BRAINTREE -- "A North American bishop with a South American soul." That was how Father Simon Cadwallader described Pope Leo XIV, who made history on May 8 by becoming the first pope from the U.S.

Born in Chicago, Pope Leo XIV spent much of his ministry as a missionary and bishop in Peru, where Father Cadwallader is the regional superior of the Missionary Society of St. James the Apostle. The St. James Society was founded by Cardinal Richard Cushing to evangelize in Latin America. Boston priests set up mission houses in Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru, where the society became closely acquainted with Pope Leo XIV.

"Peru is like his second homeland," Father Cadwallader said on May 12.

Pope Leo XIV served as the bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, from 2015 to 2023. During the pandemic, which killed over 200,000 Peruvians, he remained active in ministry, blessing homes and personally delivering the Eucharist.

"He put aside any personal fear of contagion and would often be seen out in the streets helping people in need," Father Cadwallader said.

When floods devastated Peru in 2022, Father Cadwallader said, Pope Leo XIV would go out by himself in a pickup truck to deliver food and blankets to victims. Photos posted on social media showed him standing in floodwaters wearing Wellington boots.

"He was a shepherd who walked in solidarity with the people," Father Cadwallader said, adding: "I think those who know him believe he will continue the same line as Pope Francis."

He said that Pope Leo XIV brings experience living among the poor to the papacy, and that he wants the church to be close to the people and defend human dignity. Father Cadwallader suspects that the cardinals who elected Pope Leo XIV were looking for a pope "with a missionary spirit."

"If you have cardinals from Asia and Africa and they are considering what is needed in the church, and especially if they want to continue the line of Francis, opening the doors of the church to everyone," he said.

Father Dave Costello, superior general of the St. James Society, last met Pope Leo XIV in Rome in summer 2024. The pope was then serving as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. He asked Father Costello how Father George Emerson, the former superior general of the St. James Society, was doing. Father Costello was touched that Pope Leo XIV remembered.

"He certainly has the heart of a shepherd," he said on May 9.

Before becoming superior general of the St. James Society, Father Costello lived in Peru from 2004 to 2012. He and Pope Leo XIV crossed paths over the years, including at the St. James Society's mother house in Peru, where the Episcopal Conference of Peru would meet.

"I always found him a very polite, humble, unassuming man, very approachable, very easy to talk to," Father Costello said. "He's very familiar with the St. James Society and with several of the Boston priests that worked down there over the years."

He was "pleasantly surprised" by Pope Leo XIV's election. When it happened, he recalled Pope Francis's exhortation that priests smell like their flocks, and Pope Leo XIV's relief efforts during the floods.

"Certainly, he is a pastor who has been out there among the people and has a great love in particular for the poor and those who are suffering," he said. "He's a hands-on bishop in so many ways."

Father Costello said that "all of Peru" is celebrating. He has been "inundated with messages" from Peru celebrating the election of "one of their own" to the papacy. Pope Leo XIV has dual U.S.-Peruvian citizenship.

"The St. James Society feels very proud because of our connection with him in Peru in particular, both as a priest and as a bishop," Father Costello said, adding: "We certainly send him our congratulations and our best wishes. And we're certainly praying for him and his future ministry."