Pope Leo, known as 'Bob' to his Augustinian brothers in New York, remembered as being 'out in the countryside' 

He is the bishop of Rome, the supreme pontiff, spiritual leader to the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics: a man formerly known as Bob.

That is what Father Luis Vera, O.S.A., pastor for the last 10 years of St. Nicholas of Tolentine Church in the Bronx’s University Heights, called Robert Prevost before a conclave of cardinals elected him pope this week and Bob became Leo XIV.

"To us, he was Bob until yesterday, so it’s hard when people call him Leo,” said Vera, speaking Friday in the church chapel before performing the day’s baptisms. "He’s always been Bob.”

The Augustinian order of friars to which both men belong numbers only about 2,800 members worldwide. In their roughly 25-year acquaintance, the men prayed together, ate together and drank the occasional beer together, Vera said.

In 2008, when Prevost served as prior general, the order’s leader, he appointed Vera to serve on an international committee that took him to Rome twice a year for five years. "We met every time,” Vera said. "We’d talk about church affairs, the formation of our students. We talked about the world, families and everything else.”

Vera said he knew that Prevost was under consideration but had not dwelled much on the possibility he might be selected, because "once you enter the conclave, anything can happen. Only the Spirit knows.”

But Vera was, along with much of the world, watching when the selection was announced. "At first I think I was stunned,” he said. "I was so shocked when I heard his name from the balcony, Robert Francis Prevost ... When he came out to greet the people, it was like watching a brother, a relative, a family member come out on the balcony, now as pope. I think it was a feeling I’ll never forget.”

The man Vera knew as Bob wore boots to work when he served as a missionary in rural Peru. "That’s Bob. That’s the pope: out in the countryside, being with people, being with those in need.”

Vera said he was heartened by his old friend’s first words as pope. "He spoke about peace and justice, the missionary church, a church that welcomes everybody ... I think those words will pretty much be the footprints of his papacy.”

On Friday, about a dozen worshippers attended noon mass at St. Nicholas, built in 1905 to serve a section of the northwest Bronx that boomed after the extension of subway lines, according to church history. By 1959, the church had a staff of 70, including 21 priests. A high school affiliated with the church was considered one of the nation’s best, as was the school’s basketball team.

The high school and a grammar school have closed and the church’s pastoral staff now numbers just four. But attendance at Spanish language masses on weekends regularly tops 800 and Easter Mass — said in English, Spanish and Vietnamese, as is the church’s practice for all major celebrations — drew 1,400 people. “This is a flourishing parish,” Vera said.

Two missionaries in their 20s at the church, Margaret Potter and Joshua Navos, both spending the year working in a neighborhood school, said they saw in Leo someone who knew their calling.

“There are a lot of places where Catholicism is sort of dying,” Potter said. “We need to be missionaries not just in the fringes but also in the world around us — we need to bring people back in.”

Navos said he hoped Leo’s church would work “digging into people’s hearts and helping them realize that spirituality can be a part of modern man, and that God and Christ are not just concepts from long ago but that they have relevance for people today.”

Elisia Dones, a parish member for 21 years who was married in its cathedral-like church, said she never thought she’d see an American pope. But it was what she took to be his ideals, more than his nationality, that resonated with her. “This gentleman is about justice, treatment of the poor, treatment of other people who are disenfranchised.”

Praying for the new pope on LI

On Long Island, a picture of Pope Leo sat on the altar of St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Massapequa, facing about 20 people for the 9 a.m. Mass on a rainy Friday morning.

"Today we pray for Pope Leo XIV, so that he may be a good and wise shepherd. That’s what the Mass is about today,” the Rev. Frank Zero said in his homily. "It’s about the idea of praying that he may be a good and loyal servant of God and will truly lead the church into the next phase of our history.”

Pastor Gerard Gentleman said it was "certainly a surprise “ to hear the name Cardinal Robert Prevost broadcast at St. Peter’s on Thursday.

"He now becomes the leading American voice on the global stage," he said. "It was thrilling — and then to hear he served in Peru, while watching from St. Rose of Lima parish, named after the patron saint of Peru, was a whole other amazement."

Gentleman saw some similarities between St. Rose of Lima and Pope Leo XIV’s Augustinian background. "She, too, very much, is focused on the marginalized and caring for the poor, and we have beautiful windows here in the church to tell her whole story."

The two also have made history in the Catholic Church: Pope Leo XIV is the first elected pope from North America, while St. Rose of Lima was the first saint from the Americas to be canonized.

Sarah Ryan, owner of Advent Shop religious store located across the street from St. Rose of Lima, said her suppliers were blowing up her phone Friday morning to inform her of new Pope Leo XIV items like jewelry, key chains and rosaries with his picture.

Ryan also had a picture of the pope taped on the store’s front door Friday.

"They’ll be crazy over it, especially now that he's American,” Ryan said of her customers. "It's just a whole different feeling.”

Like many others, Ryan was also not expecting the selection of an American pope.

"It was mind blowing, truly mind blowing,” she said. "But you know what? With God all things are possible. And I think he loves to surprise us.”