Habemus Papem: Wesleyans and the New Pope

Around noon on Thursday, as I walked along L Street in downtown Washington, my phone exploded with the news of white smoke in Vatican City. We all knew that it was coming. And in fact, the conclave that elected Pope Francis took about the same time as the most recent one that elected Pope Leo XIV. I wondered if holding the largest conclave in history—one hundred and thirty-three cardinals—might make for a longer one, but that was not the case. Cardinal Nichols of the UK told reporters this week that the entire experience was “immensely peaceful.” To be elected to the papacy, one needs to receive the votes of over two-thirds of the participants. Sometimes such consensus can take time.

It did take a little while longer than usual for the papal procession to appear on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, but when it did and the words “habemus papem!” were exclaimed, I was just as curious as anyone to hear who had been appointed the Bishop of Rome. My Latin is good enough to have picked up most of what was said—I knew that the next pope wanted to be called Leo—but I didn’t recognize the name of the cardinal. The biggest surprise for me, however, was that they had chosen an American, the first ever to hold this office.

I have been involved in ecumenical dialogue, particularly with Roman Catholics, for over a decade. On more than one occasion, the officials at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have told me that they like me around because I’m a Protestant who “speaks Catholic.” I picked up this “language” studying under Geoffrey Wainwright and Karen Westerfield Tucker, both titans of the ecumenical world. I can still remember a class session when Wainwright informed us that we would not be meeting later that week because he had meetings in Rome with then-Cardinal Ratzinger, later the 265th pope Benedict XVI.

But what do we know about the 267th pope? His name before the election was Robert Francis Prevost. He was born in Chicago in 1955 to parents of Spanish and French-Italian heritage. Apparently, he has been a White Sox fan his entire life. As a child he served as an altar boy. He attended Villanova and was ordained in 1982. Prevost moved to Peru three years later, but regularly returned to the States to serve as both a pastor and a prior. In fact, he holds both US and Peruvian citizenship. His ministry has been marked by engagement with the marginalized and by bridge-building.

Prevost’s ministry included ten years as a seminary professor. In 2014, Francis named him Bishop of Chiclayo in Peru. He became archbishop and cardinal in 2023, moving to Rome that same year to direct the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops, that part of the Roman Curia that oversees the selection of new bishops around the world.

Trying to pigeonhole Catholic leaders into ideological camps is not easy, nor even useful. The pope is best described as a Catholic. Among Catholic leaders, he could be identified as center-right, but even that designation is marked by difficulties. He holds to the theological and social commitments of the church and therefore does not fit well within the usual political spectrum. He appears to be someone who holds his office with modesty and respects the long traditions of the papacy. Even the way that he was dressed when he appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s signaled respect and seriousness for the new work entrusted to him.

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Ryan Danker is the director of the John Wesley Institute, publisher of Good News magazine, and associate lead editor of Firebrand.