L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 8 THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2025 L'Italo-Americano LIFE PEOPLE PLACES EVENTS mentioned with affection – and speaking in Spanish – during his first address as P o p e L e o X I V , j u s t a f t e r being elected. In 2023, Pope Francis appointed him Pre- f e c t o f t h e D i c a s t e r y f o r B i s h o p s , a n i n c r e d i b l y important position within the Vatican (he was basically in charge of selecting poten- t i a l b i s h o p s a r o u n d t h e world), but one that most people outside of Church c i r c l e s d i d n ' t p a y m u c h attention to. Which is why, when he was elected Pope, m o s t o f u s w e r e s o s u r - prised. His choice of name, Leo XIV, is also interesting and, in line with a tradition that wants Popes choosing their names to indicate the nature a n d o r i e n t a t i o n o f t h e i r papacy, was no coincidence. P o p e L e o X I I I , w a s t h e author of the 1891 encyclical his family very active in the local Catholic community; according to his older broth- ers, Louis and John, every- one knew "Rob" (that's how they call him) would become a priest, because his favorite pretend play as a child was pretending to say mass using an ironing board as the altar. Later, he studied mathemat- ics at Villanova University, something I found surpris- ing, since most priests come t h r o u g h t h e h u m a n i t i e s route, and then entered the Augustinian order. A f t e r h i s o r d i n a t i o n i n Rome in 1982, Pope Prevost earned a doctorate in canon law and went on to spend nearly twenty years as a mis- sionary in Peru, a country he loves dearly and of which he also became a citizen. He became a bishop in 2014, to lead the diocese of Chiclayo, always in Peru, a place he D e R e r u m N o v a r u m , a foundational document for C a t h o l i c s o c i a l t e a c h i n g , where the Church embraced workers' rights and under- lined the dignity of work; many centuries before him, during the last decades of the Roman Empire, Leo the Great, stood up to Attila the H u n a n d h e l p e d s h a p e C h r i s t i a n d o c t r i n e . I t ' s a strong name, one that car- ries both intellectual and pastoral weight. When he appeared on the balcony of St. Peter's for the first time, he seemed real. Very emotional. He looked l i k e h e w a s h o l d i n g b a c k tears. He smiled, he greeted the crowd with warmth, and there was something incred- ibly down-to-earth about him. In the days that fol- lowed, more personal stories began to surface. His two b r o t h e r s g a v e i n t e r v i e w s saying they'd been playing W o r d s w i t h F r i e n d s w i t h h i m t h e n i g h t b e f o r e t h e conclave began: that alone felt unusual, because Popes don't usually come with sib- lings giving press interviews. Then came the viral TikTok that made everyone laugh: a woman who had dated him back in college, reacting in r e a l t i m e t o h i s e l e c t i o n while on a video call with her kids. Her son shouts, "Mom's Bob?!" and you can see her, stunned. The whole thing is funny and sweet and oddly comforting. Go watch i t , b e c a u s e i t ' s p r i c e l e s s . Admittedly, I don't know if it's true or just three people acting, but I'm pretty sure if there is an ex-girlfriend of the Pope out there, she and her kids would react just like that. In the end, what struck so many of us, beyond the sur- prise, the history-making moment, and even the Ital- i a n r o o t s , w a s j u s t h o w approachable Pope Leo XIV seems. There's something u n m i s t a k a b l y A m e r i c a n about him, in the best possi- ble way: he seems friendly, reassuring, informal, and open-hearted. And for us Italians, it's an extra joy to know he carries a piece of our heritage, too. So yes: he may be the Pope, but he also feels like one of us. grandson of an Italian emi- grant: his grandfather, Gio- vanni Pietro Felice Pre- vosto, was born in 1876 in S e t t i m o R o t t a r o , a s m a l l t o w n i n t h e p r o v i n c e o f Turin. He emigrated to the US in the early 20th century a n d s e t t l e d i n C h i c a g o , where he married Suzanne Fontaine, a French woman from Le Havre; Their son, Louis Marius Prevost, Robert's father, served in the US Navy during World War II and later became a school principal. His moth- er, Mildred Agnes Martínez, was of Spanish and Creole heritage and worked as a librarian. So, from the beginning, Pope Leo XIV carried within him the kind of cultural mix that defines so many Ameri- can families, including Ital- i a n - A m e r i c a n o n e s . H e grew up in south Chicago, W h e n t h e w h i t e s m o k e came out o f t h e Sistine Chapel on the after- noon of May 8, I was sitting at my kitchen table, working with the TV quietly on in the background. I'll be honest with you, it caught me off guard: the conclave had just started the day before, and everyone – Vatican analysts, journalists, my own brother (who's a priest and worked as a diplomat) – had pre- dicted at least two or three days of voting. So, when I saw the smoke turn white, I froze for a second, but then immediately started sending voice messages to friends and family. "White smoke! We have a new Pope!" Like most people, I was expecting one of the usual names being circulated – Tagle, Zuppi, maybe Parolin. B u t w h e n t h e n a m e w a s announced, Robert Fran- cis Prevost, I blinked. "Wait, who?" I said out loud, while typing his name into my phone to find out who he was. Because of his surname, which is French, for one second I thought he may have been Canadian, but I only needed to open the first link to realize my mistake: no, he's American. He is from Chicago. That's when I sent a voice message to Rachel, a close friend of mine from Buffalo. She's a Catholic too, and we studied at the same universi- ty in Ireland. "Rach! Rach! You guys have the Pope!" I told her, still half in disbe- lief. S h e b e c a m e v e r y e m o - tional and, I'll be honest, so d i d I . T h e r e ' s s o m e t h i n g about seeing a Pope elected that always feels momen- tous, as you are aware you are witnessing history. This time, we did so in more than o n e w a y : j u s t l i k e P o p e Francis was the first pontiff coming from South America, Robert Prevost was the first born in the US, another nod from the Catholic Church to its shifting barycenter away from Europe and towards other parts of the world. F o r I t a l i a n A m e r i c a n s , however, there is another r e a s o n t o b e h a p p y a n d p r o u d : t h e n e w P o p e h a s Italian roots. Pope Leo XIV – this is the papal name Car- dinal Prevost chose – is the CHIARA D'ALESSIO White smoke and surprise: how we met Leo XIV, the first American Pope Pope Prevost on the day of his election (Photo: Marco Iacobucci/Dreamstime)

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