‘The pope is Peruvian!’ How 2 decades in South America shaped the vision of Pope Leo XIV

In his first appearance as Pope Leo XIV on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, the man born Robert Francis Prevost spoke for 10 minutes in Italian^[1]. Then he transitioned to Spanish and, with a big grin, gave a greeting to his “beloved diocese of Chiclayo in Peru.”

Many Peruvians were overjoyed with the election of Leo, whom they are proud to claim as a fellow citizen. “The Pope is Peruvian!” reported the live coverage on Latina Noticias^[2], one of the main national networks. Other news outlets around Lima, where I live, shared similar headlines. Within minutes, all of Peru knew that the new pope, who was born and raised in Chicago, had served in Peru^[3] for over two decades and was nationalized as a citizen in 2015.

During his time in the South American nation, he lived alongside his parishioners through a bloody civil war^[4], a decade-long dictatorship and an unstable post-dictatorship period that has so far led to three former presidents being handed prison sentences^[5]. Amid these challenges, Prevost became part of Peruvian society – and, eventually, a leader within it.

Prevost’s leadership roles in Chicago and Rome were essential in his formation. But as a scholar of religion in Latin America^[6], I believe that it is his time in Peru that has best prepared him to take on the challenges of directing the global Catholic Church. In Peru, where Catholicism permeates public life, Prevost encountered deep social and political challenges in ways that bishops in many other countries may never face so directly.

Missionary during war and dictatorship

Prevost first arrived in Peru in 1985. A member of the Order of St. Augustine, the young man had been sent to its mission in Chulucanas^[7], in the northern province of Piura. Chulucanas is about 30 miles east of the regional capital, where the desert coast begins to rise up into the Andes.

After a year, Prevost left to finish his doctoral degree and serve briefly in Illinois. But he soon returned to Peru, serving as a missionary in the northern city of Trujillo. He stayed there through the remainder of the 1980s and 1990s, amid civil war between the government and various militant groups – primarily the Maoist guerrillas of Sendero Luminoso^[8], or “Shining Path,” who aimed to install a communist state.

The violence hit other regions more severely, but Trujillo and the surrounding area were home to car bombs^[9], sabotaged electrical grids^[10] and brutal military dragnet operations^[11]. Prevost accompanied Peruvians through some of the darkest days of the country’s history.

During these years, Prevost trained future clergy and served as a parish priest. One fellow Augustinian recalled that Prevost played a key role in recruiting and training Peruvian candidates^[12] to the priesthood. Prevost also founded the Trujillo parish^[13] of Nuestra Señora de Montserrat, where his parishioners knew him as “Padre Roberto.”

As the country transitioned away from the civil war period, which ultimately left nearly 70,000 dead^[14], Prevost remained in Peru. During the 1990s, President Alberto Fujimori’s government built a polarizing legacy^[15] by undermining democracy and citizenship rights while capturing the two most powerful guerrilla leaders^[16].