Quotes
I would like this greeting of peace to enter your hearts, to reach your families and all people, wherever they are; and all the peoples, and all the earth: Peace be with you,
the pontiff added
In a time marked by conflicts and unrest, his words from the Loggia of Blessings are a powerful call for peace, fraternity, and responsibility,
Italy's President Giorgia Meloni wrote.jpg)
This is a deeply moving moment,
Poland's President Andrzej Duda saidUnfortunately, in real life, there are threats. We need to defend ourselves. And what we've learned is that peace without defence is an illusion,
he addedUkraine deeply values the Holy See's consistent position in upholding international law, condemning the Russian Federation's military aggression against Ukraine, and protecting the rights of innocent civilians,
he addedWhat they wanted was someone known among the other cardinals and also committed to carrying on with Francis' reforms,
said Winters
For us, he's the second Latin American pope,
Fernando Morales-de la Cruz, a Guatemalan human rights activist, told ReutersAs for why the cardinals picked (Prevost), I have to wonder if elevating a 'different sort of American leader' wasn't a part of the discernment process,
said Natalia Imperatori-Lee, a U.S. academic and Catholic expert at Manhattan University in New YorkEverything is in the hands of the Holy Spirit
Asked by a reporter with Italy's Channel 4 two days before the conclave if he would be elected as pope, Prevost repliedBefore the conclave, the American cardinals thought a U.S. passport was a dealbreaker,
said Michael Sean Winters, a U.S. commentator who has followed the Vatican closelyThese are 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,
the new pope said
In a particular way, God has called me by your election to succeed the Prince of the Apostles, and has entrusted this treasure to me so that, with his help, I may be its faithful administrator for the sake of the entire mystical body of the church,
he told the cardinals
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,
the pontiff told the cardinalsIndeed, they are entrusted to us, who were chosen by him before we were formed in our mothers’ wombs, reborn in the waters of baptism, and, surpassing our limitations and with no merit of our own, brought here and sent forth from here, so that the gospel might be proclaimed to every creature."
He continuedYet, precisely for this reason, they are the places where our missionary outreach is desperately needed,
he continued
Peter, in his response, understands both of these things: the gift of God and the path to follow in order to allow himself to be changed by that gift. They are two inseparable aspects of salvation entrusted to the church to be proclaimed for the good of the human race,
Leo saidAnd this, not so much through the magnificence of her structures or the grandeur of her buildings, like the monuments among which we find ourselves, but rather through the holiness of her members. For we are the people whom God has chosen as his own, so that we may declare the wonderful deeds of Him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light."
He addedThis is true not only among non-believers but also among many of the baptized, who thus end up living at this level, in a state of practical atheism,
he said
For the Curia he is not one of their kind,
said Alberto Melloni, an Italian historian of the church
The choice of name is a moderate reference, in that Leo XIII was a pre-modern pope and conservative in many ways, but he was also a transitional figure reaching out to the poor,
said Professor Kertzer