Before becoming Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Robert Prevost shared rare insights on faith, unity, and modern challenges in a few candid interviews.
U.S. Cardinal Robert Prevost, who on Thursday was elected as the new leader of the Catholic Church taking up the name of Leo XIV, is a soft-spoken figure who has shunned the limelight during his priestly career.
The 69-year-old from Chicago has served as a missionary in Peru and has given few media interviews. However, he spoke to Vatican News in May 2023, upon his appointment as head of the Vatican department that oversees bishops' appointments, and to RAI Italian public television before the conclave.
Here are some extracts from those interviews:
ON HIS FAMILY BACKGROUND:
"I was born in the United States ... But my grandparents were all immigrants, French, Spanish ... I was raised in a very Catholic family, both of my parents were very engaged in the parish." (RAI)
ON CONSIDERING DROPPING PLANS FOR PRIESTHOOD:
He talked with his father about "very concrete things, doubts that a young man may have (such as) 'perhaps it is better (that) I leave this life and I get married, I have children, a normal life". (RAI)
ON BEING PROMOTED TO A TOP VATICAN JOB IN 2023:
"I still consider myself a missionary. My vocation, like that of every Christian, is to be a missionary, to proclaim the Gospel wherever one is." (Vatican News)
ON HOW TO BE A BISHOP:
"We are often preoccupied with teaching doctrine, the way of living our faith, but we risk forgetting that our first task is to teach what it means to know Jesus Christ and to bear witness to our closeness to the Lord." (Vatican News)
ON CHURCH DIVISIONS:
"Divisions and polemics in the Church do not help anything. We bishops especially must accelerate this movement towards unity, towards communion in the Church." (Vatican News)
ON THE CHURCH AS AN INSTITUTION:
"Too many times we have allowed the Church to become an institution in part or in its entirety... One thinks of the Vatican, the Holy See, there are institutional dimensions, but that is not the heart of what the Church is and must be." (RAI)
ON THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
"Social media can be an important tool to communicate the Gospel message reaching millions of people. We must prepare ourselves to use social media well."
"(There are) situations where we really have to think several times before speaking or before writing a message on Twitter, in order to answer or even just to ask questions in a public form, in full view of everyone. Sometimes there is a risk of fuelling divisions and controversy." (Vatican News)
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The United Nations has said that at least 21 people have been executed in Iran and more than 4,000 arrested since the outbreak of war involving the United States and Israel on 28 February.
President Donald Trump discussed how to mitigate the impact of a possible months-long U.S. blockade of Iran's ports with oil companies, a White House official said on Wednesday, as the U.S. renewed its calls for other nations to help open the Strait of Hormuz.
An initial inquiry into last year’s mass shooting at Bondi Beach has called for a series of counter-terrorism reforms, alongside increased security at Jewish public events and further gun control measures.
Israel has intercepted aid ships for Gaza in international waters near Greece, flotilla organisers said on Thursday (30 April), decrying the move as an "escalation of Israel's impunity".
A Pentagon official provided the first official estimate of the cost of the U.S. war in Iran on Wednesday (29 April), telling lawmakers that $25 billion had so far been spent on the conflict, most of it on munitions. Earlier, Donald Trump said that the U.S. had "militarily defeated" Tehran.
Tensions between the United States and Iran remain high after a U.S. official said President Donald Trump was unhappy with a proposal from Tehran that does not deal with its nuclear programme. Washington is insisting that any talks must address Iran’s nuclear activities.
The decision by the United Arab Emirates to leave OPEC+ on 1 May has put renewed focus on one of the most influential groups in global energy - and how its decisions can shape oil prices worldwide.
Mexican special forces arrested Audias Flores, known as “El Jardinero”, a senior commander of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), during an operation in the western state of Nayarit, Security Minister Omar García Harfuch said on Monday (27 April).
The United Arab Emirates has said it's quitting OPEC from 1 May, dealing a major blow to the oil producers’ group and its de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, amid disruption caused by the Iran war.
An initial inquiry into last year’s mass shooting at Bondi Beach has called for a series of counter-terrorism reforms, alongside increased security at Jewish public events and further gun control measures.
Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla commemorated victims of the 11 September, 2001, an al Qaeda attack on New York City on Wednesday, laying a floral bouquet at the memorial where the World Trade Centre's twin towers once stood.
Two Jewish men have been stabbed in London in an incident that British police are treating as a terrorist attack.
Reversing a decade of restrictions, New South Wales has opened new areas for gas exploration in its remote west. The move reflects growing concern over future energy supply across Australia’s east coast.
Travel demand across China is expected to remain robust during the upcoming five-day Labour Day holiday starting 1 May.
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