From the Missions to the Papacy: The Story of Pope Leo XIV
Pope Leo XIV could have lived a comfortable life as an American growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, and even as an Augustinian priest, but he chose to go to the missions, according to a priest who lived and worked with him for many years.
“And that was not an easy thing to do. You leave your parents, your family, and you put yourself at the service of others,” said Augustinian Father Arthur Purcaro, who worked in Peru with then-Father—and later Bishop—Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV.
Father Purcaro, Assistant Vice President for Mission and Ministry at Villanova University, spoke with Aid to the Church in Need USA from Italy, where he was celebrating his recent golden jubilee of ordination. He had planned the celebration in Rome for a year and had asked his old friend, Cardinal Prevost, to celebrate Mass and perhaps help him obtain an audience with Pope Francis.
Things turned out a little differently. After Pope Francis passed away on April 21, the two Augustinians did celebrate Mass together, but it was Francis’s funeral—Father Purcaro standing in the priests’ section, and Cardinal Prevost, now prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, standing with his fellow cardinals. Then, on May 8, those cardinals elected Father Purcaro’s old friend as the first American pope.
Father Purcaro still refers to the new pontiff as “Bob.” Although he is from New York and Father Prevost is from Chicago, their vocations to the priesthood in the Order of St. Augustine and their love of the missions brought them together. They also worked side by side in Rome when Father Prevost was prior general of the Augustinian Order, and Father Purcaro served in the central government of the Order.
Dedication to Priestly Formation
After many years, one thing that still impresses Father Purcaro about Father Prevost is his dedication to the work of priestly formation in Trujillo, Peru. “Those young men who were being formed would come from Chulucanas, a northern city where people live at a subsistence level,” he said. “The people there were like those in former agricultural societies, without necessarily a great level of education, people who really needed human and social formation.”
Father Prevost “cared very much about each of the young men who were preparing to become either diocesan or Augustinian priests and would visit their families, concerned about the family itself,” Father Purcaro said. “He would accompany them to wakes when someone passed away. He would make sure that they had the basics, which is not an easy thing. He never shirked that responsibility, even when he was bishop in Chiclayo.”
Aid to the Church in Need has supported projects in Peru, including the formation of seminarians, missionaries, and catechists. Later, as bishop of Chiclayo, the future pope would write to express his gratitude for the pontifical charity’s support.
Hands On in Chiclayo
Chiclayo is in a northern region of Peru where flooding is common. According to The New York Times, Bishop Prevost “would often deliver food and other supplies to remote areas himself, sometimes carrying bags of rice on his back.”
Father Purcaro told ACN that Father Prevost “would be the one who would reach out, get the people to reach out to those who had been affected by floods in the area. He would encourage the priests and people in the parishes: ‘What can we do to reach out during these disasters?’”
Although the new Bishop of Rome is “not a terribly overly outgoing person, because he’s deep,” Pope Leo is “a people-loving person,” said his old friend. “He is somebody who takes into account everyone, the people who are in front of him, and tries to get the people in front of him concerned about those who have been left out.”
Said Father Purcaro, “He’s never satisfied with what is, but always looking for more, not more consumer goods, but to be able to share God’s love more with other people.”
