A few years ago, Pope Francis turned to an Augustinian priest and asked a question about a personnel decision he was considering.
“If I name Prevost as the head of the office for the bishops, how do you think he will do?” the Rev. Alejandro Moral Antón, the prior general of the Order of St. Augustine, said Francis asked him in the library of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace. He was referring to Robert Francis Prevost, a fellow Augustinian cleric.
Father Moral Antón said he would do well.
“I also think he will,” Francis answered.
He did better than most would have imagined. And on Thursday, he followed Francis as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, becoming its 267th pope.
But the quiet conversation in the Apostolic Palace was the result of years of mutual admiration between the present and future popes.
They first met in Latin America, where the American-born missionary who would become Leo XIV and the Argentine who became Francis were both climbing the ranks of the church, according to the new pope’s brother and two of his old friends.
“Pope Leo spoke of Pope Francis as a good friend,” said the Rev. Tony Pizzo, one of the new pope’s friends and a former schoolmate.
By 2013, Francis had become pope, and the future Leo had become the prior general for the Augustinian order in Rome, a role he was about to leave. Then Francis offered to preside over a private Mass at the Basilica of St. Augustine in Rome.
“Bob nearly fell over,” said the Rev. Anthony Banks, another Augustinian. Usually, he said, “popes don’t have the time or the energy to spend” at congregational Masses.
At the Mass, Father Prevost called the pope “a great gift” and praised his compassion and outreach to the faithful, and Francis thanked him “very, very much,” Father Moral Antón said.
A year later, Francis named Father Prevost bishop of the Peruvian diocese of Chiclayo. Francis had been encouraged by reports he had received about how he stuck close to his flock, according to Father Moral Antón, who said he continued to have conversations with Francis about the new bishop. In 2023, Francis appointed him to lead the Vatican’s office overseeing bishops, one of the church’s top jobs, and named him to be a cardinal.
In Rome, Francis kept closer tabs on future Leo, meeting with him every Saturday. And after a major meeting of church leaders, Francis expressed admiration for his work ethic. “Prevost’s preparation,” Father Moral Antón said Francis told him, “was amazing.”
Emma Bubola is a Times reporter based in Rome.
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