When Robert Francis Prevost walked onto the balcony, “it was as if a family member appeared.”
On Thursday, Robert Francis Prevost was introduced to the world as Pope Leo XIV.
But as recently as last week, he was a low-profile cardinal just dining out with a friend in Rome.
The friend, the Rev. Art Purcaro, an assistant vice president and adjunct professor at Villanova University, had traveled to Italy to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his ordination as a priest. He planned to have dinner with his family at Sor’Eva, a traditional Roman restaurant on the Tiber, not far from Vatican City. And he wanted his good friend Cardinal Prevost, known to him simply as Bob, to join.
The cardinal was unable to attend dinner because of the Novemdiales, the nine days of mourning and Masses that were being held in honor of Pope Francis, who died on April 21.
But then as dinner was wrapping up, Father Purcaro recalled, in walked Bob. He held a black umbrella as he battled a rainy evening outside.
“This is the type of person Bob Prevost is,” Father Purcaro said in a phone interview on Thursday. “He just popped in.”
The two priests have known each other for decades. They worked together in Peru, and later spent time together working in Rome. Father Purcaro eventually returned to Villanova — the same school that the pope attended as an undergraduate.
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Source: Elections - nytimes.com
