“Pope Leo’s Spirituality is Down to Earth”
Every now and then, a moment in history invites us to pause, reflect, and to feel hopeful. The election of a new pope is one of those moments.
When Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost from Chicago was chosen as Pope Leo XIV, it felt especially hopeful. At a time when division, noise, and spectacle dominate so much of public life, Pope Leo’s quiet humility and deep sense of justice offer something else entirely: a call for kindness.
Rev. Mark R. Francis is a classmate and longtime friend of Pope Leo’s—or “Bob” as Rev. Francis still calls his friend—and has a unique glimpse into the character of the man who’s been called to lead the Catholic church. Their friendship spans more than four decades, beginning in seminary school and continuing through leadership roles in Rome.
This week, The Sunday Paper sat down with Rev. Francis to learn more about his friend, our new pope, and how he embodies the kind of leader the church—and all of us—need right now.
A CONVERSATION WITH REV. MARK R. FRANCIS
How do you know the pope, and what kind of person is he?
I knew him at our seminary—we were classmates—so I’ve known him for over 40 years. During our first year at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, we were in a theological reflection group together. This is a group of seminarians that get together under the tutelage one of the professors to talk about our experiences.
One of the things that always impressed me about Bob was that he didn’t waste words and he was very insightful. He also spoke about his experience of feeling the presence of God in the people he served in ministry.
He’s not a showboat. He doesn’t have to be the center of attention in the room. He’s a very good listener. And I believe that’s what is needed in the church—leaders that are willing to listen and to inspire other people to speak where they are and express what they need.
That was over 40 years ago, and we’ve kept in contact all that time. We were Superiors General together in Rome in the early 2000s and we’d meet several times a year—sometimes at meetings in Rome, sometimes on planes going back and forth to Chicago.
Bob always impressed me as someone who is extremely accessible, uses common sense, is very approachable, and is, as they say in Spanish, gente como uno. He’s just an ordinary person.
How would you classify Pope Leo’s spirituality?
I think one of the things that has most affected his spirituality has been his work in Latin America and Peru, where there is such poverty and injustice. It makes you pray. It makes you think, “Why is this and how can we do something about it?”
Pope Leo’s spirituality is not pie in the sky, but rather very practical and down to earth: What can we do to show God’s love to people?
What do you think Pope Leo’s primary focus will be as pontiff?
Well, if you look at his name—he chose Leo for a reason. And I think that reason is because the last Leo was Leo XIII, who was a pope very much dedicated to social justice.
Pope Leo XIII wrote a foundational document for Catholic social teaching, which dealt with questions of unions and poverty. And so, in choosing that name, I think Pope Leo is going to focus on problems of globalization and the issue of the imbalance of rich and poor in the world. I also think he’ll focus on questions of the environment, because we know—and as Pope Francis pointed out—the environment affects the poor people more than it does the rich people. And so I believe that’ll be a real part of his papal agenda.
Can you speak to the significance of Pope Leo being born in America? It seems exciting and hopeful, given all the contentious news coming out of our country these days…
Bob was born in a middle-class house in Dolton, Illinois, and he’s just like someone you would bump into in the supermarket.
And that speaks to how God works, too. We’re not dealing with fancy people with titles or aristocratic kinds of yearnings, but rather normal people inspired by God to do good. Bob fits that category very well.
What are you most hopeful for when it comes to Pope Leo and the messages he will share with the world?
I’m most hopeful because he is going to bring his own particular vision, which I think very much follows the lines that Pope Francis has sketched for us. And I think he’s going to continue with the whole program of synodality in the church—bringing people together, giving everyone a voice, helping us all to move forward together as believers in Christ.
Editor's Note: Every week, The Sunday Paper's team of journalists sift through the news to find what Rises Above the Noise, makes sense of what's happening in the world, and provides hope for your week to come. While we do our best to provide our own informative summary of each piece, some publications require their own subscriptions beyond our control.
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