Cardinal Robert F. Prevost was unknown to many throughout the world when he was introduced as the 267th pope May 8.
But a few Catholics from the Archdiocese of Louisville, already familiar with him, describe Pope Leo XIV as a calm listener, and they’re delighted by his election.
“All of a sudden, I heard his last name and I was delighted,” said Archbishop Emeritus Joseph E. Kurtz, recalling the new pope’s introduction to the world. “I’m eager to experience his leadership, and I’m very hopeful because of the qualities I know in his leadership.”
Archbishop Kurtz, who led the Archdiocese of Louisville from 2007 until his retirement in 2022, said he came to know Pope Leo XIV in 2012, three years before the Holy Father was named a bishop.
The two worked together during the Synod on Evangelization. Archbishop Kurtz served as a delegate to the synod, and the pope, an Augustinian priest acting as the Superior General of his religious order at the time, served the synod as a “peritus,” Latin for expert.
They worked together to summarize the input of 25 bishops, members of an English-language group at the synod, Archbishop Kurtz said.
“His tone was very pastoral, very much a listener, and I think they will bode well in his role as successor of St. Peter,” said the archbishop.
“His intelligence was also very great,” he said, noting that it wasn’t easy to summarize the thoughts of 25 bishops. “He was a great help to me.”
Archbishop Kurtz said the name Leo, chosen by the new pope, comes with a good history.
“The first Pope Leo was courageous in defending Rome against Attila the Hun,” he said. “And the most recent, Pope Leo XIII, was known for ‘Rerum Novarum’ (an 1891 encyclical on capital and labor). He’s the one who began the tradition of social encyclicals.”
Archbishop Kurtz also highlighted the pope’s initial remarks on the balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square.
“I was very impressed by his opening words, the fact that he spoke about the risen Lord Jesus, all of us being loved by God, the need for peace and treating people with justice,” he said.
“Dialogue, listening, working together, building community. Those would be his strong points, as well as ministering first to the poor.”
— Ursuline Sister of Louisville Susan Scharfenberger
Ursuline Sister of Louisville Susan Scharfenberger also hailed the Holy Father as a person who brings calm and listens well to everyone.
She encountered the Holy Father when he was Bishop of Chiclayo in Peru. He was temporarily assigned as administrator of the diocese where she serves, the Diocese of Callao.
“He came in as an interim here, and he was just the perfect person,” she said, noting that the diocese had experienced some difficulties stemming from corruption. “In a very calm and sure way, he began to change things, remove the source of evil from the diocese.
“I think he brought a sense of calm,” she said. “He’s not a spontaneous person, but he’s deeply sincere, and what he brought was a listening ear to what was going on — with a pastoral emphasis on who we need to be for one another.”
Sister Scharfenberger is one of several Ursuline Sisters of Louisville who have ministered in Peru. She has served there for 45 years. Currently, the sisters are working with a parish school in Callao, helping young adult Catholics there develop a ministry for youth and offering support to a struggling rehabilitation center for disabled people in an isolated mountain area.
She said that in her experience of the new pope, he was focused on the poor and the social concerns of the church.
“Dialogue, listening, working together, building community. Those would be his strong points, as well as ministering first to the poor,” she said. “The outreach he encouraged and facilitated in Chiclayo was an affirmation that the church needs to go first to the poor.
“I feel a sense of peace; I know a lot of people want another Francis, but I think he will bring the same kind of pastoral commitment, with perhaps a greater opportunity to listen to everyone,” she said. “I feel very hopeful. I think the synodality model is something that he affirms, and really listening.”
Father Joseph Hayden, a retired priest of the Archdiocese of Louisville who served in Peru for many years, said he once heard a speech given by the new pope.
“I was about 250 miles south of where he was” serving, said Father Hayden, noting that the pope was a seminary professor in the Archdiocese of Trujillo at the time. “We had a eucharistic congress in my diocese; he came and gave a speech. I always remember it was the best speech I’d ever heard — solid as a rock.”
Father Hayden, who now lives in the Louisville area, said the church’s ministry in Peru, where gangs and terror groups regularly threatened the peace, keeps its focus on the poor and on the streets, where the people are.
“The secret is to stay in the street,” he said. “Make yourself known and accessible to people. I could walk anywhere and was only every now and then bothered.
“You stay in the dust of the street with the sheep. It’s kind of a cliche, but it’s true,” he added. “That’s the way we live there. The church is for the poor. We have to make it clear we’re not here for money. We’re here for the people.”
