Mons. Bocatey, Agustino Bishop, friend of the potatoes Francisco y Leo XIV

In Argentina, the sadness for the death of Pope Francis was still inocable when, in the first days of May 2025, the bishops of the Episcopal Conference met at the plenary assembly, and the White Speech was surprised there that marked the election of the new Pontiff. Mons. Alberto Bocatey, auxiliary bishop of La Plata and member of the order of San Agustín, recalls the moment with indelible clarity.

“I arrived and sat in the last place. Nothing less than his fellow student, and who for many years was his superior general, Cardinal Prevost, an Augustinian brother, was the new Pope.

“For a moment I was branded, as we say, to the point of not listening to the name I had chosen: Leo XIV. I stayed in shock. And the first reaction, I started crying like a child, an emotion … and I believe that at that moment, I humanly click from Francisco to León,” says the prelate to Aci Press.

“Francisco was my dad”

Francisco’s death had been a strong blow to Argentine bishops. “It was my dad,” synthesizes Mons. Bochatey, remembering who for 12 years, “all my episcopal life”, was in charge of the universal church, with the special detail of having been an Argentine. “While Pope Benedict XVI appointed me Bishop, I was consecrated Bishop on March 9, and on March 13 Francisco came out,” he reviews.

Therefore, before his departure, the bishop thought: “What gift I had in my life that, being bishop, the first Pope with whom I was, with whom I learned, was Francisco, who knew me, and I had the opportunity to meet him too”, while considering that such closeness had been something that “occurs only once in life.”

A brother turned into a pope

However, the tears of sadness soon became unexpected emotion: the chosen one was the American cardinal Robert Prevost. “It was a very, very great emotion. And well, the bishops came to congratulate me: ‘An Augustinian! One of yours!’

In the Agustina community, although they did not imagine that they would be chosen, they knew that it had conditions: “It has many qualities to be dad,” Mons. Bochatey thought.

“He is still a young man, in proportion to the age of the papacy; he knows how Prelate.

“Everything Francisco asks for the Church is what Leon lived”

The Auxiliary Bishop of La Plata observes in the life of Leo XIV a reflection of Francisco’s plan: “It seems that Francisco wrote what Leon’s life is, do you realize? Because everything Francisco asks for the Church, is what Leon lived. He left his comfort of being an intelligent priest of Chicago to go to a town in Peru with the poorest people, there was not even running water where he was.”

“I thought I had everything to be Pope. But those things are in the hands of the Holy Spirit.”

“The worst mistake that Leo XIV could make is to be Francisco II”

“From what one sees in these three months, León’s personality is different from Francisco’s. The worst mistake that Leo XIV could make is to be Francisco II, right? Father Prevost was a very reflective man, of few words, of thinking, listening and then making the decisions”, while “Francisco was a hyperactive, creative man, with courage, of making decisions that surprised.”

A more formal man

“Pope León is very slowly with his determinations. Then I do not believe so much in what follows or what changes, because we cannot talk about any change if we do not take into account his personality. He is a more formal man, he is American, although he has many years of life in Latin America, in Peru … in Argentina we have forgotten a very important word, which is formality. But in the world there is another culture and the Pope Leon belongs to that other culture.

With León “every moment has his little formality, his style. But I think he will not cost him at all to continue with Francisco’s proposals.”

A father and a brother: Francisco y León

To Pope Francis, “I met him when I worked here at the UCA (Pontifical Catholic University Argentina), as director of the Institute of Bioethics, and he appointed me the spokesman for the issues of bioethics, sexuality … were the times of cloning, the topics in discussion about the condom, the AIDS, were those years of the theme of in vitro fertilization that began to become popular, then I always had a very human relationship with Francisco very human Warm, deeply religious, but work, let’s say. His relationship “was always from priest-obispo,” summarizes.

“On the other hand, with Leo XIV I have had a more companionship relationship, brothers, living in the same community. When we were young priests, on weekends in the convent where we live The style of everyday life, ”he says.

He also retains memories of the moments of study and recreation: “While the Pope was always an excellent student, he was a brilliant student in his career, at the same time he was not a nerd, he was a very nice man, an athlete man, who could go out to eat a pizza, we were going to a procession, to a liturgical party in another place, he had a lot of sensitivity for Latin American themes, from the beginning.”

A special Augustine

In the Agustina community “we are all very happy, because it is also a special Augustinian, because having been superior so many years, we all know him, he was related to everyone, he was in almost all countries,” he says.

In 2013, Leo XIV traveled to Argentina, where he participated in the Episcopal Consecration of Mons. Bochatey, in the San Agustín parish of the City of Buenos Aires. “He was a general of the Augustinians, he was in Rome. He came because he was the superior and was also my partner,” he treasures.

That same year, he adds, “He ends as a general of the Augustinians and everyone thought: Well, he will stay in Rome, he will be able to return to the United States, where he was. However, he asked to return to Peru. He wanted to return to Peru, wanted the mission. He clearly had a pastoral love for that people and was really rooted there,” he says.

Priorities and challenges

The first challenge for Leo XIV, says the Argentine bishop, “is to evolve, pass the sheet in good sense, to move forward with the book of life that Francisco wrote and the previous potatoes.”

Among his priorities, he places two issues: “He has already said it from the first day, the theme of peace and the theme of artificial intelligence, that is, postmodernism, post-humanism where we are already.”

“The same fact of having chosen the name of Leo XIV tells us that he remembers Leo XIII, who led the church to the 20 Times, so I believe that without a doubt those are the great challenges that he himself has already said. ”

Along with this, says the prelate, “all post-culture comes, we are in a diverse cultural world, a totally different cultural paradigm, even the politicians themselves do not know how to behave, television no longer has the value of before, there is streaming, people do not go to the cinema, they have Netflix, it is a very quick change where, without a doubt, also evangelization, the proposal of Christ also has and needs new forms,”

“If you have to think of a name, think of Agustín”

The personal bond is still valid. Before starting the conclave, the bishop sent a message to Cardinal Prevost: “I said: I greet you, because you are already going to enter the conclave, before they take the phone like the children in school. If you have to think of a name, think of Agustín, like Augustinians that we are.”

Already chosen Pope, he received it in Rome: “He gave me an interview for a while, one morning and we could chat. He told me, ‘I have half a horita’, and we stayed 45 minutes. It was very exciting… Did you imagine having a brother of yours, a partner, a friend … Pope? See him dressed in white in the Vatican, and also wait for him to know that Francisco was not going to enter but he was very strong.

When greeting him, “I said: ‘I don’t know how to tell you, if Robert or León’, and replied: ‘I don’t know, that is your problem,” he recalls between Mons. Bochatey, the friend of the two potatoes.