Today Pope Leo XIV turns 71. But before becoming Pope, he was simply Father Robert, bishop of Chiclayo, in northern Peru.
There, between 2014 and 2023, his birthdays were anything but solemn. He celebrated them in Monsefú, a small town in the Lambayeque region, together with the priests of the diocese and the local people. No luxuries, no long speeches. A shared table, a prayer, a smile.
The date coincides each year with the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and in Peru also with the festivities of the Lord of the Captive Nazarene. Robert Prevost, born in Chicago on September 14, 1955, found a second homeland in that corner of the world: he became a naturalized Peruvian citizen in 2015 and continues to carry that land in his heart, with an apostolic visit scheduled for November.
Those who knew him closely during those years all tell the same story: a man who preferred closeness to protocol. That same simplicity he learned at home, with his parents, Louis and Mildred, long before he began wearing a cassock.
Because the family is the first place where we learn to love. And perhaps that is why, even as Pope, he continues to celebrate life as he did in Monsefú: among his own.
Today is a good day to leave him a message of affection. Happy birthday, Leo XIV. 🙏
