The world is celebrating the election of the first United States-born pope, Robert Francis Prevost, to the papacy. Regardless of one’s religious beliefs, there is no doubt that many Americans are proud of this achievement, nor is there any doubt that multilingualism helped propel the Illinois native to this role.

Born in the 1950s midwest before multilingualism had gained fervor in the United States, the now Pope Leo XIV symbolizes what multilingualism can do for a person.  First, the new pope is not just bilingual but a polyglot, meaning that he speaks multiple languages.  He reportedly speaks Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese in addition to his native English.  He also reads Latin and German. In fact, in his first address to the people as Pope, he spoke in Italian, Spanish, and Latin instead of in his native English.

Multilingualism has supported Pope Leo XIV throughout his life.  He spent about a third of his life working in Peru, using his Spanish to build connections and serve those most in need throughout the global south.  Another third of his life has been spent in Rome, where his knowledge of Italian supported his work in various positions. Not discounting his faith nor his service, there is no doubt that his global presence, supported by his multilingualism, helped him in his personal mission to serve those in need and consequently, to ascend to the papacy.

While indeed Pope Leo XIV is an example of the power of multilingualism, it is not only the religious who can have greater success when they are multilingual. According to a Forbes article, those who are bilingual or multilingual boost their salaries and job prospects by as much as 35% and almost 60% of companies expect their demand for multilingual employees to increase over the next five years. And clearly, the more languages one learns, such opportunities only increase.

Furthermore, multilingualism builds the brain in unique ways that arm the brain against illnesses such as Alzheimer’s.  We have long known that bilinguals show signs of dementia 3-5 years later than monolinguals even when they are both at the same stage of Alzheimer’s. This means that the average monolingual who develops Alzheimer’s will show cognitive impairment earlier than those who are bilingual. Furthermore, research has shown that countries where more than one language is spoken have 50% less cases of dementia. 

Therefore, we, as educators, should take the example of our first U.S.-born pope and ensure that our students, whether native English speakers or heritage/native speakers of Languages Other Than English, have the linguistic  skills to be more marketable in the larger world.   This may mean keeping a student’s home language alive, resurrecting a heritage language, or adding a new language to the student’s linguistic repertoire. Whether they choose to live a life of service or to build a corporate career or something in between, having more languages is always a benefit.