LOOK: Pope Leo XIV visited Cebu in 2004

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Father Robert Prevost set foot in the Philippines in 2004, more than two decades before he became Pope Leo XIV

MANILA, Philippines – Pope Leo XIV, who was then Father Robert Prevost, visited Cebu to bless an Augustinian friary in 2004, based on a post by the Order of Saint Augustine in Cebu.

The friary of the Augustinian community of Santo Niño de Cebu Parish in Barangay Mohon, Talisay City, Cebu, was blessed on January 31, 2004, by Prevost, who was then the prior general of the Order of Saint Augustine.

The prior general is the global head of the Order of Saint Augustine, better known as the Augustinians, a 13th-century religious order inspired by the 4th-century African theologian Saint Augustine of Hippo.

Cebu is a traditional stronghold of the Augustinian religious order in the Philippines, as the province is home to the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu under the care of the Augustinians.

Leo XIV was elected in a two-day conclave that ended Thursday, May 8 (Rome time), making him the first pontiff from the United States. – Rappler.com