Massachusetts
Pope Leo XIV has an honorary degree from a Massachusetts college
The first American pope has ties to Massachusetts.
Before becoming Pope Leo XIV, Robert Francis Prevost, a native of Chicago who graduated from Villanova University, received an honorary degree from Merrimack College in North Andover in 2005.
“Bob, first of all, is a servant of the church,” Father Raymond Dlugos, vice president of mission and ministry at Merrimack College, told NBC10 Boston Thursday.
White smoke billowed from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney to signal the election of Pope Leo XIV, a native of Chicago.
Dlugos also attended Villanova and served as an Augustinian friar with the future pontiff in the late 1970s.
“We were both studying to be Augustinians, we were both taking philosophy courses,” Dlugos said. “He was wicked smart.”
Pope Leo holds dual citizenship in the U.S. and Peru, where he spent many years serving.
“He had a wisdom about him, and a presence about him, that was never overbearing, but very influential,” Dlugos said.