By Tyler Arnold
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 10, 2025 /
08:00 am
Pope Leo XIV made history on Thursday when he became the first U.S.-born, and the first Augustinian, to assume the papacy, and many of his fellow Augustinians in the United States are expressing joy about the news and touting the Holy Father’s humility and kindness they encountered firsthand.
“He was Father Bob, [then] Bishop Bob, and now he’s Pope Leo XIV,” Father Barnaby Johns, the prior provincial of the Province of St. Augustine in California, told CNA while reflecting on his interactions with the new pope, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost.
”It’s so beautiful for us to see our brother up there on that balcony,” Johns said.
Leo, born in Chicago, Illinois in 1955, became a novitiate in the Order of Saint Augustine at 22 years old after graduating from Villanova University in 1977. He took his solemn vows in 1981 and was ordained a priest in 1982.
He spent 1985 through 1998 as an Augustinian missionary in Peru, where he was part of the leadership of the Catholic charity Caritas Peru.
Then-Father Prevost was the head of the Augustinian Province of Chicago from 1999 to 2001 and then served as the prior general of the Order of Saint Augustine from 2001 through 2013. Pope Francis named him the bishop of Chiclayo, Peru in 2015 and made him a cardinal in 2023.
Johns, who has known Leo for about 20 years, said the current pontiff is “very good at listening attentively” and has tried “to be supportive in my own journey,” calling the Holy Father “certainly very friendly.”
“He’s always been the most personable and friendly human being who would reach out to you,” Johns said.
Johns recalled meetings he had with Prevost around Easter of 2024, shortly after Johns was named prior provincial of the Augustinians in California. Then a cardinal, Prevost “came up to me and asked how I was.”
Johns said there is “something profound in his being down to earth,” noting the “humility” in a cardinal taking the initiative to check up on his well-being.
At the time, Johns, who is a native to the United Kingdom, was “struggling in [his] vocation” due to his assignment in California, outside of his home country. He said Prevost was “very easy to talk to and enjoyable company” and that “he gave me time, he listened to me, [and] he gave me good advice.”
“To me it felt that the personal interaction was something that he wants to give to those that he encounters,” Johns said, adding: “He’ll bring that touch to the Church.”
He said his fellow Augustinians in his province felt the selection of Prevost was “overwhelming and [we were] overjoyed,” adding that it “means so much on such a deep personal level.”
Father James Halstead, a member of the Augustinian Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel in Chicago, would often interact with Prevost in social and business situations. He first met the Holy Father before he had joined the novitiate, when Prevost was a senior in high school.
Halstead told CNA that after Prevost had entered the order, the young man would often interact with Halstead’s family, and Halstead recalled his mother would say: “They’re all nice guys, but that Bob Prevost is especially calm and respectful and kind.”
“My mother really liked him,” Halstead said. “My sisters liked him more than they liked me.”
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Halstead tearfully spoke about Prevost reaching out to him after getting diagnosed with ALS. He said he had not reached out to Prevost about the diagnosis, but that Prevost had found out and “sent a very nice email” providing “words of encouragement” and a “promise of prayer.”
“I just want to say that you are very much in my thoughts and prayers,” the now-pope said, according to a copy of the email provided by Halstead. “May you find the strength and courage to carry this cross.”
Halstead noted that there is “great joy and pride” among fellow Augustinians to whom he has spoken, adding that there is “great hope for Bob Prevost, our brother, and [we are] really proud of him and, oh, we’re just delighted.”
An Augustinian papacy
Unlike many orders, the Order of Saint Augustine does not have a direct lineage to its patron, but was rather established in 1243 by Pope Innocent IV, more than 800 years after Augustine’s death.
Johns told CNA that the order follows the rule of St. Augustine and its members seek to mirror his spirituality. He noted that it was “founded to be at the service of the Church by the pope.”
“We are a Christian community living together who are wanting to seek to be brothers and have a sense of fraternity that is contrary to any form of individualism, which is a challenge in today’s society,” Johns added.
Johns noted that in his first speech, Leo said that he was a son of Augustine, and referenced the pontiff’s line that paraphrased Augustine: “With you, I am a Christian, and for you, I am a bishop.”
“[His papacy] will have the Augustinian heart at the center of everything,” Johns said, adding that those words demonstrate “that profound sense of fraternity that I think Pope Leo will bring to his papacy.”
Amid some disagreements within the Church on topics such as blessings for same-sex couples and restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass, Johns expects Leo can take “a reconciliatory [approach] as a leader and a brother,” which will “transcend some of these political labels.”
“[Leo will] speak more to the heart and from the heart and that that message will — I pray — resonate with all of the divisions … that seem to be occurring within our world, and that’s not an easy [task],” Johns added.
Halstead said there are three primary elements of the Augustinian way of life, which he expects Leo to carry into the papacy: a deep spirituality, community life, and service to the poor and the marginalized. He said Augustinian spirituality teaches one how to cultivate his or her interior life, saying one must “be introspective so you can know yourself.”
“It starts when you enter the novitiate and hopefully it continues until you breathe your last,” Halstead added.
“He’ll really be able to think deeply and be encouraged to think deeply about the issues that are before him,” he said.
Halstead also referenced some of the divisions within the Church on issues related to same-sex blessings, communion for the divorced and remarried, and the Latin Mass, saying Leo will need “to deal with those, and not just dialogue about those things, but you’ve got to make a decision.”
“With what he has to handle, I shall pray for him,” Halstead said, but expressed confidence in the leadership of the Holy Father.
“Can he deal with them? Yes,” he said. “Is it going to be very difficult? Yes.”
Tyler Arnold is a staff reporter for Catholic News Agency, based in EWTN News’ Washington Bureau. He previously worked at The Center Square and has been published in a variety of outlets, including The Associated Press, National Review, The American Conservative, and The Federalist.
