I met the man who would become Pope Leo XIV in October 2023. We were standing outside the Vatican’s Synod Hall, and from my short conversation with Cardinal Robert Prevost, I could tell he was a good listener,

Pope Leo I tangled with Attila the Hun and won. Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as the first Holy Roman Emperor. This is the history of a legendary papal namesake.

As a Chicagoan who teaches at Villanova University, it was surreal for me to watch the election of Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as Pope Leo XIV last Thursday. The new pontiff grew up in Chicago and graduated from Villanova,