Editor’s Note: The following is an English translation of an interview with Rodrigo Guerra, Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, originally conducted by Exaudi in Spanish and published on June 10, 2025. In it, Guerra reflects on the election and early pontificate of Pope Leo XIV, with whom he worked directly for over two years. In this interview, Guerra offers theological insights, personal recollections, and commentary on the significance of a pope with ties to both the United States and Latin American in today’s Church and world. Translated and published on WPI with permission from Dr. Guerra. — ML 

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Exaudi: When and how did you first meet Cardinal Robert Prevost? What were your first impressions?

Rodrigo Guerra: At the end of January 2023, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Cardinal Marc Ouellet as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. To our surprise, the bishop chosen to succeed him was the Bishop of Chiclayo, Monsignor Robert Francis Prevost Martínez. Because of my past work with CELAM, I had come to know many bishops, but I had never heard of Bishop Prevost. As soon as he took up his new post, we began working closely together. We often met in his office or at the Commission to discuss all kinds of matters concerning the Church in Latin America. Perhaps what struck me most at first was his profound inner and outer peace. I would even say he has a unique personality that has a calming effect on even the most agitated people.

Exaudi: What was your impression on the day of his election? Did you expect to hear his name?

RG: Privately, I had thought that Cardinal Prevost could make a wonderful pope. But looking at it from a worldly perspective, I also told myself that the “candidates” most often mentioned in the media would likely dominate the election process, and that only in the case of a long conclave might names like Robert Prevost gain traction. Thanks be to God, I was completely wrong—just like so many professional or amateur Vatican-watchers who surfaced in those days.

When the balcony doors opened and the name Robert Francis Prevost was announced, I felt an indescribable emotion. Suddenly, my heart was filled with the certainty that God had taken pity on our Church and had intervened in an extraordinary way. After the Pope’s greeting in the square, my wife and I went to the Casa Santa Marta. We entered along with Monsignor Ilson Montanari, secretary of the Dicastery for Bishops. After waiting a short while in the entrance hall, a small side door opened—and there was my boss, now dressed in white. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that moment. All I could think was: this is a moment of grace. An undeserved inbreaking of the Mystery into the life of the world. We congratulated him and embraced him. He gave us his blessing.

Exaudi: What kind of formation did Cardinal Prevost receive? How would you describe his theological-pastoral profile?

RG: We live in a time that tends to simplify everything by using “labels.” These labels are used to qualify or disqualify individuals, groups, or movements. But reality is often more complex than such simplifications. Pope Leo XIV began his theological formation in 1978 at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. This institute had been founded ten years earlier through the merger of three theological schools and was created with the intention of embracing the teachings of the Second Vatican Council. He later pursued licentiate and doctoral studies in canon law at the Angelicum in Rome, completing them in 1987. The Angelicum is a university that provides all its students with a solid Thomistic formation.

However, perhaps the most decisive and revealing aspect for understanding the “profile” of our new pope is his belonging to the Augustinian family and his missionary vocation, which led him to serve in Peru for forty years.

St. Augustine is the saint of the primacy of grace and the critic of Pelagian moralism. He is the thinker who understood that the human heart lives in tension between two cities: the City of God and the city of man. If we are faithful to God, we can be citizens of the world without falling into idolatry. If we are faithful to the world, we end up confusing the defense of truth with violence and the destruction of people—as happened so often in antiquity.

Likewise, Prevost lived out his charism by evangelizing a marvelous land—Peru. There, he encountered the indigenous and mestizo worlds, the richly diverse Latin American baroque culture, our deeply rooted popular religiosity, and our hope-filled faith. He encountered every kind of pastoral sensitivity. But more importantly, in that land he found the great opportunity to re-propose communion as a method: In Illo uno, unum—“In the One, we are one.” In other words, to follow Jesus means learning to risk one’s life for reconciliation, for communion, for a unity that heals and restores.

Exaudi: Given his formation at the Angelicum, one might assume he is a conservative bishop. Is that the case?

RG: I get the impression that Pope Leo XIV realized long ago that both Catholic conservatism and liberalism are ideologies—in other words, partisan distortions of the truth. He has personally endured the harsh criticism that comes from integrist circles—criticism that is dishonest and merciless, born of an inability to live in communion. He has also seen the unbearable dissatisfaction of those who consider themselves more creative and progressive than the Holy Spirit, and who likewise end up eroding the Church’s unity.

Does this mean Robert Prevost navigates the waters of lukewarmness? I sincerely don’t think so. He managed to pastor and lead with genuine affection and dedication a diocese that had traditionally been animated by Opus Dei. At the same time, he had no hesitation in expressing admiration for the beloved Gustavo Gutiérrez.

Let me put it another way: Cardinal Prevost did not suffer through the Magisterium of Pope Francis; he welcomed it and learned from it as much as he could. This was possible because he chose to take a disciple’s posture toward the gift God has given us in the person of the Successor of Peter. He is a man who sees authority as service, and obedience as openness to the coming of the Kingdom. In a certain sense, through this posture, he has been formed within the best and most providential school for the papacy.

Exaudi: In your opinion, how has Pope Leo XIV been received in the Curia, in Rome, and in the Church?

RG: It’s still too early to assess how the new pope is being received. But I believe the People of God—both in Rome and across much of the world—are joyfully discovering that God has not abandoned His Church. The deep sense of loss many of us felt at the death of Pope Francis is being filled in an extraordinary way through the person of Leo XIV.

At times, when I look at commentary in the press, I get the sense that certain camps are trying to “draw water to their own mill.” Some groups point to his red vestments, his prayer in Latin, or his mention of marriage between a man and woman open to life, as signs of a supposed return to “order” and “tradition.” Others emphasize how often he says the word “synodality” or references the Church’s social teaching to claim that he is a “progressive” pope.

The truth is that Pope Leo XIV is not John Paul III, nor is he Francis II. And he is certainly not Benedict XVII. I believe he has, without embarrassment, learned from the popes of the past—but we must allow him to be himself. That, in itself, is part of the openness God asks of us for the Church to mature in this new chapter of history.

Exaudi: What themes do you think Leo XIV will take up from Leo XIII in the new context of our time?

RG: Pope Leo XIV has explained his choice of name by immediately referencing Rerum Novarum and the way Pope Pecci[1] responded to the challenge of the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. Without a doubt, Pope Leo XIV will do something similar in the context of what is now being called the “Fourth Industrial Revolution.”

However, Leo XIII was also the pope who confronted the challenge of “Americanism.” That is, even in the 19th century there were segments of the Catholic Church in the United States that subordinated the faith to “liberal American culture”—as though a certain way of being American could serve as the interpretive key for defining what it means to be Christian.

I believe that, mutatis mutandis, Pope Leo XIV—who knows the current ethos of the Church in the United States particularly well—will need to address the distortion that arises from believing there is only one way to live and express the faith. A troubling example of how faith is sometimes subordinated and manipulated through a distorted nationalist lens is the lack of critical distance some American Catholics have from their partisan political commitments. The phenomenon of “MAGA Catholics” and similar groups deserves to be approached with both charity and absolute clarity.

This mindset leads to contradictions as absurd as affirming the right to life from the moment of conception while disregarding the fundamental rights of undocumented migrants, or fervently defending heterosexual marriage while simultaneously supporting the death penalty—positions that contradict not only the Catechism of the Catholic Church but also the most basic understanding of the equal dignity of every human person.

It is worth remembering that Leo XIII was also the pope who, at a time when ultraconservative sectors in France were hoping for a return to the “old regime,” courageously supported the Third Republic and democracy. In other words, even in the time of Leo XIII, so-called “conservatives” were already being exposed for what they really were.

What is decisive for a Catholic is to remain in dynamic communion—in synodality—meaning to bear creative witness to unity within the Church, in order to promote reconciliation and fraternity in a divided and wounded world.

Moreover, Leo XIII was also the pope of Aeterni Patris, the encyclical that revived the study of St. Thomas Aquinas in clerical formation and later bore fruit in many lay intellectual circles. I don’t think Pope Leo XIV will call for a nostalgic return to Thomas, but it is possible that he will strengthen the intellectual formation of Catholics with new sources. For those of us who believe that modernity is a kind of Augustinianism stripped of its anti-Pelagian edge, nothing would excite us more than an invitation to re-engage the thought of the Bishop of Hippo in a renewed and relevant way.

Finally, Leo XIII wrote nine encyclicals on the Virgin Mary. At a time when there are many distorted Marian experiences—whether because of their gnostic character, their purely sentimental tone, or their lack of ecclesial grounding—authentic love for Mary can only lead us in the direction set forth by the Constitution Lumen Gentium, Chapter VIII. Mary is the typos, the model, of the Church. She is not merely a figure for private devotion but the existential embodiment of what the Church is called to be. In my opinion, the Mariological deficit in some strands of contemporary ecclesiology needs to be corrected, guided by the insights of the Second Vatican Council and theologians who hold popular spirituality in high regard.

In Latin America this is especially clear: popular expressions of faith are not mere folklore. As Pope Francis said, they represent a mysterious but real theological action that transforms hearts and evangelizes. This celebration of faith is intrinsically Marian. The poor may not articulate it in the lofty terms of European theologians, but they live it from within as something intimate and decisive. If we take these realities seriously—if we truly place our hearts within the heart of the people—then synodality might discover its natural and conciliar pneumatological and Mariological framework.

Exaudi: You recently participated in the 40th General Assembly of CELAM in Rio de Janeiro. What impression did the Latin American bishops leave you with at the beginning of this new pontificate?

RG: It was a great joy to spend five days with nearly all the presidents and general secretaries of the episcopal conferences of Latin America. I dare say that, unanimously, they recognize in Pope Leo XIV “one of our own.” It seemed impossible to imagine a second Latin American pope. And yet, God in his mercy took pity on our region and gave us a pontiff who embodies a remarkable range of worlds: he was born in Chicago and worked in Chiclayo. He speaks both Spanish and English, and he has European and even Afro-Latin roots. For the CELAM bishops, Pope Leo is truly a miracle!

There is also great confidence that Leo XIV will guide the synodal renewal of the Church with balance, prudence, and courage. I sense a hopeful enthusiasm and a desire not to leave him alone. Likewise, in speaking with Fr. José Luis Loyola, MSpS, the new president of CLAR (the Latin American Confederation of Religious), I see with joy that consecrated life in Latin America also embraces Pope Leo XIV with filial love—as a son of St. Augustine.

CELAM and CLAR are living through a providential moment. God willing, we will all launch out together into the deep with confidence.

Exaudi: What diagnosis do the episcopal conferences offer in their reports on the current reality of the region?

RG: Latin America has become a stage for terrible tensions and fractures. Increasingly, large segments of our populations see violence as a feasible solution. In some countries, violence has become so widespread that even repressive measures taken to restore order are met with applause. The Church is deeply concerned about this. On top of that, we are witnessing the growth of drug trafficking, political polarization, corruption, mass migration, and environmental crisis.

Due to its particular nature, the Church does not confront these challenges as an NGO, a political party, or a government might. Nevertheless, it is becoming increasingly clear that Catholics must assume a renewed prophetic presence in public life. This presence must follow the guidance outlined in Fratelli Tutti: closeness and friendship with the poor; sincere empathy for the cry of the people and the Earth; and a missionary commitment to sow fraternity rather than antagonism.

Men and women formed according to these “Samaritan” principles truly understand the concept of the common good. Those who may speak eloquently but have not walked the road with the People of God are easy to spot—they end up offering catchphrases instead of concrete realities. Today, what the bishops are calling for is action, not speeches. They want real engagement, not populist rhetoric.

Exaudi: How does Pope Leo perceive the journey of the Church in Latin America?

RG: I think one of the great advantages of the Holy Father having spent so many years in Peru is that he knows our streets and neighborhoods. He’s familiar with our music and our colors. He understands our virtues and is well aware of our shortcomings. The Pope knows the Aparecida document intimately and lives out Evangelii Gaudium from within.

At the same time, he also knows how hard it is for us to move from words to action, from documents to true pastoral conversion. This means that his outlook on our region is grounded in realism. He is familiar with the high-level theological reflection coming out of Latin America—particularly on the theme of synodality. And at the same time, he’s well aware of the resistance, inertia, and omissions we encounter everywhere.

Yet, he holds a conviction that goes deeper than SWOT analyses of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. He expressed this conviction beautifully during the Pentecost Vigil: we must obey the Spirit.

He literally stated: “God created the world so that we might all live as one. ‘Synodality’ is the ecclesial name for this. It demands that we each recognize our own poverty and our riches … The Spirit of Jesus changes the world because he changes hearts … Jesus himself chose this path: to follow it, we have no need of powerful patrons, worldly compromises, or emotional strategies. Evangelization is always God’s work. If at times it takes place through us, it is thanks to the bonds that it makes possible.  … The challenges facing humanity will be less frightening, the future will be less dark and discernment will be less complicated… if together we obey the Holy Spirit! May Mary, Queen of the Apostles and Mother of the Church, intercede for us.”

Note

[1] Pope Leo XIII, born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci

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Image: Provided by Rodrigo Guerra