Catholic groups welcome pope with missionary heart
May 27, 2025
Children play in front of the Chapel Santa Rosa Cruz Pampa in Yapatera, Peru, May 11, 2025, where then-Father Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, preached as a young missionary. (OSV News photo/Sebastian Castaneda, Reuters)
HOUSTON (OSV News) — Catholic missionary groups are welcoming the election of Pope Leo XIV, who served in South America as a missionary priest and bishop for decades in Peru.
Hilda Ochoa, director of the Mission Office of the Archdiocese, celebrated Pope Leo’s election.
“It is encouraging to know that our leader has real-life understanding and experience in the mission world,” said Ochoa, who has led the mission office since the 1990s.
The former Robert Cardinal Prevost, a Chicago native, most recently served as the prefect for the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops. Prior to that appointment, he was the Bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, having lived there for more than two decades.
“His memories as a missionary priest and bishop in Peru will serve him well as he seeks to respond to the needs of the whole Church,” Ochoa said. “There is a real excitement in response to his election among my fellow Pontifical Mission Societies staff. We are awaiting any new special directives.”
After seeing Pope Leo leading outreach efforts to bring supplies to people affected by a severe 2023 flood in Peru, Ochoa said it indicated his willingness to "'go out to the deep' to respond to the needs of others."
"These actions remind me of my own experiences visiting Honduras following the devastation of Hurricane Mitch, leading me to a sense of connection with the Pope Leo," she said.
She was also inspired by Pope Leo’s travels; as the superior of the Augustinian order, he visited 47 countries.
“He already has some insights from these visits. His gift of language, including English, Spanish and Latin, will enhance his ability for communication and dialogue,” she said. "With the conflicts devastating our world today, Pope Leo’s goals bring a sense of hope and promise."
Monsignor Roger J. Landry, national director of The Pontifical Mission Societies USA, said May 8 that Pope Leo had “a missionary at heart,” and was one who “served for many years as a priest and bishop bringing Christ and his Gospel to the people in rural Peru.”
The societies, which operate at the service of the pope, consist of four mission societies designated as pontifical by Pope Pius XI in 1922 and serve 1,124 missionary dioceses and territories worldwide.
Catholic Relief Services’ (CRS) CEO Sean Callahan, who leads the official humanitarian agency of the Catholic Church in the U.S., called the election of the first U.S.-born pope “a momentous occasion for American Catholics.”
Callahan said that “global experience will surely have an impact on his papacy.”
“He has seen firsthand the struggles that our sisters and brothers around the world are experiencing,” Callahan said. “We are confident that he will be a voice for the voiceless and a fierce supporter of human dignity for all people.”
Callahan added that the new pope’s election “comes at a critical time for the global Church, as communities around the world navigate challenges such as increasing hunger, environmental degradation and migration crisis.”
Estrella del Paso, a Catholic nonprofit ministry that provides legal assistance to migrants in the Diocese of El Paso, said in a May 8 statement that it was “heartened” by Pope Leo’s “clear alignment with the social teaching of the Church and Pope Francis on migration.”
The agency said the new pope “has long demonstrated a pastoral heart, especially toward migrants and those on the margins,” and that “as a bishop in Peru, he consistently emphasized the Church’s mission to walk with displaced and vulnerable populations. His ministry reflected a commitment to upholding the dignity of every person, particularly those forced to flee their homelands due to violence, poverty or persecution.”
Through his involvement with the Missionaries of Mary apostolate, Armando Ruiz said he had a chance to meet the new pope when the latter was still serving as bishop of Chiclayo, Peru.
“He’s American and Latino, so he’s got a heart for the people, but he’s direct and takes care of business,” Ruiz said, acknowledging the Holy Father’s U.S.-Peruvian dual citizenship. “It’s this incredible moment that he’ll bring calmness, decisiveness and that missionary love.”