What blessed Stanley Rother and Pope Leo XIV share

As we sat in a pew at the Shrine of Blessed Stanley Rother in Oklahoma City, Okla., I whispered, “Dad, that’s his body in there.” My father and I had found ourselves in the back chapel of the shrine, getting ready for Mass, and I got goosebumps as I realized that it was really his body lying underneath the altar right in front of me. I had wanted to visit this shrine ever since I read about Father Rother in the wonderful book The Shepherd Who Didn’t Run, by Maria Ruíz Scaperlanda. There was something magnetic and captivating about this small-town-raised farmboy priest who continually gave his whole heart to serve God’s people. I was still in undergraduate studies at the time, and I admired his commitment to following God’s call on his life. Notably, he had been asked to leave seminary after struggling to learn Latin. (I too was struggling with my language requirement classes at the time.) Nonetheless, he entered seminary again, eventually was ordained to the priesthood and later began ministering at the diocese’s mission parish in Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala. There, despite his earlier academic struggles with Latin, he not only learned and ministered in Spanish, but more specifically the local Mayan language, Tz’utujil, the language in which he would celebrate the sacraments and into which he even helped translate the New Testament. Yet, what still draws me even more to his story was his commitment to the people he served, the reason he is called a shepherd who “didn’t run.” During his time at the mission, Stanley Rother was briefly called back to Oklahoma during the civil war in Guatemala by his bishop out of fear for his safety. However, this was short lived, as he quickly received permission to return to continue his devoted service to the people of Santiago Atitlán in this time of great danger. That is, until three masked men broke into his rectory around 1 a.m. on July 28, 1981, attacked him and killed him for refusing to cease ministering to and serving the needs of Santiago Atitlán during this time of conflict. Even after his death, his heart never truly left the people of Guatemala. Literally. While Father Rother’s body is indeed buried in Oklahoma, the people in Santiago Atitlán requested that his heart, the heart of their shepherd, stay with them. To this day, Father Rother’s heart and a jar of the blood that was spilt that summer day are buried by the altar in the parish church where he served as pastor. It gives a whole new meaning to giving one’s heart in service to others. But Father Rother’s impact on two nations also brings to mind another American whose life of ministry and service has left a radical impact across the Americas: Pope Leo XIV. As someone who was born, raised and formed in the United States, but has served largely outside that country, Pope Leo XIV is another example of someone who continues to give his heart to those he serves, being motivated by the same missionary spirit that enlivened Father Rother. As Robert Prevost, the future pope was a model of compassionate service in Peru, being called repeatedly to return. In Peru, Prevost served in the life of formation of seminarians there until being called to serve in Rome as the head of the Augustinian order until 2013. After that time, Pope Francis called him back to Peru, specifically the Diocese of Chiclayo in 2014. There, in the diocese where he would eventually serve as bishop, Pope Leo became truly immersed in the community, serving and empowering lay leaders around him, and even becoming a naturalized Peruvian citizen. It makes sense then, that in November of this year, he will once again return to Peru, where a part of his heart has remained. In his May 2026 encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” which highlights the dangers of advanced artificial intelligence and the need to safeguard the dignity of every human being, Pope Leo mentions the word heart at least 20 times, naming a place for openness, a source of unity and the way in which we develop our hearts to safeguard human dignity. As he draws the encyclical to a close, he continually points to this incarnational reality of the heart as the place where God dwells, pointing to its role in “recapitulation,” or the bringing together of all things into one in Christ, the head: “No computational system, however sophisticated, can create a heart that gives itself, or a conscience that discerns good from evil” (No. 233). Pope Leo XIV makes it explicit that the very human element of the heart, when giving of itself as Christ did, is participating in God’s act of making all things one in Jesus, who himself gave his heart to us forever: in word, in sacrament and in our very selves. The purpose for drawing parallels between these two Americans is not to make Pope Leo XIV a living saint, nor to describe as common the story of Bl. Stanley Rother. Instead, the parallels in their lives call us to renew our service to those places and people to which God has called each of us. Whether in our daily life and work or in broader service to others, the missionary hearts of Father Rother and Pope Leo XIV continue to serve as excellent examples for me, as I try to live my life of faith. Be it in my own commitment to personal prayer and study, serving and advocating for marginalized communities or by trying to live my life with compassion for others, the hearts of Pope Leo and Stanley Rother encourage me to continuously give of my own. After Mass in the shrine, my father and I drew closer to the tomb-altar. I said a quick prayer to Father Rother, asking for his intercession in my life of faith and in my own life of ministry, and I prayed for his canonization. As we left the campus of the shrine, my father and I felt inspired as we truly encountered the man who gave his heart in service of others: first to his family in Oklahoma, then to his diocese and finally to the people of Santiago Atitlán. And hopefully, God-willing, I can visit Santiago Atitlán and see the heart of Bl. Stanley Rother there: both in the altar of the chapel where he presided at countless sacraments and imprinted on the hearts of the faithful people he served.