial Revolution, was the inspiration behind his name of choice. By all indications, Pope Leo XIV and Pope Francis are not in very different zip codes theologically.

It is reasonable to claim that Robert Prevost’s formative theological education at Catholic Theological Union from 1977 to 1982 had a meaningful impact on his ministry life. Founded in 1968 by three religious congregations—Franciscans, Servites, Passionists—as a response to the Second Vatican Council, CTU’s enduring slogan “Bold and Faithful” reflects its global mission of upholding human dignity, interculturality, and the integrity of creation, while being rooted in the fidei depositum, the doctrinal and theological heritage of the Catholic Church.

Cognizant that the deepest aspirations of the church and the global human community dovetail—the very prologue of Gaudium et Spes (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World) shines a light on this—CTU follows Vatican II’s approach of mutual and respectful dialogue; this finds concrete expression in its intercultural, ecumenical, and interfaith theological initiatives.

As a full-time faculty member of CTU for 18 years now, I’ve come to realize that we do not know what our students will become. Yet, we do know that in the face of real ministry challenges, our students will draw from the waters of their theological training and formation at CTU.

During his post-conclave press conference, Cardinal Tagle shared that his first act of charity for the newly elected Pope was to give him a piece of caramel. He gave the candy to Cardinal Prevost upon noticing that his seatmate was anxiously awaiting the results of the ballot. The would-be Pontiff gladly accepted the kind gift. He would be needing it!

In exchange, Prevost gifted Tagle with the very first autograph signed by Pope Leo XIV. A few weeks later, on May 24, 2025, Pope Leo XIV officially bestowed the title of Cardinal of Albano upon Cardinal Tagle, a meaningful sign of trust, as this was his own seat prior to being elected Pope.

CTU’s 57th graduation ceremony on May 22 is a commencement like no other as we celebrate the election of our most bold and faithful alumnus yet, Robert Francis Prevost, as the 267th Pope of the Catholic Church. I am proudly wearing an antique star-shaped pin on the lapel of my academic robe; it is a commemorative insignia of Quadragesimo Anno, the 1931 encyclical marking the 40th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum.

There are also a couple of caramels in my secret pocket. 

Image: Courtesy of the Catholic Theological Union