ST. LOUIS- The St. Louis region is reacting to the stunning news out of the Vatican where for the first time, an American-born Cardinal has been elected as Pope.
Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost, is a Chicago native and a graduate of Villanova. As a missionary, Prevost, 69, spent his career ministering in Peru. But before any of that, he was a novitiate of Order of St. Augustine, Province of Our Lady of Good Counsel, where he learned the ropes of being a priest at the former Augustinian Academy and Immaculate Conception/St. Henry Parish, located in Compton Heights in 1977 and 1978.
As a student at Augustinian Academy, Steve Baker remembers sitting in the church rectory having coffee with the man he knew as "Bob", who he described as smart like a rocket scientist, contemplative and unassuming.
"We talked baseball, we talked football and we talked about music. You know guy things, guy stuff. He was just a guy."
Baker's phone has been pinging with texts through the day as friends chime in reminding him that his friend is now the leader of the Catholic church. The two have remained in contact via email over the years, most recently when Baker saw news reports suggeting that Prevost could be a darkhouse candidate in the Conclave. Baker says he plans to reach out shortly, and has already changed the information for the Pontiff that's on his cell phone.
"I'm still not sure the protocol. I know that he's 'Your Holiness, but I know him as Bob. There's a whole new thing I'm going to have to figure out if I ever see him again," Baker told Spectrum News on Thursday afternoon.
"When I met him when we were younger, there was something about him that says this guy is destined for greatness. Nothing tangible. You just have a feeling like boy this guy is really smart he's really destined for something better," Baker said.
The election is being seen as a sign of continuity with Pope Francis’ tenure.
“Today, I join Catholics around the world in celebrating the election of Pope Leo XIV. It is clear that the College of Cardinals considered earnestly the crossroads at which we stand, and their selection speaks to the need for communion among all children of God,” St. Louis Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski said in a statement. “As we navigate this change of era, we look to Pope Leo for spiritual leadership, pastoral care of the Church and Her people, and steadfast commitment to the most vulnerable. I pray in a special way that Pope Francis’s legacy of compassion for the forgotten continues to inspire us to view the stranger as Christ.”
The archdiocese urged churches across the region to toll their bells at 2 p.m.
“Frankly I’m kind of stunned,” said Father David Suwalsky, vice president for mission and identity at Saint Louis University, who pointed to the new pontiff’s missionary background as evidence of linkage to Pope Francis, who elevated Prevost to the College of Cardinals in 2023. “I wish I was the president of Villanova right now.”
Suwalsky also sees parallels in the decision to take the name Leo to when Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio took the name Francis, as his papacy was defined by reaching out to those on the periphery of society.
Pope Leo XIII led the church in the late 19th century during the industrial revolution, and is known for an encyclical about the rise of industrialization and the rights of workers.
Political leaders in the region also reacted to the news.
This story will be updated
