From 'Bob' to Leo XIV, the first American pope tests church power

By Elena Rossi · Reporting from Rome · October 3, 2026

By choosing Robert Prevost, the cardinal electors elevated a quiet administrator whose personal bonds and focus on obedience will help the church endure.

When the unlikely becomes the office

History rarely announces its arrival with trumpets. More often, it arrives with an email that starts with a friendly plea. When Robert Prevost was elected in May 2025, he became the first American-born pope. He took the name Pope Leo XIV. The cardinal electors in the Sistine Chapel chose a dark horse candidate. NPR notes that even Cardinal Timothy Dolan was surprised. Upon hearing the name, Dolan recalled his reaction: "I said, 'Who?'" Yet those who knew him as 'Bob' felt no such shock. His high school friend John Barry wrote to him before the conclave. Barry knew he would make a great pope. Prevost responded that he left everything in the Lord's hands. As a Villanova theology professor observed in a new book, many considered an American pope impossible.

The Protestant Reformation and the weight of hierarchy

This institutional surprise brings to mind the Protestant Reformation. That 16th-century theological upheaval challenged the rigid hierarchy of the papacy. It marked the dawn of the early modern period. Both moments expose the tension between rigid structures and personal bonds. Consider how Prevost sustained a decades-long friendship with the Lutheran pastor John Snider. They had spent a summer in Minneapolis debating theology and ministering to the sick. When Snider wrote to him during those momentous days, Prevost thanked him for their friendship. That pastoral warmth mirrors the Augustinian pillars that now anchor his pontificate, as detailed by Catholic Outlook. As NPR reports, authors Scott Detrow and Daniel Burke note in their biography American Pope that previous popes seemed remote. Yet Leo XIV enjoys driving long distances, playing Words with Friends, and supporting the Chicago White Sox. This transition carries forward the legacy of the Papacy of Pope Francis (2013-2022). It reflects the relationship between a reform-minded pontiff and a trusted American ally who shared a vision for synodality and the periphery.

Bureaucracy as a moral instrument

Institutions endure because they are load-bearing. But they rot when they mistake paperwork for prayer. Pope Leo XIV has already begun reshaping the Roman Curia. He works through quiet administrative adjustments, such as the reassignment of Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, as reported by ABC Color. This discipline stems from his background as an Augustinian canon lawyer. In his dissertation, Prevost argued that "the substance of the office of the superior is to obey; to obey the will of God." Some critics worry about an American presiding over global power structures. Cardinal Blase Cupich told the Chicago Sun-Times that an American pope would be "a stretch." Yet Prevost brings a perspective forged in the Peruvian mission field, not the Roman curial hothouse. He has addressed artificial intelligence in his early writings like Magnifica Humanitas. He has challenged Silicon Valley and defended migrants against exclusionary nationalism. In doing so, he steps into the moral vacuum left by secular leaders.

The center holds only when leaders defend it out loud through competence rather than bombast. Pope Leo XIV runs a good meeting. He knows that human institutions are sustained by the quiet integrity of ordinary friendships and the hard work of administration.

From 'Bob' to Leo XIV, the first American pope tests church power

When the unlikely becomes the office

The Protestant Reformation and the weight of hierarchy

Bureaucracy as a moral instrument

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