The Rev. Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, wrote his doctoral thesis on the way local Augustinian superiors exercise authority, the university rector said Friday. It’s an issue that is perhaps newly relevant now that Prevost is the leader of the 1.4-billion strong Catholic Church.
The way religious superiors exercise authority has long been a topic of study for scholars. In recent years it has come under renewed scrutiny in light of cases where such authority has been abused: When a superior takes advantage of his or her authority, and the obedience that is owed to him or her by underlings, for sexual or other ends.
