After almost 3 weeks without a Pope, it was exciting to hear those words—and even more exciting to hear who the new Pope would be.

I happened to wake up at 3 a.m. on May 9 and turned on the radio news. I was too late for the first and most important part of the broadcast, but fortunately it was repeated at the end, with the new Pope’s name and origin. “An American Pope?! Never in my lifetime,” I had thought.

But how consoling it was to know that the new Pope had 20 years of missionary experience in Peru and had been elected Prior General of the Augustinians twice. As a religious myself, it was good to know that, like Pope Francis, Pope Leo also knows the consecrated life of a religious from having lived as such. “I am an Augustinian, son of St Augustine, who said: ‘With you I am a Christian and for you I am a bishop.’ In this sense, we can all walk together towards that homeland that God has prepared for us.”

His appearance on the balcony in the traditional red papal mozzetta and stole said something about what his style would be, but his first words of greeting said even more. They spoke of his desire for an open Church. “We want to be a synodal Church, a Church that moves forward, a Church that always seeks peace, that always seeks charity, that always seeks to be close above all to those who are suffering.”

It was good to hear him take up Pope Francis’ “synodal” theme. “Together,” he said, “we must look for ways to be a missionary Church, a Church that builds bridges and encourages dialogue.”

And the name—Leo XIV. His intention was to call to mind Pope Leo XIII, the pope who, especially with his encyclical Rerum Novarum (1891) brought the Church face-to-face with contemporary social questions like the problems of capitalism and the dignity of workers. That was “in the context of the first great industrial revolution,” the Pope explains. “In our own day,” he continues, “the Church offers to everyone the treasure of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice, and labor.”

As a fellow American, I was eager to hear him say something in English, He did that at the beginning of his talk to the Cardinals during his first Mass with them the next day. He spoke off-the-cuff, with no prepared text, saying: "My brother Cardinals, as we celebrate this morning, I invite you to reflect on the marvels the Lord has done, the blessings that the Lord continues to pour out on all of us through the Ministry of Peter. You have called me to carry that cross, and to carry out that mission, and I know I can rely on each and every one of you to walk with me, as we continue as a Church, as a community of friends of Jesus, as believers, to announce the Good News, to announce the Gospel.”

Then slipping back into Italian, he gave his formal homily, in which he said: "Even today there are many settings in which the Christian faith is considered absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent--settings where other securities are preferred, like technology, money, success, power, or pleasure.” These are our present contexts, "where it is not easy to preach the Gospel and bear witness to its truth, where believers are mocked, opposed, despised or at best tolerated and pitied. Yet, precisely for this reason they are the places where our missionary outreach is desperately needed." We look forward to the inspired leadership of this Good Shepherd.

By the way, he is 69 years old. This is the first time I have experienced a Pope who is younger than me. I was born when Pius XI was Pope, and I suspect that Pope Leo XIV will be the last Pope I shall know.

A Pope with Tears!
Fr Joseph Nha SJ

On Wednesday evening May 7, I visited one of my friends for his birthday. Our main topic was, of course, his birthday celebration. However, when it was time for the cake, his wish was an unusual one. His wish was not for himself but for the Church: “May we soon have a new pope!”

On the way back to my community, I couldn’t forget my friend's wish. The excitement of having a new pope was overpowering me. Since the death of the late Pope Francis, I had been praying for the election of a new pope. Pope Francis was the first pope whom I had met personally, during his visit to Japan in 2019. Besides that, Francis was the first Jesuit pope and has had a big influence on my spiritual life. That is the reason that made me pray more for the new pope. I prayed that the new pope would be as holy as Pope Francis, otherwise it would be hard not only for me but also for many Catholics to open their hearts to him. That night I went to bed with this prayer.

The following morning, the first thing I did was open my phone and search for news of the Conclave. I read the news that we had a new pope and that he was an American! An American!!! I caught my breath for a second and tried to console myself that this was really the result of the Holy Spirit’s work....

As many of us may know, some days previously, President Trump uploaded a picture of himself dressed as a pope, which caused many to have more negative feelings about America in general. And many of us had presupposed that there would never be an American pope. It annoyed me a bit to know that the new pope was American.

This uneasy feeling lasted during my breakfast. I could not even make any comment about this reality. However, when I started my day at my office, I tried to search for more information about our new pope. The first video that appeared on my computer screen was his very moment of greeting people after being elected. I saw him standing at the balcony of the Vatican, waiting for people there to quiet their emotions and he was CRYING! My heart was pumping very fast. I had a strange feeling as if I was there with him at that very moment. A pope with tears! I can't not tell exactly what made the pope cry but when I saw his tears, I was consoled to know that the cardinals had made the right choice. His tears reminded me of Jesus' tears. According to the Letter to the Hebrews: "Jesus in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears...". (Hebrews 5,7) Jesus cried and now the new pope also cried! This gave me a strong conviction that the new pope will show us a love as large as Jesus' love. I felt as if I could touch his heart, full of compassion. After this moment, my uneasy feeling was gone, and I joined my own tears to those of the new pope!

It may be too early to say many things about Pope Leo XIV. There are too many analyses and expectations about his papacy. However, I think the best thing to do now and from now on is to pray for him. God bless the Pope!