Chicago and the Peruvian city of Chiclayo celebrated the election of Robert Prevost as a new Pope.
Prevost, 69, who took the name Papal Leo XIV, has close ties with them both, having grown up in Chicago and then lived for decades in Peru, first as a missionary and then as a bishop of the city of the north of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023.
After the Double American Citizen-Peruvian was announced Thursday evening the next head of the Catholic Church, after four voting cycles in the Conclave, people in the United States and Peru spoke of their joy.
At Frances Xavier Warde School in Chicago, Mary Perrotti, director of advancement, said that her students were delighted by the elevation of a “native son” in the papacy.
“Our students are right next to them. They are more excited and cannot believe that a Chicagoan is their new pope. They were impressed,” said Perrotti.
“Our young people now have a model of a leader with justice and compassion at the heart of his ministries-and who is their home,” she added. “It is a feeling of connection so deep for them.”
John Doughney, who was the same year as Pope Leo XIV at school, remembered him as a “friend for everyone” and as a “nice, attentive and compassionate young man”.
“Even at the age of 12 and 13, it was obvious to all of us that he knew what his call was,,” he said. “It would have been all shocked if he did not enter the priesthood. We are so proud of him. ”
Thousands of kilometers south of Chicago, people were delighted with the news of Peru, especially in Chiclayo and in the capital Lima.
Pope Leo XIV is perhaps the first American chief of the Catholic Church, but Peru, who gave him citizenship in 2015, also claims him as his.
In his first address as a pope of the Balcony of the Saint-Pierre Basilica, he went to the Spaniard to wish his old diocese well.
“Greetings … to all of you, and in particular to my beloved diocese of Chiclayo in Peru, where a faithful people accompanied their bishop, shared their faith,” he said.
Peruvian president Dina Boluarte suggested that her election was a “historic moment” for Peru.
“He chose to be one of us, to live with us and to carry in his heart the faith, culture and dreams of this nation,” she said, noting that he was a Peruvian citizen by “choice and conviction”.
The bells of Lima cathedral penetrated after the announcement of her victory.
ADVERTISEMENT“For us Peruvians, it is a source of pride that it is a pope who represents our country,” said teacher Isabel Banez. “We would like him to visit us here in Peru,” she added.
