In the late summer of 1973, I traveled by AMTRAK train from Sacramento, California to Chicago, Illinois to the elite Northwestern University to pursue doctoral studies in Sociology. As the biggest surprise in my life, to paraphrase C. S. Lewis, I had no idea at the time  the Windy City would become and remain in my  heart and in my life, my “holy city.” Chicago is where, for good, in the midst of pursuing doctoral studies, I would depart from transforming from an egocentric agnostic turning towards atheism to becoming a devout justice oriented ecumenical and interfaith Christian theological social scientist in the worlds of elite  academia and grassroots communities domestically and globally. There had to be something in the air in Chicago in those early to mid-1970s years when it came to the spiritual development and calling of young adult Black men and women in need of close research study since a number have come over times and places in numerous faiths and golden rules to do phenomenal things for humanity in various fields. One of them I never heard of before this past Thursday, May 8^th, indeed, my spiritual birthday, became the immeasurably greatest, the 267^th Pope.

One of the most profound circulars on social media about the future Pope Leo XIV of the Roman Catholic Church says:

“Pope Leo XIV

1975: This man made a shocking decision:

He rejected Harvard Law to serve Peru’s poorest villages

Now, he’s the 267^th Pope

• Speaks ancient Incan

• Walked 8hrs to help the poor

• First American born ever

The untold story of new elected Pope Robert Prevost: In 1975

Robert Prevost was at the top of his game. Chicago math teacher. Devout Catholic. Accepted into Harvard Law. He had everything a young man could dream of, But then—he made a decision that no one saw coming. He said no to Harvard.

No to a six-figure future. No to fame. No to comfort.

And yes—to something few dare to choose: A life of complete surrender. He joined a missionary group and moved to Peru. Not to the cities. Not to the tourist spots.

But to the *most* remote villages—where children die from treatable diseases. And families walk miles just for clean water. There were no roads. No running water. No WiFi.

Just mountains. Silence And poverty. But he embraced it like home.

Robert didn’t just live *among* the people. He became *one* of them.

• Learned Quechua—the sacred language of the Incas

• Carried food on foot for days

• Slept on dirt floors with the villagers

• Prayed under the stars

When he wasn’t building shelters. He taught math to barefoot kids under broken rooftops. When he wasn’t teaching. He carried the sick on donkeys to get help. When he wasn’t healing. He listened—truly listened—to stories no one else cared to hear.

While his friends from back home became lawyers and doctors. He became something else entirely.

A shepherd

A brother

A quiet warrior of faith

And slowly—his legend grew. His acts weren’t broadcasted. But they echoed through the Andes.

Bishops noticed.

Priests noticed.

And eventually—the Vatican noticed.

They called him back to lead his entire Augustinian order. From serving a village. To overseeing 2,800 brothers in over 40 countries.

Still—he kept his same sandals.

Still—he walked with the poor.

Still—he rejected luxury.

Then came the call that changed everything:

Rome wanted him closer. In 2020 He was appointed Archbishop and assigned to govern other bishops globally. It was rare. But Robert had never chased tradition. He wasn’t just fluent in Latin or Canon Law.

He was fluent in *compassion*

In humility.

In listening.

In *presence*.

The Vatican didn’t just see a priest. They saw a *leader with soul*. On September 30, 2023. Pope Francis made it official:

Robert Prevost was named a Cardinal. Just one step below the Pope.

And then… in 2025.

History was made. For the first time ever.

An American.

A former math teacher.

A missionary to the forgotten.

Was elevated as the 267^th Pope of the Catholic Church.

And he didn’t forget the people who shaped him. To this day. Pope Robert still returns to the same villages.

Still prays in Quechua.

Still sits on dirt floors.

Still holds the hands of the elderly in silence.

Because leadership he believes:

Is about *presence* not position.

The world is obsessed with power.

But Robert Prevost proves:

• Titles mean nothing without service

• Knowledge is useless without love

• And faith—without sacrifice—is noise

He turned down the world. And changed it instead.”

It is good to see in electing a new Pope, the Cardinals chose love over hate, compassion for the poor, marginalized, and excluded over the rich, the mainstreamed, and establishment. It is admirable they turned  a blind eye to White national ideology and racialized ancestry hegemony and chose to continue along the road paved by the recently demised Pope Francis to be a church embedded in humility which, as Christ ordained, has an open than a closed door, speaks to countering evil in all its forms and fashions rather than cozying up to malice and otherwise wrong doing.

 In doing so, in electing Pope Leo XIV, a contemplative activist in the St. Augustine tradition who thus fully understands who he lives and works for; whose name predecessor, Pope Leo XIII, knew what justice political sociology was well before it’s academic label, the Cardinals have set an extraordinarily high  moral yard stick for other global and more national and local religious leaders to measure up to.

Certainly though like all institutions, religious as well as secular, the Catholic Church has its warts and otherwise challenges, in choosing as their leader a man of God like now Pope Leo XIV, an American of Louisiana Creole descent from Black Bronzeville Chicago  who spent most of his adult life in the communities of the forgotten and ignored in Peru, the Cardinals have shown us in this dismal world of status politics and conforming to evil status quo standing for Godly righteousness must become a necessary moral counterbalancing consciousness to usher in unity justice and peace our deeply polarized world deserves to start moving towards and eventually becoming.

Godly righteousness in this vein  is not only thought of and practiced as the imperative life of those who give their lives to devoutly live for and in the Abrahamic God. It is also, in the universal sense, the ultimate moral standard of common decency, dignity, and rights and responsibilities all we human beings are entitled to having and thus each day must struggle to protect from those seeking to dehumanize one of us and thus all of us.

We need more Pope Leo XIVs of all faiths and golden rules to resist this global darkness trying to set in, to tear down the walls trying to separate us, to bring justice and peace in places deemed impossible, to end all inequalities and disparities, to boldly critique the global greed, climate destruction, and AI engulfing us, to bring in care and love where indifference and hatred reign, to bring hope and empowerment to the hopeless and helpless.

We need more willing to  look the evil  straight in the eye and speak loudly and boldly for justice and peace for everyone. We need more who turn a deaf ear to cynicism and apathy and instead  galvanize networks and movements to speak in the halls of the powerful for justice and peace for all. We need more who live for others rather than self, especially for those most unlike them who are unjustly treated.

And then, it, justice and peace unity for all, shall come to pass and remain since we shall see through the lives of the Pope Leo XIVs among us, boys and girls, men and women, of all ages, castes, classes, ethnicities, religions, golden rules, tribes, nations, and continents, that it is possible for us to stick out all things in loving togetherness as we weave the fabric of our marvellous future world composed of the diversity of everyone.

“Professor John” Huston Stanfield II

Director, ASARPI asarpi.org

Senior Pastoral Facilitator-Faith and Justice Sunday Conversations

May 11, 2025