A local Massachusetts college was a small stepping stone to the historic moment Pope Leo XIV became the first American-born pope in the history of the Catholic Church.
Pope Leo XIV gave communion back in 2005 when he received an honorary degree from Merrimack College. He was recognized for his work in Augustinian education.
Father Ray Dlugos is Vice President of Mission and Ministry at Merrimack College, one of only two Augustinian colleges in North America.
The other one is Villanova, where Dlugos was classmates with the newly ordained pope!
"I was in at least two or three philosophy classes with him, and from that experience I can, and I’m going to betray my Philadelphia roots and become a New Englander, I can tell you he is wicked smart!" Father Dlugos said.
“He’s very unassuming, you would not know that until you’d have to encounter him and feel the strength of his intellect, the warmth of his personality and his just gentle goodness would come through, he was like that as a college student,” Dlugos explained further.
Pope Leo XIV was born on September 14, 1955, in Chicago, entering the novitiate of the Order of Saint Augustine in 1977. He took his vows in 1981 and was ordained in 1982.
Prevost earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Villanova University in 1977, then earned a Master of Divinity from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.
He was the apostolic administrator of Callao, Peru, from 2020 to 2021.
Pope Francis appointed him as the Dicastery for Bishops in January 2023, which was responsible for selecting bishops and was in that position until the death of Francis on April 21.
He was made a cardinal by Pope Francis on September 30, 2023.
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