Dear Members of the USF Community,
Like many of you, I am celebrating yesterday’s historic election of Pope Leo XIV, the first pope from the United States to lead the worldwide Catholic Church and serve as sovereign of the Vatican City State. Occurring just three weeks after the death of Pope Francis, this news was met with joyful cries in St. Peter’s Square and with bells tolling around the globe.
I have not met Pope Leo, born Robert Francis Prevost in 1955 in Chicago, but like many of you, I am struck both by the similarities with Francis and how the Church’s new leader has carved a distinctive path of his own. Both men led lives marked with a global perspective and both preached the importance of interfaith dialogue. Both prioritized a preferential option for the poor, the marginalized, the migrant, and the homeless. Pope Francis was the first Jesuit to become pope; Pope Leo is the first from the Augustinian order.
I was struck by the biography and scholarship in Pope Leo’s resume, his longtime and consequential work in Peru, that he delivered his first address as pope in Italian and Spanish, and his resounding call for a Church that will act as a “beacon that illuminates the dark nights of this world.”
As the Catholic Church continues to work to heal and grow, and as America and the world continue to struggle with deep divisions, strife, violence, and pain, please join me in prayer for the soul of Pope Francis and for Pope Leo and the work that lies ahead for all of us — Catholic, non-Catholics, believers, and non-believers alike.
I am grateful for the beloved community of the University of San Francisco today and every day. With imminent commencement ceremonies for our undergraduate and graduate students, please know I am praying for you. And I send deep gratitude to all staff, faculty, and librarians who teach, mentor, inspire, and encourage our students now and going forward.
Sincerely,
John P. Fitzgibbons, S.J.
Interim President and Chief Mission Officer