APPEAL IN ASIA
The new pontiff has connections to both the global north and global south, including Asia – particularly Southeast Asia – where he is “quite well-known”, said Dr Hedges.
He was head of the Augustinian religious order from 2001 to 2013, which operates in 50 countries and has a focus on a life of community and equality among its members.
“He travelled through the whole world. He’s been several times to the Philippines. He’s been to Taiwan, to Vietnam, to India, to many places across Asia, and that means he’s got a network, that people know him and like him,” Dr Hedges noted.
“Of course, they find him a very appealing figure.”
Pope Leo XIV also has a good working relationship with Asian cardinals like Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle from the Philippines, who was a frontrunner to become pope.
“It will be reassuring for the church in Asia, which is now one of the largest-growing parts of the Catholic Church, that somebody who is coming in really understands what’s (happening in these parts),” Dr Hedges added.
