Pope Leo is “a person that is totally committed to the Gospel”. He is “calm, compassionate and has a great feeling for people, particularly the poor”, according to Columban Missionary Fr Peter Hughes.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4 from Peru following the election of the new pontiff, Fr Peter described the 69-year-old Chicagoan as “a man who is serious about listening to the cry and the pain of the earth, the destruction that’s going on, and also the cry of the poor”.
“These are not two distinct sorts of crisis. It is the one overall message for the time that we live in at this moment in human history.”
Speaking to the Irish Independent, Fr Peter revealed that he was “a good friend” of Bob Prevost but added, that “doesn’t mean we would have been meeting personally very often because that didn’t happen”.
The friendship was built on their work for Peru’s poor and efforts to save the Amazon and protect indigenous people.
The 82-year-old Columban believes Pope Leo will follow “in the footsteps of the ecclesiology, the reform and synodality of [Pope] Francis”.
“There will be differences; he will probably be more careful with liturgy. He’s a diplomat in lots of ways. He’s calm. He’s very intelligent. His style will be different. He won’t be able to do the ‘show thing’ of Francis.”
He highlighted how the people of the Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru were “absolutely delighted when Bob was named bishop of their diocese”.
Chiclayo is a coastal diocese in the north of Peru with a population of over 600,000.
Fr Peter told Columbans.ie that he was close to the people in Chiclayo who would be committed to a church of the poor and indigenous peoples over the decades since the Second Vatican Council.
“He would be totally onside with everything that a person like me would be doing and stand for in REPAM – in human rights and the environment. I have no doubt about it at all, the Ballinrobe-native, who has been a missionary in Peru since 1966.
Fr Peter is co-ordinator of indigenous and human rights for REPAM, a Catholic Church network that promotes the rights and dignity of people living in the Amazon.
The Church network is a movement which started within the Catholic Church to bring about an awareness and a call to action, so that Christians understand that the defence of the Amazon is at the centre of their faith.
Fr Peter was part of the theological team that prepared the Church’s Synod on the Amazon.
Speaking about the wider church issues Fr Peter said, “When we talk about a clerical church, we have to take into account is that the laity, both men and women, have become clericalised because of us priests.”
“So that has to change. It is through synodality that that will change.”
“We were saying very clearly that our position on women in the Church and in the Amazon Church is that they should have access and the possibility of full participation in the places where decisions are being made. If you don’t have that, all the rest of the stuff is just wishful thinking about women and the church. So that’s the bottom line, and that’s where we would be.”
Speaking to BBC 4, Fr Peter recalled his reaction to the election of his fellow missionary from Peru as pope.
“I was totally surprised. I was shocked. I did see that in those meetings that the cardinals were having before the conclave that his name came up. I said, ‘They’re talking about Bob but it went to the back of my mind’.”
“So when the white smoke came and we were all waiting for the person that had been elected to come out on the balcony, he was the last person I thought was going to come out.”
“I’ve been trying to get my head around it; a friend, a Peruvian. We are all part of this place that he worked in. And he’s now the Pope!”