Catholics around the world have celebrated and congratulated Pope Leo XIV during the first day of his Petrine ministry.
In Sydney, Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP praised the former Cardinal Robert Prevost OSA for his “missionary heart” and said he will aim to bring peace to a divided world.
“He spent much of his adult life in Peru, teaching, pastoring, promoting vocations and forming them, serving the poor but always with an eye to bringing the Gospel to the ends of the earth,” the archbishop said during his homily for a lunchtime thanksgiving Mass for the pope’s election at St Mary’s Cathedral.
In a 9 May statement and comments to reporters following the Mass, Archbishop Fisher also outlined Pope Leo XIV’s gifts as a canon lawyer and expert in governance, and member of the Augustinian order “with an emphasis on simplicity and community.”
“In a very divided world – and the divisions in the culture, in politics, and in the rest of the world have infected the church too – he will be a peacemaker and a unifier,” he said.
“I think that will be good for the church but it will be good for the world, too. At this time we need people who, instead of putting petrol to various fires, will put them out and bring us together.”
Archbishop Fisher said he is confident Pope Leo XIV will come to Sydney when it hosts the International Eucharistic Congress in 2028 and is “very much” looking forward to welcoming him.
“That will be a source of great excitement not just for the Catholics of Sydney but for believers and people of good will all over Australia,” he said.
Australian Catholic Bishops Conference President, Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB, offered the new pope “heartfelt congratulations,” and said Pope Leo XIV will guide the church with renewed hope and strength.
He had already displayed approachability and a willingness to listen, Archbishop Costelloe said. “He will be warmly welcomed by the church in Latin America, as Pope Francis was, by the church in the United States from where he comes, from the English-speaking world as a native English speaker, and from the whole church as a man of God steeped in the rich spirituality of his Augustinian Religious Order,” he said.
“As Pope Leo XIV, our new pope will bring the benefit of his wide experience to the many challenges and opportunities before him.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also congratulated the new Holy Father and said it was a “momentous day” for Catholics in the country and around the world.
He confirmed the pontiff would be welcomed at the International Eucharistic Congress.
“My government looks forward to continuing Australia’s strong relationship with the Holy See under Pope XIV’s pontificate,” Albanese said. “This is a moment which will bring joy and hope to Catholics everywhere.
“May the papacy of Pope Leo XIV advance the cause of peace and social justice for all humanity.”
Peace be with you all!
These were the first words spoken by Pope Leo XIV after his election on May 8, before giving his ‘urbi et orbi’ blessing to the jubilant crowds gathered in St Peter’s Square.
Sharing the peace of the Risen Christ with all, he said this peace comes from God “who loves us all unconditionally.”
“We still retain in our ears that weak but always courageous voice of Pope Francis blessing Rome. The pope blessing Rome gave his blessing to the world, to the whole world, that morning of Easter Day.
“Let me follow up on that same blessing: God loves us, God loves you all, and evil will not prevail! We are all in God’s hands. Therefore, without fear, united hand in hand with God and each other — let us go forward. We are disciples of Christ. Christ goes before us.”
Thanking his brother cardinals for choosing him, Pope Leo XIV said he will walk with them as a united church, and spoke of building bridges with dialogue and encounter.
“I am a son of St Augustine, an Augustinian, who said, “For you I am a bishop, with you, I am a Christian.” In this sense we can all walk together toward that homeland that God has
prepared,” he added.
After giving a special greeting to the church in Rome, he offered a few words in Spanish to his Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru, before encouraging all the world’s faithful to be a synodal church “a church that walks, a church that always seeks peace, that always seeks charity, that always seeks to be close especially to those who suffer.”
Finally, Pope XIV noted that his election fell on the feast of Our Lady of Pompeii and led all in a Hail Mary for her intercession for “this new mission, for the whole church, and for peace in the world.”
First pope from the United States
Until 8 May Cardinal Prevost was Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. Born on September 14, 1955, in Chicago, Illinois, he entered religious life in 1977 and made his solemn vows as an Augustinian in August 1981.
He gained a diploma in theology at the Catholic Theological Union of Chicago and was sent by his order to Rome to study canon law at the Pontifical Saint Thomas Aquinas University (Angelicum).
Ordained a priest on June 19, 1982, he received his licentiate in 1984 and was then sent to work in the mission of Chulucanas, in Piura, Peru (1985-1986).
In 1987 he was awarded a doctorate with the thesis: “The role of the local prior in the Order of Saint Augustine”. In 1999 he was elected provincial prior of the “Mother of Good Counsel” province, Chicago. After two and a half years, the ordinary general Chapter elected him prior general, a ministry again entrusted to him in the 2007 ordinary general Chapter.
In October 2013 he returned to his province (Chicago) to serve as teacher of the professed and provincial vicar, roles he held in November 2014 when Pope Francis appointed him apostolic administrator of the diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, elevating him to bishop and assigning him the titular diocese of Sufar.
He served as bishop of Chiclayo from November 26, 2015. In March 2018 he became second vice president of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference. Pope Francis appointed him a member of the Congregation for the Clergy in 2019, and member of the Congregation for Bishops in 2020.
On April 15, 2020, Pope Francis appointed him apostolic administrator of the diocese of Callao, and on January 30, 2023, he was appointed as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.