I was in my office in Old Union when I heard that the new Pope was an American. Within minutes, a Peruvian undergrad messaged me, “NEW POPE IS AMERICAN AND PERUVIAN!!!!!” Over the next few days, I heard objections to the characterization that he is the “first American Pope,” almost always accompanied by the insistence that Leo’s Argentine predecessor was the “first Pontiff from the Americas.”
Pope Leo XIV holds passports from both his native United States and his adopted home, Peru. As I learned more and more about my new shepherd, the more I appreciated that he is “American” — in all the best senses that the word may mean.
It is widely established that Robert Francis Prevost is from the southern suburbs of Chicago. He grew up in modest circumstances in a devout Catholic home, and his faith was formative in his life. Like many 20th-century Americans, Prevost holds a rich patchwork of cultures, nationalities and races in his pedigree: Italian, French and even African-Haitian Creole.
His devout Catholic upbringing led young Prevost to enter a religious Order (the Augustinians) and seek priestly ordination. He holds degrees in mathematics, theology and canon law. After his education and formation, he joined the Augustinian missionary efforts in Peru. Over the years, he grew to love the Peruvian people, he said. He was called away from his missionary work to serve in leadership positions for the Augustinian Order both in the U.S. and as General Superior of the Order worldwide. After two terms in this position, he returned to his beloved Peru and was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Chiclayo. (Because of an agreement between the Vatican and Peru, Prevost had to become a naturalized citizen of Peru to be a bishop there). It was from Peru that he was called by Pope Francis to serve the universal Church and head the Vatican office is responsible for appointing Bishops around the world. That position led to his being created a Cardinal, which took him to the conclave that elected him Pope.
Pope Leo’s varied experiences represent the best of Catholic America (here, I refer to the whole “American Hemisphere.”) The Church in the New World was founded by missionaries, built by immigrants and staffed by men and women who were part of religious orders. Pope Leo is all of these: a missionary, the son of immigrants who became an immigrant and an Augustinian Friar. Although he was from a modest family, he took advantage of the education afforded him by joining the Augustinians. Furthermore, he committed himself to serve in a relatively poor country in South America. As he rose to leadership positions within his order, he continued acting as a servant-leader. His commitment to service attracted the notice of his Papal predecessor, who would position him to serve an even larger number of people, ultimately leading to his elevation to the Throne of Peter.
The Catholic Church of the Western Hemisphere has a rich — but short — history. That the two most recent popes were elected from this side of the world represents a maturing of the Church on these shores. Pope Leo represents the best of that maturity — a church on the move, a church that serves the poor, a church that takes the Gospel to the corners of the earth, an immigrant church, a missionary church, a servant church.
In the 20th century, the Catholic Church in the U.S. committed itself to live the virtues of Catholic Social Teaching: care for the poor and vulnerable, defense of the rights of workers and defense of the family and of human life. These principles were articulated in Rerum Novarum, an encyclical written by Pope Leo XIII in 1891. In choosing Leo XIV as his regnal name, the current Pope paid homage to the Leo who inaugurated more than a century of remarkable Catholic Social Teaching. Even in his choice of a name, Pope Leo signals that he is a man of the 20th-century American Church committed to challenging the social problems of this age with the tools provided by his faith and formation.
Pope Leo also spoke on identifying with those who struggle in the world today in an address to diplomats from May 16, 2025: “My own story is that of a citizen, the descendant of immigrants, who in turn chose to emigrate. All of us, in the course of our lives, can find ourselves healthy or sick, employed or unemployed, living in our native land or in a foreign country, yet our dignity always remains unchanged: it is the dignity of a creature willed and loved by God.”
The first declared saint from the New World was the Peruvian Saint Rose of Lima. She, too, was committed to serving the poor and sick. American Catholics could scarcely have chosen a better representative of the values of New World Catholicism than this Dominican mystic and servant. Those from the U.S. who have been canonized are missionaries and immigrants who distinguished themselves in building the young Church of this country. Saints like Mother Frances Cabrini and Friar Damien of Moloka’i stand out for their care for and upholding of the dignity of all people. Once again, the churches of Peru and the U.S. have chosen the best of American Catholicism to guide the Catholic flock deeper into this Century. Like those North and South American Saints, Pope Leo will bring the best of what it means to be an American Catholic into the exercise of his Papal ministry.
Friar Bartholomew Hutcherson, OP serves as a pastor for the Catholic community at Stanford while also working as an adjunct lecturer in homiletics at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology.