On May 8, I was coming from the gym around 9:30 a.m. I looked at my phone and my nephew had texted me notifying me that white smoke was emanating from the Sistine Chapel.
He asked me who I thought might be the next pope I responded that “I don’t know,” but told him that “he won’t be an American — besides I only know two cardinals, and oddly enough, they are both my personal friends and they’re both named Bob” (McElroy and Prevost).
What a stunning thrill it was for me when Cardinal Protodeacon Dominique Mamberti announced the first name as being “Roberto.” Almost immediately, my gasping turned to jumping when I heard the name “Prevost.”
Sitting in my living room in San Diego, I was exhilarated to hear that my friend of almost 50 years had been elected pope.
I first met Bob Prevost (please excuse the familiarity here) when I was a new priest in San Francisco.
He was still in the seminary, a few years away from being ordained a priest. He came to visit San Francisco, and I had the privilege of showing him around the City by the Bay. This initial meeting became a bond to this very day.
We shared — and still share — an enduring friendship that was cemented in the fact that we are both vowed of the Order of St. Augustine, “The Augustinians” — a community based on The Rule of St. Augustine, written about the year 400.
We Augustinians live and pray together, as St. Augustine says, “one mind and heart intent upon God.” I know of no one who has more acutely personified this call than Pope Leo XIV.
He is one of the brightest persons I have ever known. He is a true polyglot. He has a doctorate in the canon law of the Catholic Church and, despite his sometime quiet demeanor, he possesses a wonderfully disarming sense of humor. Most of all he serves the Lord by serving the poor, and by not being afraid to lead.
As a young priest, he served the poorest of the poor in Peru. This was followed by serving as provincial (superior) of the Midwest province of Augustinians, based in his hometown of Chicago. (One doesn’t need to know him too long before discovering our new pope is an ardent White Sox fan.)
After serving as provincial, he was elected prior general of the Order of St. Augustine. (Here, the word “prior” means “first among equals.”) He served in this capacity for 12 years (2001-2013). The headquarters for the Augustinian Order — to the surprise of some — is literally across the street from St. Peter’s in Rome. Who knew that in 2025, there would not be much of an address change?
I was delighted to renew my fraternal and working relationship with Father Bob Prevost when I was first elected prior provincial of the Augustinian province of California in 2007. I being at a meeting in Rome in that year, where there was an assembly of new provincials.
He started the meeting by asking each person what he thought about being provincial. The first few people routinely said that they felt “honored.” After a number of the same responses, he stopped us and said “OK, please stop saying you’re ‘honored.’ Yes, it is an honor, but it is work! How are you going to serve the men in your province … specifically, how are you going to lead them to serve the poor?”
It was his call to serve the poor and the marginalized that made him a natural to be called (after a brief period of time as a formation director in Chicago) by Pope Francis to be a bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, for eight years. I was privileged to be among the Americans who witnessed his ordination to the episcopacy on Dec. 12, 2014, in the Peruvian Cathedral of St. Mary.
On Sept. 30, 2024, I was once again “honored” to be present at the consistory at St. Peter’s Basilica at which Pope Francis made my friend, Bob, a cardinal.
On the day he was announced as pope, I sent Pope Leo XIV an email, congratulating him and pledging prayers for him. He responded within three hours and wrote: “Thanks for your message, Gary! You are often in my thoughts and prayers, and I only ask that you please pray for me! Fraternally, Bob.”
While I am thrilled for the church, it will take me awhile to stop calling my friend Bob!
Sanders is a Catholic priest and former Augustinian provincial in California and lives in the Augustinian community in North Park.
