Et Tu, Wendell? Local Man Once "Stabbed" the Pope

Wendell Walsh was a classmate - and friend - of the newest Pope

BY BILL MOOR // POSTED MAY 22, 2025

During his freshman year at St. Augustine Seminary High School, Wendell Walsh stabbed future Pope Leo XIV.

Okay, it was an imaginary knife.

It happened during a presentation of Shakespeare's “Julius Caesar.” Pope Leo, then just Bob from Dolton, Illinois was playing Caesar. Wendell, a South Bend kid, was Brutus.

Et tu, Wendell?

“I really didn't remember that happening until I looked through our yearbook at the request of a classmate,” said Wendell, a longtime South Bend attorney.

And what did he find but a picture of him ready to plunge that imaginary knife into the heart of Bob Prevost, the future Pope, during the play?

Unlike the play's main characters, Wendell and Bob were friends.

“Bob and I hit it off right away when we realized his birthday is the day after mine,” Wendell said.

That was the fall of 1969 as the two young men began their freshman years at St. Augustine, located just south of Holland, Michigan.

“I was from a crowded household,” said Wendell, the oldest of Judith and John J. Walsh's 15 children. “So part of the allure [of going to the high school seminary] was being on my own."

"My mother would write to me every day and include clippings of the South Bend Tribune,” he added.

He often used those clippings as part of his class presentations — to the point where his teachers would roll their eyes at the sight of another Tribune article.

Nevertheless, Wendell did well in school, but admits he was a distant third to “the two Bobs” — Bob Prevost and Bob Dodaro — in their class of 50. Bob Dodaro went on to become an esteemed professor of theology and Augustinian leader in Rome while Bob Prevost...

Well, he became the Catholic church's first American Pope and 266th overall.

Even back then, Wendell could see that Bob Prevost was going to make a difference in the world.

“Early on in our high school years, Bob set an example of how to treat everyone with respect; how to remain calm and work hard when school was a challenge; how to get along. Few are good at all of those things at the tender age of 14.”

According to Wendell, the future Pope was a quiet leader and even played interhall football. He also stayed out of high school hijinx, often wearing a smile as he watched from the sidelines.

Ironically, Wendell inadvertently helped the future Pope Leo lose one election. After Wendell had served as the freshman class representative for the student council, he decided not to run as a sophomore. Instead, he backed a friend named Mike Greco who ended up beating Bob Prevost.

“I really don't think Bob cared,” Wendell said.

After his sophomore year, Wendell returned to South Bend and entered St. Joseph's High School.

“The Augustinian way of life was very challenging and although also wonderful, I found it not for me,” he admitted.

Only four of the 50 who started with him as freshmen ended up becoming priests. Yet one became the Pope. Two schoolmates who also left — Ed Merrion and Tim McIntyre — ended up at Notre Dame with Wendell. But Wendell continued to follow Bob Prevost's service to the church and to humanity.

“He was a natural at doing missionary work in Peru, reaching out to the common people. Some clergy get caught up in the trappings of being a priest, a bishop or a cardinal. It takes real humility to resist that motion. Bob is quietly humble.”

Wendell and the future Pope crossed paths in 2013 — 43 years after they had last seen each other. They met at the home of a former St. Augustine student on the South Side of Chicago where several former students gathered and watched the Bears on television.

“He had just completed his work as Prior General of all Augustinians throughout the world,” Wendell said. “Despite that lofty position, he was every bit as humble as I had known him to be.”

When his classmate became Pope, Wendell didn't feel that he had the right to feel special just because he had a connection with the new leader of the church.

“There were tens of thousands of people who had interacted with him over the years and all of their hearts just leapt for joy.”

Et tu, Wendell?

“Yes, it gives me personal joy.”

And some wonderful memories of an old friend whose first “reign” playfully ended at Wendell's hand.