This article was first published in the 13 May 2025 edition of the ‘Nederlands Dagblad’ and has been translated from Dutch. You can find the original article by Hendro Munsterman here: https://www.nd.nl/geloof/katholiek/1268192/theologe-myriam-wijlens-er-is-alle-reden-om-samen-met-leo-xiv

Rome - Melbourne

"I was already in bed when I got an app about white smoke," said Twente-born professor Myriam Wijlens, who teaches in Erfurt, Germany. She had arrived in Australia a day earlier and was trying to recover from jet lag. “It was two in the morning here, but of course I didn't want to sleep then.”

What is your first impression of the new pope?

I really think it's a very interesting and encouraging choice. He brings the experience of the local church and his conscious choice for the poor thanks to his missionary work in Peru. But he also knows the world Church, having been a Superior General of the Augustinian order and thus also the secularized West. He knows Rome and the Vatican because for a year and a half he has been head of a dicastery, a Vatican department. And he has charisma. Not every bishop has that.

Yet everyone thought: he is a very humble man. So where is that charisma in it?

Perhaps it is precisely in that modesty. And meanwhile, he can rise above that - that sometimes happens when you get a ministry. I think he's already done it during the first night and subsequent speeches.'

'His first performance on the balcony impressed me. Because at a time when there is so much war in the world, he starts talking about peace in such a penetrating way. I also think there are so many conflicts because there is discontent in people themselves. In countries where there is no war, you see certain political parties emerging that capitalize on this discontent. The question is how to bring back this peace; I found it very hopeful the way Leo XIV stood there.

How well do you know the new pope?

We both participated in the twice four-week Synod of Bishops in October 2023 and October 2024. Then of course you meet regularly, over coffee for example. 

I heard from other participants that during the discussions at the round tables, he listened very well and was very attentive that everyone could have their say. He is a quiet person and his willingness to listen is part of his charisma.

During the Synod, we also both gave a lecture at a theological forum. Afterwards, we also addressed the press together at the Vatican. Furthermore, I know him from conversations in the context of the study groups Pope Francis set up. These resulted from the Synod and I am part of two of them.

What can we glean from his contributions back then?

During the theological forum, Cardinal Prevost emphasized that diversity is important for church unity. He explained that you cannot do everything the same way everywhere in the world. 

He also clearly mentioned at the press conference on the progress of the Synod that the procedure regarding the appointment of bishops must involve a greater diversity of Catholics . Not only clergy but also laity should be questioned. He defended that very much. 

Does that also mean a greater role for women?

Undoubtedly. In his dicastery, which attends to the appointment of bishops, Pope Francis had already appointed three women as members in 2022. Those women are involved in all important decisions about appointments of bishops.' 

'Moreover: in all the conversations I had with him, I always felt that my competence was recognized by him. That I was a woman didn't matter: he wanted to know how I saw one or the other. In the Vatican and elsewhere in the Church sometimes you still have clergy who are formally friendly, but don't actually respect you as a layperson and a woman. With him I never had that feeling.

Does he know the world church as an American who has worked in Peru?

During his time with the Augustinians, he saw the complexities of the entire world. As superior general, Prevost visited Augustinian communities all over the world. He was able to see many contexts and also observe the different relationships between church and society. Unity among the Augustinians exists thanks to an approach that depends on the context. The Augustinians in the Netherlands do things differently than those in Peru or Germany, where, by the way, in Erfurt, Martin Luther was a member of the Augustinians. Martin Luther taught in the same lecture hall as I do now. There is every reason to set out as pilgrims of hope with this pope.’