Fr Alejandro Moral, prior general of the Augustinian congregation, has little English, but is happy to talk about his former boss, who is now his new boss.
Standing at the headquarters of the Augustinian congregation, next to St Peter’s Square in Rome, Fr Moral said that when his fellow Augustinian, Cardinal Robert Prevost, appeared on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica as Pope Leo XIV on Thursday night, his feelings were of “much emotion, love, a strong feeling of friendship, fraternity, and of course, joy”.
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They had worked together throughout the 12 years that the then Cardinal Prevost had been prior general of the Augustinians, with Fr Moral as his deputy. When Cardinal Prevost was appointed to the Roman Curia by Pope Francis in 2023, he appointed Fr Moral as his successor in charge of the Augustinians.
As prior general, his former boss had been “humble, he likes to listen, he lets everybody do their jobs; when he has a doubt, he asks,” Fr Moral said.
It was all “very Augustinian, very fraternal”, he said.
“They say he’s more Augustinian than American, because he didn’t live very much in the US and he’s from a family whose origins are in Spain, Italy and France. So he’s a man of the world, basically.”
Pope Leo XIV’s main concerns were for “justice, peace and getting people together – to build a bridge, as he mentioned from the balcony [on Thursday night].”
On the ordination of women to the priesthood and diaconate, Fr Moral said the new pope “needs time”.
As for Pope Leo’s 2012 condemnation of a popular culture that fostered “sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the Gospel”, giving the homosexual lifestyle as an example, Fr Moral said he was “repeating what the church says about those issues – it’s not his opinion, rather it’s the teaching of the church”.
Closer to home, Ireland’s best known Augustinian priest, Fr Iggy O’Donovan, knows the new pope quite well. In 1981 both were students of canon law in Rome.
Fr O’Donovan says Cardinal Prevost was “always Bob to me”.
Now based at the John’s Lane Augustinian Church in Dublin, Fr O’Donovan recalled his friend as being “very organised and soft-spoken”, yet he ended up even before Thursday in “one of most powerful positions in the Vatican”.
Cardinal Prevost became prefect of the Dicastery of Bishops, a role that put him in charge of appointing bishops “where he met Francis every week”.
“Yet, while working in the engine room, he managed to avoid controversies,” Fr O’Donovan said of his former fellow student.
He recalled how the new pope, when prior general of the Augustinians, had visited Ireland in 2009 and 2013 when he presided at Augustinian Chapter meetings in Ireland. He also visited Fethard Abbey, Co Tipperary, on one of those occasions.
As prior general he was “running a loose motley crew like a referee blowing a whistle here and there with the odd yellow card off and on”, Fr O’Donovan said.
“He might express disapproval, but it was never personal.”
Fr O’Donovan should know. On Easter Sunday 2006, marking the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising, Fr O’Donovan, two Augustinian colleagues, then prior Fr Richard Goode and Fr Noel Hession, with local Church of Ireland rector Rev Michael Graham, concelebrated mass at the Augustinian priory in Drogheda, Co Louth.
As Rev Graham said then “this is the first public celebration in Drogheda of the Eucharist by a Catholic priest of the Anglican tradition in a Catholic church of the Roman tradition since the Reformation”.
It did not go down well.
Both the Catholic and Church of Ireland primates at the time demurred, expressing concern about possible “misunderstandings” and “misinterpretations”.
Following some water under the bridge Fr O’Donovan, Fr Goode and Fr Hession wrote to the Catholic Primate, the papal nuncio “and the prior general of the Augustinian Order, Fr Robert Prevost”, apologising “unreservedly for the ill-considered celebration”.
Recalling “the expressed disapproval” of his friend who was the prior general at the time, Fr O’Donovan said he and the man who is now pope “always remained friends”.
“We somewhat over-estimate our little happenings in Ireland,” he said
He always found the pope to be “personally a nice guy, though we didn’t meet for many years after Rome”, he said.
As for Pope Leo, Fr O’Donovan felt his friend “Bob the Pope” would be “sort of a safe pair of hands – more like a Jack Lynch figure”, referring to the former Fianna Fáil leader and another compromise candidate between two sturdy factions.
Like Francis, the new pope would “place a lot of emphasis on peace”, he said. His forte would be “a great moral presence, so necessary at a time of Trump and Putin. But expect nothing where women priests or deacons are concerned, like Francis whose optics were better, if they are both fairly much the same,” Fr O’Donovan said.
Bishop of Limerick Brendan Leahy also recalled a number of occasions when he met the man who was now pope.
“I have met him briefly, including at the Synod in Rome last year. He is a very calm man, no airs or graces, a listener, very reflective. I was struck in his speech by his focus on peace, bridge-building, dialogue and justice,” the bishop said.
They spoke “about visiting the Augustinian house on O’Connell Street in Limerick. He even remembered the name of the street”.
“He would have visited Ireland as part of his role as the prior general of the Augustinian worldwide order. It’s great to have made that connection with him,” Bishop Leahy said.
