Welcome, Shepherd: An American Pope Who Can't Be Put In A Box

on May 13, 2025

SAN DIEGO -- Just when I thought I was out of the Catholic Church, something extraordinary -- an American pope -- might pull me back in.

It's beautiful to see how many people, places and things are claiming a piece of Robert Francis Prevost, a 69-year-old Augustinian pastor who will now and forever be better known by the handle Leo XIV.

Prevost can't be put in a box. He is the embodiment of the American melting pot. He is a pope in full.

He has been many places. Born in Chicago, Prevost earned a mathematics degree from Villanova University near Philadelphia. Later, he taught math and physics at a Catholic high school in Chicago. For 20 years, he was a missionary in Peru. In 2023, Pope Francis appointed him prefect of the Dicastery of Bishops, and he moved to Rome.

He speaks many languages. As an American, English is his first language. He also speaks Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese and some German. He can read and speak Latin, and -- from his time in Peru -- he picked up a few words of a native Quechuan language.

He has varied interests. He is a sport fan with a love for the Chicago White Sox, whose epicenter -- the city's South Side -- is not far from the "village" of Dolton, Illinois, where Prevost grew up. He plays tennis and likes to travel and meet new people. He also plays Wordle and other brainteaser games with his two brothers, John and Louis.

Finally, Prevost might be the first multicultural pope. His father (Louis) was Italian and French, and his mother (Mildred), who was first identified as Spanish, might have actually had roots in the Dominican Republic. It seems that Prevost's maternal grandfather was Dominican, although he might have mistakenly listed his birthplace as Haiti on his marriage license in 1887. His maternal grandmother was born in New Orleans, and she was considered Creole. In the 1900 census, both of Prevost's maternal grandparents were listed as "Black." Twenty years later, after they moved to Chicago, they started identifying as "white."

Ethnic self-identification is personal. It's up to Prevost to sort out. He might just prefer to be called what he was called in his youth: "Bob."

I also have a few things to sort out, and much of it is also personal.

After the new shepherd greeted his flock in St. Peter's Square, a friend who is a devout Catholic wrote me a short note. "May Leo14 inspire you to come back," he said.

The odds are long. As the father of three children, I still have a lot of anger toward the religious denomination in which I was raised and where I have always felt at home.

I got here because of sin, but I'm not the sinner. I'm not the one who needs to go to confession, and ask for absolution.

I'm disgusted by every aspect of the child abuse scandal that the Catholic Church birthed, enabled and covered up.

Reciting "Hail Mary" will not wipe away this stain. The scandal is not limited to priests who committed the despicable act of sexually abusing children. It extends to the higher-ups -- bishops, cardinals, etc. -- who pawned off these degenerates to other dioceses without revealing their crimes. Vatican officials even transferred alleged offenders out of the United States and out of reach of U.S. law enforcement.

Personally, I no longer attend Sunday mass. Am I expected to drop money in a wicker basket knowing that it might one day help pay a legal settlement for another victim whose life was ruined by evil men?

Prevost's hands are not totally clean. In 2000, he allowed an Augustinian priest to reside at a friary near an elementary school in Chicago even though the priest had been suspended from the ministry due to credible accusations that he had sexually abused minors. Years later, in Peru, alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests accused him of not conducting a thorough investigation of their case, and a group of television journalists reached the same conclusion.

During an interview with a Peruvian newspaper, Prevost said: "If you are a victim of sexual abuse by a priest, report it. We reject cover-ups and secrecy; that causes a lot of harm. We have to help people who have suffered due to wrongdoing."

Now that he is Pope Leo XIV, Prevost needs to address the scandal head-on and apologize to all the victims.

The Catholic Church is a house divided. On one side, those who condemn evil. On the other, those who prefer to not see, hear or speak of it.

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To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.