VATICAN (SE): “We are very happy. I hope it’s a gift [for us Augustinians], really, because it’s a gift for the Church. That is the important thing,” Father Alejandro Moral, prior general of the Augustinians, said upon the election of Robert Cardinal Prevost to the pontificate as Pope Leo XIV, on May 8, Vatican News reported.
The long-time friend of the newly elected Pope Leo, noted he “immediately spoke of justice and peace and of bridges between all, of synodality.”
“As Augustinians, we’re happy; we want him to be a servant,” Father Alejandro Moral said, hailing the new pope’s character, saying that he is “very balanced, very spiritual, a person truly close to everyone.”
Leo XIV “loves everyone, rich and poor alike. We [Augustinians] are very happy, because we think he will really serve the Church. We’ve been discussing this recently, and we think this will be the case,” Father Moral said.
Noting the choice of papal name—Pope Leo—Father Moral observed that it stems from the consideration that Pope Leo XIII “was a great pope.”
The Augustinian prior general emphasised the importance of the key words ‘justice’ and ‘peace’ in Pope Leo’s first address from the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican News reported.
“He spoke immediately of justice and peace and of bridges between all, of synodality. And then the words of St. Augustine, ‘We are pilgrims towards a true homeland,’ which give a clue to ‘his programme for the coming years’,” Father Moral said.
The new pope’s brother, John Prevost told CNN affiliate WBBM that he tinks Pope Leo XIV, “will be a second Pope Francis.”
Prevost said, “I think he’ll follow right in his footsteps working for the underprivileged.”
He said his brother will make a good pope because Pope Leo has “a deep feeling for the disenfranchised, for the poor, for those who were not listened to.”
Prevost said, “I think the very fact that in his heart, in his very soul, he wanted to be a missionary. He didn’t want the bishop. He didn’t want the cardinal, but that’s what he’s asked to do so that’s what he did.”
He said that he thinks his brother will be very active around the world and will “speak his mind.”
