The new pope is Leo XIV, Robert Francis Prevost: he has held positions in cultural heritage in the past

The conclave chose the new pope today on the fourth ballot: he is U.S. Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost (Chicago, 1955), who chose the name Leo XIV. Born to a father of French and Italian descent and a mother of Spanish descent, he is the 267th pope of the Catholic Church and succeeds Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Beroglio. An Augustinian, he has a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and a degree in Philosophy from Villanova University in Philadelphia, and was ordained a priest in 1982. He then obtained additional degrees at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. From 2001 to 2013 he was prior general of the Order of St. Augustine. In 2014, he was appointed by Pope Francis as apostolic administrator of Chiclayo in Peru and titular bishop of Sufar, and in 2015 he became bishop of Chiclayo, a post he held until January 2023, when he was appointed prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, and remained so until the death of Pope Francis.

The first U.S. pope in history, Leo XIV is considered a mediating pontiff, a quality he demonstrated in 2023 when he had to defuse tensions between the Vatican and the German Church, but also earlier, having had to balance the needs of an official, institutional Church and a Church that was instead active in daily life and in the peripheries, especially during the period of his episcopate in Peru. He is also considered a bridging figure between North and South America: attention, therefore, to the poor and disadvantaged, but also pragmatism, qualities that probably steered the conclave to his name. For all these characteristics he is already called the “pope of dialogue,” an element he himself recalled during his homily as soon as he was elected to the papal throne, recalling the importance of “building bridges.” “Help us also,” he told the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square, “to build bridges with dialogue and with encounter, to be one people, to be at peace.” On issues such as gay rights,abortion and the role of women in the Church, he has demonstrated more conservative positions in the past than Pope Francis.

During his episcopate in Peru, Pope Prevost also held an important position in the area of cultural heritage: in fact, from 2018 until the end of his term, he was president of the Commission for Education, Culture and Cultural Heritage of the Peruvian Bishops’ Conference, a position that gave him the opportunity to express his views on cultural heritage. “The Church and Pope Francis,” he said at an official meeting, “always invite us to value and recognize our heritage. In one of his messages to the President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, he reminds us: the Church’s cultural goods are witnesses of the faith of the community that has produced them over the centuries.”

Prevost recalled the devotional value of cultural goods: protecting works of art is in fact not just a matter of preserving buildings or ancient objects, but of recognizing their spiritual and historical significance, because they are an expression of the faith lived by generations. These goods (such as churches, paintings, sculptures, old books) are not just beautiful or ancient things, according to the new pope, but concrete testimonies of the faith of the people who created them. They reflect what they believed, how they prayed, what they considered sacred. To sum up: according to Leo XIV, the Church’s cultural heritage is part of its identity and mission, and it should be preserved and made to speak out even today, not only because of its beauty, but especially because of the message of faith it carries.

The new pope is Leo XIV, Robert Francis Prevost: he has held positions in cultural heritage in the past

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.