Who is this Archbishop Prevost?

Pope Francis has appointed a 67-year-old American bishop, Monsignor Robert Francis Prevost, as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. This change comes in the delicate context of the resignation of his predecessor, Quebec Cardinal Marc Ouellet, accepted by the latter on 30 January for "age limit". The Cardinal was also the target of two complaints from women for "sexual misconduct". Prevost, who has been Bishop of Chiclayo in Peru since 2015, will take office on 12 April 2023.

The mission that awaits him is as delicate as it is strategic, since it involves the heavy responsibility of examining the candidates presented by the nuncios of each country after investigation to become bishops of dioceses throughout the world. At the same time, Archbishop Prevost has been appointed Prefect of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, which depends on the dicastery for bishops.

But who is this Archbishop Prevost?

The pope has chosen a religious: Mgr Prevost is a member of the Augustinian Order, which he joined at the age of 22 after studying mathematics and philosophy, and of which he was the Superior General between 2001 and 2013. This canonist by training does not arrive in Rome in unknown territory. He is well acquainted with the workings of the Curia and the appointment process within the Church, having been appointed by the Pope as a member of the Congregation for the Clergy in 2019, then of the Congregation for Bishops in 2020.

The episcopal office he held in Peru was surprising: how is it that an American born of a French father and an Italian mother became Bishop of Chiclayo? The tense context within the Peruvian episcopate at the beginning of the 2010s is the cause. During this period, two bishops were forced to resign by the Vatican, one for accusations of paedophilia and the other for legal affairs linked to a double life. In order to put things right in the long term, the Pope decided to bring in new blood, even from abroad, to the Peruvian Church, which Bishop Prevost already knew. Thus, on 3 November 2014, the religious was sent by the Pope to hold the office of Apostolic Administrator of Chiclayo, and then of bishop a year later. A first important mark of pontifical confidence.

A powerful relationship with Saint Augustine

Peru, Rome, the United States... Bishop Prevost is not a sedentary man. In addition to English, he also speaks Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese. His first contacts with Peru date back to his first years of priesthood: four years after his ordination in August 1981, the young priest was sent on a mission to the diocese of Chulucanas in the northwest of the country. A short stay, because he returned to Rome for two years, to obtain his doctorate in canon law at the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas in 1987 with a thesis on "The role of the local prior in the Order of St Augustine". A thesis that was premonitory, because in 1988 he returned to Peru to become prior of a community and then Director of the "Augustinian" seminary of Trujillo. This time, the stay was much longer, lasting 11 years.

In 1999, the religious returned temporarily to his origins, elected provincial of the Augustinian province of Chicago in the United States... Before taking off again for Rome, where he was elected prior general of the Order of Saint Augustine on 14 September 2001. A position he held until 2013. He was finally sent back to Peru in 2014.

His exposure to different cultures during his missions, his particular knowledge of Latin America and his experience in important ecclesiastical positions will undoubtedly have motivated Pope Francis to find a successor to Cardinal Ouellet.

Source