From Cebu to Rome: Pope Leo XIV's deep ties with the Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos will find a familiar friend in the newly elected Pope Leo XIV.

Before he was elevated to the Chair of Saint Peter, Cardinal Robert Prevost, OSA, had walked Philippine soil many times, not as a visiting dignitary, but as a missionary friar deeply engaged with the local Church. As Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine (OSA) from 2001 to 2013, he led numerous visits to the archipelago, blessing churches, speaking to friars, and joining in the jubilation of the faithful.

In 2008, Prevost was in Cebu to lead the blessing of the Santo Niño Spirituality Center in Consolacion, marking the silver jubilee of the Augustinian Province of Santo Niño de Cebu-Philippines.

“He came to the Philippines several times to preside over our provincial chapters,” said Fr. Harold Rentoria, an Augustinian who used to be commissioner of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. “I was provincial secretary at that time,” he added, referring to the periodic representative assemblies of the Augustinians in the Philippines.

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It is no small thing that the first Augustinian pope comes from a religious tradition that was the first to evangelize the Philippines in the 16th century. The Augustinians, led by Fray Andrés de Urdaneta, planted the seeds of faith in these islands, built the grand Baroque churches now enshrined in the Unesco World Heritage list, and pioneered the transpacific tornaviaje that connected Asia with the Americas. It is a history rich in missionary zeal, and Leo XIV is cut from the same cloth.

Born in Chicago but formed in the global South, Prevost’s missionary heart beats with the rhythms of Peru, where he served as bishop of Chiclayo and even took on Peruvian citizenship in 2015. His wide pastoral experience — spanning the Americas, Africa, and Asia — ensures that, like his predecessor, Pope Francis, he will keep the Church’s gaze fixed on the “peripheries,” reaching out to victims of what Francis called the “throwaway culture.” His election makes him only the second pope from the Americas, after Francis, and the first Augustinian pope in nearly eight centuries.

Yet, where Leo XIV may offer continuity with Francis’ pastoral activism, he also signals a retrieval of tradition. When he appeared for the first time on the loggia of Saint Peter's Basilica, he wore the red mozzetta and rochet — traditional papal vestments that hint at a return to the dignities of office cherished by earlier pontiffs. Observers see this as an early sign: while embracing reform, Leo XIV is poised to uphold the doctrinal orthodoxy championed by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

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This blend of pastoral outreach and doctrinal clarity is deeply Augustinian. The Order of Saint Augustine, founded in 1244, draws its strength from communal living and spiritual brotherhood, guided by the Rule of Saint Augustine — the towering Doctor of the Church whose thought shaped Western Christianity. Leo XIV, who studied at the Dominican-run Angelicum in Rome, a university also steeped in Augustine's Rule, is well-versed in the intellectual rigor that resists relativism and error.

 

In his person, therefore, converge the currents of modern missionary dynamism and ancient theological steadfastness. As a friar, Leo XIV has lived the challenges of evangelization in the world’s margins; as a scholar, he is prepared to uphold the Church’s teachings amid contemporary confusions.

For Filipinos, whose faith has been nurtured by Augustinian foundations — from the walls of Intramuros to the towers of Paoay and Miag-ao — there is every reason to draw close to this pope. He knows the Philippines not from reports, but from firsthand encounters. He has joined in the dance of the Sinulog, heard prayers whispered before the Santo Niño, and walked the ground trodden by his brother friars since 1565.

As Leo XIV begins his pontificate, he carries with him the rich missionary legacy of his order, the wisdom of Augustine, and the warmth of the peripheries he has long served. In him, Filipinos will not only see the new Bishop of Rome but also a Holy Father who already knows them by heart. /dl/abc

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Lito B. Zulueta, professor of journalism at the UST Faculty of Arts & Letters, covered the conclave of 2005 that elected Pope Benedict XVI and that of 2013 that elected Pope Francis.

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