INDIANAPOLIS — Amazingly, miraculously, an American has been elected Holy See of the Catholic Church. Cardinal Robert Prevost of Chicago, who spent much of his career in the nation of Peru, became Pope Leo XIV on Thursday.
When I talked with Ambassador Joe Donnelly on Tuesday about who might be the next pope following the death of Francis, he was not overtly optimistic about the potential of an American talking the helm.
“If it’s an American, it would be Prevost,” said Donnelly, who served as U.S. ambassador to The Vatican from 2022 and 2024 and now lives in Granger. “The way they talk about him at the Vatican is, ‘He’s the least American of the Americans.’”
The other American in the conversation had been former Indianapolis Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, who is now archbishop of Newark.
According to Donnelly, the odds of an American pope had been tiny because of the United States’ superpower status on the world stage. And it didn’t appear to help that the 133 cardinals witnessed a weekend social media post from the White House showing President Donald Trump dressed as a pontiff. That stunt generated widespread disgust among Catholics.
“They worry about the perception of the greatest superpower in the world and the pope being an American,” Donnelly said of Vatican City.
What does Donnelly know about Pope Leo XIV?
“He is incredibly smart. He’s the former prefect of the Augustinian order,” Donnelly said of the cardinal and the Catholic sect associated with Villanova University. “He also served in Peru for many years. He comes out of Chicago originally and has worked at the Vatican recently, where he’s in charge of the bishops, so he knows them well.”
Donnelly added, “What’s important for him as well is he’s been viewed as really competent financially, which is important to keep the books right. In this world of culture wars, he had seemed to have the amazing ability of having folks think that, in his heart, he’s really with us. And the way he was able to do that was not by saying much about the cultural wars.”
Addressing the crowd in St Peter’s Square, Pope Leo XIV paid tribute to the late Pope Francis, urging the crowd to remember his predecessor’s legacy. In his first words as pope, Leo XIV told the emotional throng, “Peace be with you all. This is the first greetings of the resurrected Christ, the good shepherd who has given up his life for God. And I should also like this greeting of peace to enter our hearts and our families.
“Let us keep in our ears the weak voice of Pope Francis that blesses Rome,” said Pope Leo XIV, speaking in Italian. “The Pope who blessed Rome, gave his blessing to the entire world that morning of Easter. Allow me to follow up on that blessing. God loves us. God loves everyone. Evil will not prevail.”
Cardinal Prevost becomes just the 48th pope (out of 266) who is not Italian. He becomes the first American pope and just the second from the Western Hemisphere following Francis, who was from Argentina.
He was born in 1955 in Chicago, the son of Louis Marius Prevost and Mildred Martinez, and grew up in the south suburb of Dolton, just a few miles from Indiana. He attended Villanova University as well as Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas. In November 2014, Pope Francis appointed Prevost as apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo and titular bishop of Sufar in Peru. On Sept. 26, 2015, he was named bishop of Chiclayo. Pope Francis had named him a cardinal on Sept. 30, 2023.
In 2023, Pope Francis appointed him as the Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, a key position within the Roman Curia. The office is responsible for evaluating and recommending candidates for the episcopate around the world. According to Wikipedia, this role increased Prevost’s visibility and influence within the Catholic Church, potentially raising his profile ahead of any future papal conclave
In an interview with Vatican News after becoming the leader of the Dicastery for Bishops, Prevost said, “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.”
Donnelly, the former U.S. senator from Indiana, acknowledged that most Americans’ reference point for the process of selecting a new pope will be the recent movie “Conclave,” starring Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci, Carlos Diehz and Isabella Rossellini.
Donnelly said the movie is “not too far off until the last scene.” That’s when it is revealed that the character playing Cardinal Vincent Benitez of Kabul, whom the conclave elects as pontiff, received a laparoscopic hysterectomy.
“That ending came from left field,” Donnelly said. “The other part that is not real is somebody showing up from Afghanistan saying, ‘Hey, I would like to join the conclave.’ They know who’s in and they know who’s not.”
The movie accurately captured the subdued politics of a conclave, where serious candidates rely on allies to make their case.
Donnelly said that top candidates cannot overtly seek the post. He said that allies “would come and say to him, ‘You would be wonderful. We will talk to others for you. I am not worthy.’ It’s like, ‘Yeah, we’ll take care of that.’”
On a sparkling day at Vatican City, more than 89 cardinals believed that, indeed, an American was worthy.
Brian A. Howey is a senior writer and columnist for Howey Politics Indiana/State Affairs. Follow him on X @hwypol and Blue Sky @hwypol.bsky.social.
