Interregnum Report
Beginning now and continuing through the election of the next pope, Commonweal editors will be rounding up stories of interest from various sources—general updates from the Vatican, emerging stories, anecdotes, tidbits, profiles, and “pro-and-con” lists for different papabili. Be sure to check back here for the latest out of Rome. —The Editors
Friday Morning, May 9
Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass this morning in the Sistine Chapel. In his homily, the 267th pope called for Catholics to cultivate a better personal relationship with Christ, insisting that life lacks meaning without faith. The Chicago-born pontiff spoke briefly in English before switching to Italian. “I want to repeat the words from the responsorial psalm: ‘I will sing a new song to the Lord, because He has done marvels,’ and indeed, not just with me but with all of us.”
In his homily, Leo focused on Saint Peter, the first pope, and apostolic succession, through which the Church has “preserved, deepened and handed on for two thousand years.”
A day after Leo was introduced as the 267th pope, we’re all still learning about the new pope.
Alejandro Moral, prior general of the Augustinians and a long-time friend of Leo XIV, told Vatican News that the new pope is “very balanced, very spiritual, a person truly close to everyone.” He also said that Leo “loves everyone, rich and poor alike. We [Augustinians] are very happy, because we think he will really serve the Church. We’ve been discussing this recently, and we think this will be the case.”
And the Times caught up with John Prevost, the pope’s brother, in New Lenox, Illinois, “a tidy city of 27,000 people about 40 miles southwest of downtown Chicago.” Prevost said his brother has “great, great desire to help the downtrodden and the disenfranchised, the people who are ignored,” predicting that his brother would carry on the legacy of Francis. “They were very good friends. They knew each other before he was pope, before my brother even was bishop.”
The Times also confirmed that—like former Commonweal editor and current director of publications and media for the Archdiocese of Chicago Grant Gallicho—the new pope is a White Sox fan.
The world is also getting used to the idea of an American pope.
Commonweal contributor and renowned Church historian John McGreevy told Washington Post religion reporter Michelle Boorstein that the election of an American pope is “unbelievable. This is stuff you wouldn’t have ever thought would happen.” In terms of important days in the history of the U.S. Catholic church, he said, “this is number one.”
In the Atlantic, Francis X. Rocca, who has covered the Vatican for two decades, considers what Leo’s election means for the Church and the world. The short answer: to be determined.
Over at the New Yorker, regular Commonweal contributor Paul Elie writes, “Today, we have a Pope. We know his given name, his background and achievements, and of course his nationality, which is sure to be the preoccupation of the commentariat in the days to come. But only now—beginning right now—will Catholics and the world find out who he is.”
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Thursday Afternoon, May 8
On the fourth ballot on the second day of the conclave, Cardinal Robert Prevost, the sixty-nine-year-old native of Chicago and former prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, was elected pope, taking the name Leo XIV.
Dominique Mamberti introduced the 267th pope—and the first American pontiff—to sustained cheers from the large crowd that started gathering in St. Peter’s Square as white smoke (fumata bianca) poured from the makeshift chimney attached to the Sistine Chapel shortly before six p.m. local time.
Leo XIV’s first words as pope were spoken in Italian: “La pace sia con tutti voi!” (“Peace be with you!”) During his address, he said he wanted the Church to be “a synodal Church, walking and always seeking peace, charity, closeness, especially to those who are suffering.”
As the new pope looked out from the Central Loggia, he became visibly moved and regularly paused to compose himself. He is the first Augustinian pope and, after Francis, the second pontiff from the Americas.
I am a son of Saint Augustine, an Augustinian. He said, “With you I am a Christian, for you a bishop.” So may we all walk together toward that homeland that God has prepared for us…. We have to look together how to be a missionary Church, building bridges, dialogue, always open to receiving with open arms for everyone, like this square, open to all, to all who need our charity, our presence, dialogue, love.
Born in 1955, the future pontiff studied at the Minor Seminary of the Augustinian Fathers before earning his bachelor’s degree in mathematics at Villanova in 1977. After graduating, he entered the novitiate of the Order of Saint Augustine in Saint Louis, in the Province of Our Lady of Good Counsel of Chicago.
He studied at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and then was sent to Rome to study Canon Law at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum). He was ordained a priest on June 19, 1982, at the Augustinian College of Saint Monica. You can read his official biography here.
Last Thursday, we highlighted a recent Crux profile of Cardinal Prevost, which described Pope Leo XIV as “a moderate, balanced figure, known for solid judgment and a keen capacity to listen.”
We also gathered these three videos of the future pope, which we believe reveal a great deal about the kind of man he is. Click the links to view.
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Thursday Afternoon, May 8
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Thursday Morning, May 8
Six words this morning: Black smoke again, sooner than expected.
After three ballots, the cardinals inside the Sistine Chapel have yet to come to a two-thirds consensus about who should be the next pope. The cardinals, currently on a lunch break, will soon return to the chapel for a fourth round of voting.
Many are speculating that, because the cardinals moved through the morning votes at a much faster clip than yesterday’s three-hour-long session, they are close to picking the next pope, perhaps as soon as this evening local time. John Paul and Benedict XVI were both elected on the fourth ballot, on the second day of the conclave. Francis was also elected on the second day, but after the fifth ballot
We’ll learn soon enough. But an interesting detail from the Times’s running diary of the conclave—twenty-two hours and counting!—caught our attention:
An Italian cardinal, Gianfranco Ravasi, who is 82 and not voting in the conclave, said that he had been impressed by a speech from Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline of Marseille, France, who has emerged as a papal contender. Cardinal Aveline, who is learning Italian, read his speech in “perfect Italian,” Cardinal Ravasi said, adding, “He only got two accents wrong.”
Before the start of the conclave, The Pilllar noted a “Spanish-led push” for the French cardinal. “Aveline’s profile could be an attractive one for those wishing to vote for someone who’s seen as close to Francis but bringing more stability to the papal office,” the site’s Vatican correspondent reported. “Moreover, Aveline has a certain reputation as theologically orthodox, and many close to him say he harbors more conservative sympathies than it seems publicly.”
It’s important to reiterate, however, that no one outside the conclave has any idea about who the next pope will be. And, as our editor-at-large Mollie Wilson O’Reilly helpfully makes clear in her recent piece for MSNBC, it’s likely that few outside the College of Cardinals have even ever heard of the man who will be soon be pope. While the cardinals get ready to return to the Sistine Chapel, she asks us to consider seven other words this morning: The next pope? You wouldn’t know him.
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