Pope Leo XIV, the documentary «Leo from Chicago» on the life of Prevost presented

The baseball games in the street with the brothers, the bike rides. Like that time the older brother, Louis, proposed that they go to Beaubien Woods, hills, woods, paths, ravinesa dangerous matter, “we shouldn’t”, says the little one, “nobody will know”, replies the big one, what could ever happen? And instead what happens is that the two meet a gang of kids, we want your bikes, we’ll throw them in the river, we’ll throw you too, things get bad but little Rob calmly says to his brother: let me talk to them. Louis Prevost still tells it in disbelief: «He got off his bike, started talking to them and they became friendly, we ran together. But what did you tell him? I asked him. And he: I just talked to them.”

Six months after the election

It’s always been like this, «Rob» Francis Prevost. The documentary «Leo from Chicago», produced by the Dicastery of Communication led by Paolo Ruffini and disseminated through the Vatican media for the six months from the elesson of Leo XIV – they made it happen the journalists Deborah Castellano-Lubov, Salvatore Cernuzio and Felipe Herrera-Espaliat, with editing by Jaime Vizcaíno Haro – opens with images of the city as it appears today: the skyline, highway traffic, neon lights, a «Pope Leo XIV road», the front page of the «Chicago Sun Times» with the headline «From Pope!»the definite article “the” written in city slang to mean the incredible, an American Pope and a fellow citizen at that. A freight train reaching the South Side suburb of Dolton goes back to the beginning, through the tales of brothers Louis and John. They lived in a small brick house similar to the others, at 212 East 141st Place. A bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen, a lounge, a dining room, a basement and the unfinished upper floor.

the house

When Rob was born the crib was in the dining room. After dinner, once the dishes were put away, the parents Louis Marius Prevost e Mildred Agnes Martínez they went into the living room and recited the rosary every evening. Mother went to mass every day at 6 in the morning, before the children went to school. Catholic education, Catholic schools. “The first thing he ever knew was that he wanted to be a priest,” John says. The parents were happy about it, but they never tried to direct him. Every day he went down to the cellar with his brothers and he prepared the ironing board and tablecloth, “we celebrated mass and he didn’t consider it a game, he knew all the prayers in Latin in English”. One of the nuns at school said to him: Robert Francis, one day you might become Pope, and everyone laughed and made fun of him for it. Today people go to pray in front of the house where he was born. But ultimately the story of the future Pope is that of a normal, albeit gifted, boy.

The passions

The passion for cars, to say: he likes to drive, he even traveled fourteen hours between Villanova University in Pennsylvania and Chicago – time to reflect in peace, or chat with friends -, he knew makes, models, production lines, he loved Fords, he changed oil and spark plugs himself. And then baseball and the never-ending support for the White Sox: still in 2005 he was in the stands, at the first game of the World Series. OR love for cinema: he couldn’t wait to go and see «The Blues Brothers» by John Landis, also because it is set in Chicago, there is a photo that shows him wearing the same dark glasses as John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. And American food, burgers, beef sandwiches, and an incredible pepperoni pizza with sausages and mushrooms that «Aurelio’s pizza», where he also went as a cardinal, nicknamed «Poperoni» after his election as pontiff.

The studies

A photo from the time of St. Augustine Seminary High School, vicino a Holland, it portrays him singing the hits of those years with friends, songs by Neil Diamond or Elton John. After all, he was an excellent student, editor of the high school yearbook, tutor, friends remember that even on the eve of exams “he knew how to be so calm, under pressure”. On January 22, 1974, in Washington, he took part in the pro-life march on the first anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling that established the right to abortion. He spoke about social justice even in high school, at Villanova University he wrote a thesis on the Social Doctrine of the Churchborn in 1891 with the Rerum novarum of a Pope called Leo XIII.

The personality

It may seem extravagant to say this about a Pope, but from the documentary we get the impression of a man who believes in it, really, believes deeply and has never done anything in his life to stand out or to make a career. A very intelligent, very knowledgeable young priest. Years of studies, degrees in mathematics, philosophy, theology, doctorate in canon law. He could teach at university, friends say, and obtain prestigious positions in a large archdiocese. But he wanted to become a missionary. After ordination in Rome, he chose to go to Peru, spending decades among the poor people. The rest happened to him, that’s all. Certainly he had been general of the Augustinian order for twelve years, he had traveled the world, visited around fifty countries on every continent, his brothers say he had the gift of leadership. But at the beginning of 2023 he was still living in Chiclayo, he was just the bishop of a small remote diocese overlooking the Pacific. Until Pope Francis called him to Rome to lead the Dicastery of Bishops at the beginning of 2023 and he became cardinal less than twenty months before being elected in the Sistine Chapel, the 267th bishop of Rome. Throughout his life he cultivated the Augustinian ideal of friendship, of life in community. On 8 May 2025, from the Loggia delle Benedizioni, Leo XIV holds back a sob of emotion as he says: «I am a son of Saint Augustine, who said: with you I am a Christian, and for you a bishop».

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