Peruvians in Chicago are celebrating the election of Pope Leo XIV, a Chicagoan who spent twenty years of service in Peru, because the elevation of one in all their very own.
“We’ve got an American Peruvian pope,” mentioned Betty Lazaro, 62, who began crying when she discovered the information. “I couldn’t consider it.”
Robert Francis Prevost, 69, was born in Chicago and grew up in south suburban Dolton, and attended a Catholic faculty on the South Facet. He then spent years serving the poor in Peru beginning within the mid-Eighties, a time when the nation skilled terrorism and inside battle, largely within the countryside. He ultimately gained Peruvian citizenship, the Related Press reported.
That’s across the time that Lazaro immigrated to Chicago. “I used to be in school, and Peru was struggling numerous terrorism.”
Lazaro has lived within the metropolis for 32 years. She is a parishioner at Our Girl of Mercy in Albany Park, a church she says has many parishioners from Peru and different Central and South American nations. She is happy to attend Mass on Sunday as a result of Lazaro thinks between Mom’s Day and the information in regards to the pope, her church goes to be packed.
She additionally has huge expectations for Pope Leo. Even whereas many are celebrating the brand new appointment, the brand new pope has additionally been criticized for a way he dealt with conditions involving monks accused of sexual abuse.
Transferring ahead, Lazaro needs the pope to have zero tolerance for sexual abuse and expects he’ll stick with it the legacy of the late Pope Francis and his name to advocate for the poor and susceptible.
Rubén Pachas, 49, is from Peru and has lived in Chicago for 20 years. He teaches Spanish and Latin American research across the Chicago space and leads the Middle of Peruvian Arts, which connects college students and others to the cultural traditions of Peru. He says his coronary heart skipped a beat when his good friend texted to ask how he felt in regards to the new chief of the Catholic Church being from Chicago and Peru.
“I used to be feeling so excited as a result of he was an immigrant in Peru,” Pachas mentioned, including that Pope Leo XIV is aware of the way it feels to start out from zero in another country. Pachas is hopeful that being an American, Pope Leo XIV will likely be higher positioned to problem President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda.
Sara Izquierdo, 30, is Peruvian American and a third-year medical scholar on the College of Illinois Faculty of Medication Chicago. She additionally directs the student-led cellular migrant well being workforce within the metropolis. Her dad and mom personal a Peruvian restaurant referred to as Style of Peru in Rogers Park.
Izquierdo was along with her dad and mom of their front room watching the announcement of the brand new pope Thursday.
“My mother says, ‘OK, he’s popping out,’” Izquierdo mentioned. They have been shocked once they noticed Prevost. “Wait, he’s the American candidate,” she mentioned. And their reactions saved escalating. “He’s the American Peruvian from Chicago.’ We have been over the moon.”
Izquierdo says she hopes his life experiences as a United States citizen and a priest in Latin America have given him a extra knowledgeable view about points affecting migration.
“I’m hoping that his world expertise lends rather well into negotiating energy,” Izquierdo mentioned. She would like to see Pope Leo XIV be a powerful voice to guard human rights within the face of violations which are being reported in the US and in El Salvador.
“I’m hoping, as somebody who’s going to be main the Catholic Church and is now a non secular world chief, he is ready to communicate out in opposition to that very clearly.”
Adriana Cardona-Maguigad covers immigration for WBEZ. Comply with her on X @AdrianaCardMag.
