Leo and Francis — The Friendship That Changed the Church and the World

This is the story about how a Buenos Aires clash transformed into a friendship that reshaped faith, politics, and power.

Pope Francis and then Father Robert Prevost in August 2013.

Dear friends,

Happy Sunday! Thanks to you, Letters from Leo is now one of the fastest-rising Substacks in the world. I can’t thank you enough for being part of this community.

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Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing a series of deeply reported essays offering the most complete portrait yet of Pope Leo’s early life and formation.

Why? Because if Leo XIV is to be the world’s most credible counterweight to Donald Trump during this defining moment in American and global history, then we deserve to understand the nearly 70 years Bob Prevost lived before becoming the 267th leader of the Catholic Church.

These pieces take time and care to produce— so the rest of this article, and the rest in the series, will be available exclusively to paying subscribers.

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When Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost became Pope Leo XIV on May 8, 2025—the first American ever to sit on the Chair of St. Peter — it was more than a historic election.

It was the final chapter of an unlikely friendship with his predecessor, Pope Francis, a relationship that began in conflict but evolved into one of the most consequential alliances in modern Church history.

Francis saw in Leo a reflection of his own vision: a Church that is humble, missionary, and synodal.

By the time of his death, Francis had not only mentored Leo but deliberately positioned him to carry forward his dream.

Their story started far from Rome.