On this week’s episode of “Jesuitical,” Ashley and Zac are joined by Mark Francis, C.S.V., who was a seminary classmate of Pope Leo (then known as Bob Prevost) at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago in the late 1970s. Father Mark is the provincial of the Chicago province of the Viatorian community, and he describes Pope Leo as a thoughtful and sensitive leader—even in their seminary days.

Zac, Ashley, and Fr. Mark discuss: 

Pope Leo’s formation at C.T.U., where he learned alongside women and engaged with social justice issues

How Pope Leo’s language skills, governing experience and global perspective will be key assets in his papacy 

Why efforts to put Pope Leo in a box are doomed to fail

Links for further reading: 

Jesuitical Storytelling Retreat

Podcast: Inside Pope Leo XIV’s first week

Pope Leo XIV, in first U.S. appointment, names San Diego’s new bishop

Pope Leo’s first audience: God’s love is generous, not calculating

Pope Leo’s Chicago roots: a conversation with Cardinal Cupich

Leo XIV: An American pope for the end of American empire?

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