A message from Bishop Marshall: Astonishing!

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, 

“Peace be with all of you!”  With these first words of the Risen Christ, Pope Leo XIV began his service at the 266th successor to the Apostle Peter.  Born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago, Illinois, our new Holy Father has become the first American citizen to serve as the Supreme Pontiff.  How astonishing!   

 We greet Pope Leo XIV with excitement and with great joy!  While we are proud that he is an American, it is important to remember that his life has been much different than ours.  Pope Leo is an Augustinian, a missionary who has spent much of his life ministering to the people of Peru.  He taught in a Peruvian seminary and served as a parish priest.  Eventually, after serving as the world-wide head of the Augustinian order, he served as a bishop in Peru.  He was appointed to lead the Dicastery for the Bishops in 2023, at which time he was made an archbishop and later a Cardinal.  While many of us have visited other countries, Pope Leo has spent much of his life outside of our country.  He has a global perspective that uniquely qualifies him to lead the universal Church. 

 Pope Leo described himself as a “son of St. Augustine,” who has taken the charism of the Augustinian order to heart.  The Augustinian charism is community building and, in his first address to the world, Pope Leo encouraged us to engage in dialogue, to build bridges, as a way of making peace.  Clearly, our world has much to learn from the new Bishop of Rome. 

 I ask you to join me in prayer for our Holy Father.  May our loving God guide and direct his steps.  Through his words and actions, may God draw us together in peace as a Church and as a world.  As we continue to pray for the repose of the soul of Pope Francis, let us also ask our Lord to bless Pope Leo XIV with health, strength, wisdom and courage in the years ahead. 

Bishop Robert W. Marshall, Jr.