Pope Leo XIV’s election marks a historic moment: the first pope from an English-speaking country, and the first from the United States. Even more significant than these “firsts,” I believe, is a “second”: Leo follows in Pope Francis’ footsteps as a priest shaped by the Latin American church.
The new pontiff served the church in Peru throughout the late 1980s and ‘90s. Francis called him back to serve from 2015-2023 as bishop of the northern city of Chiclayo – where Catholics today are rejoicing over the election of one of their own, “un papa Chiclayano.”
