The Story Everyone’s Missing About Pope Leo

Yes, he’s American. But his Augustinian identity is what really defines his leadership.

Pope Leo celebrates the birthday of his friend Father Alejandro Moral (second from right) during lunch with other friars at the Augustinian headquarters on June 1.

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When Cardinal Robert Prevost became Pope Leo XIV on May 8, 2025, global headlines fixated on his nationality — the first American pope, claimed by both the United States and Peru.

But Leo himself immediately pointed to a deeper identity.

Stepping onto the balcony of St. Peter’s, he declared, “I am a son of Saint Augustine, an Augustinian”.

In doing so, he downplayed passports and highlighted his membership in the Order of St. Augustine, a centuries-old religious order focused on community and charity.

Leo is notably the second consecutive pope from a religious order. Pope Francis before him was a Jesuit.

Much as Francis’s Jesuit background shaped his outlook, Leo’s Augustinian formation is the key to understanding his worldview.

Shaped by St. Augustine’s Legacy

The future Pope Leo in 1980 as a student at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. The OSA following his name stands for Order of St.Augustine

St. Augustine’s influence on Leo XIV has been explicit from day one. In his very first address as pope, Leo quoted the beloved bishop of Hippo: “With you I am a Christian, for you a bishop.”

By invoking Augustine’s famous words, Leo signaled a leadership of service and solidarity.

Here’s what his long-time Augustinian friend told the Washington Post:

“He’s not above the community or anything like that, he’s one of us. He will be listening not just to the higher-ups, but he will be listening to the individuals and also the different threads in all the different societies in the world.”

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing a series of deeply reported essays that together offer the most comprehensive portrait yet of Pope Leo’s early life and formation.

These pieces take time and care to produce — so the remainder of this article, and the rest in the series, will be available exclusively to paying subscribers.

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