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In Rome, a new pope has been unveiled. And 6,000 miles away in Chiclayo, Peru where Robert Prevost lived much of his adult life, virtually everyone seems to have a story about the new pontiff.
“I interviewed him once… one of those people that light you up just by talking,” says Antuanné Bravo, a local journalist, proudly holding today’s newspaper in her hands.
Here, the title says: “We have a pope from Chiclayo!”
Leo XIV first moved to Peru in 1985 as a missionary. By 2014, he was the bishop of this city.
His dedication to the poor and the most vulnerable is still evident among those who knew him best, like Noelia.
A plant for oxygen that we have thanks to Cardinal Prevost, she says.
“These saved many lives…we had to work three shifts because there were so many people that needed oxygen during the pandemic. Some of the gas tanks still have the names of the patients.
Prevost made an impact on the lives of many: Peruvians and also migrants – an issue that puts the first American pope at odds with the current U.S. administration.
Lisbeth, who came to Chiclayo in 2018, was one of the beneficiaries of the programs for migrants that Prevost established.
“He advocated for migrants so much here. I’m sure he will keep doing that and work toward that peace, where we can all have a place in the countries where we are,” she says.
DYKER HEIGHTS — Students from several diocesan schools celebrated a significant achievement May 6 as St. Francis de Sales Catholic Academy in Belle Harbor, Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Academy in Forest Hills, St. Peter Catholic Academy in Bensonhurst, and St. Saviour High School in Park Slope each had multiple winners in The Tablet’s “Christ Is Risen” Art Contest.
Students use their artistic gifts to create art that celebrates the glory of Christ’s resurrection. Some dappled their canvases with paint, some used charcoal, and others demonstrated their skills through elaborate sketches and other forms of traditional art.
Nearly 200 entries were submitted from students attending Catholic schools and academies within the Diocese of Brooklyn.
For over 20 years, The Tablet has collaborated with the Archbishop John Hughes Knights of Columbus Council No. 481 for the Easter season tradition. It started when The Tablet’s Editor Emeritus Ed Wilkinson formed a camaraderie with then-Grand Marshal of the Knights Camillo Casano, wherein the Knights donated awards and cash prizes to students who crafted faith-based artwork inspired by the Scriptures.
The awards ceremony began with prayers and comments from the clergy in attendance, including Father Jeremy Canna from The Shrine of St. Bernadette in Dyker Heights, Father John Maduri of St. Bernard Clairvaux Parish in Bergen Beach/Mill Basin, and Father Guy Sbordone of Our Lady of Grace in Gravesend.
Father Sbordone reminded the students of the true inspiration for their work.
“The Holy Spirit is the driving force of our Church that leads us and guides us in everything we do as we think about the inspiration that you received to create these beautiful images and the award that you will receive for the talent that you have shared with us in creating this image of Christ being raised from the dead,” he said.
This year, 20 students were honored for their artwork.
The Tablet’s Editor, Michael Gray, emphasized the essential role of The Tablet.
“The Tablet is your voice on any topic,” Gray said. “Whether it’s religion, politics, faith, we speak to you and we get your opinions out, and we give you news that’s important for your Catholic life.”
Distributing the awards at the ceremony were the Knights’ financial secretary, Joe Sbarra, and its faith director, Steve Bilardi. Sbarra said he was impressed by the submissions.
“The talent is getting better and better. I’m always impressed when I see the artwork, especially from the younger grades,” he told the audience. “I think this year is a banner year that is going to set records as the bar keeps on reaching higher and higher.
“This contest is very special to the Knights, and we hope that it will continue for many years to come.”
St. Francis de Sales Catholic Academy principal Chris Scharbach said that whether it’s the school’s own monthly art contest or The Tablet’s Easter one, “it’s nice to see [students] being inspired and expressing their faith in this way.”
Monsignor McClancy Memorial High School ninth grade winner Erica Avendano said that she “didn’t expect to win,” but was excited when she found out she did.
“I really like art and it inspires me,” Erica said.
Erica was cheered on by Michael Savoca, the head of the Art Department at Monsignor McClancy, who attended to support his three students who won first place and earned two honorable mentions. “The kids are amazing,” he said.
“God gives us so many gifts, and he’s the greatest artist, and how wonderful that he shared that gift with us, and we are able to reciprocate that,” Savoca added. “I’m just lucky I have wonderful students.”
Celebrating the new pope continues in the Diocese of Brooklyn with faithful coming together at The Cathedral Basilica of St. James.
The Sunday Mass was celebrated by Bishop Robert Brennan.
In his homily, he called Pope Leo XIV a blessing and went on to discuss the pope’s first message to the world.
At the end of his homily, the bishop also wished a Happy Mother’s Day, saying mothers are shepherds too, that with their gentleness, they are showing their children they are safe in the hands of God.
In the pope’s hometown of Chicago there’s fierce pride and joy for their native son. At Holy Name Cathedral, a special Mass was held for Pope Leo XIV.
“Let’s take a moment of silence to pray for our new Pope Leo XIV,” the celebrant of the Mass said to parishioners.
It was an overflow crowd for Holy Name Cathedral’s 10:30 Sunday morning Mass.
Kevin Schwehs couldn’t miss the moment.
“We got the pope, we got love, we got sunshine. We got Mother’s Day. We’re winning,” he said.
His mother and a friend of the family, Nancy Cobb, say Pope Leo XIV gives them hope.
“He seems so down to earth and we all need hope,” she said. “I think he will unify a lot of us.”
Alice Villalobos is from Los Angeles and came to Chicago to celebrate her 62nd birthday. She says she’s a proud Catholic, so it was a must to attend Church.
“As soon as it was announced and we were coming here, we gotta come to a Church. And we were going to go to his hometown, but we slept late today,” she told Currents News.
Villalobos also wanted to share in baseball fandom with the pope.
“We’re going to a White Sox game just for him, even though we’re Dodger fans. Go Dodgers,” Villalobos said.
While part of the Mass was dedicated to Pope Leo XIV, many parishioners came to celebrate Mother’s Day.
“I think it’s a combination of both. Also the beautiful spring weather here in Chicago, graduation for college students, so families are in town,” explained. Father Andy Matijevic, director of worship at Holy Name Cathedral. “It’s a great day to celebrate, it’s a great day to be Catholic, and a great day to come together to thank God for the gift of so many things.”
ROME (OSV News) – When Catholics heard on May 8 the new pope had chosen the name Leo XIV, the thoughts of many turned immediately to Leo XIII, the last pope to bear the name.
That most recent Leo, who served as pope from 1878 to 1903, is especially remembered for articulating the church’s teaching on social justice in a rapidly changing and ever industrialized society. He was also interested in promoting the political, theological and philosophical vision of St. Augustine, the namesake and inspiration of the new pope’s religious congregation, and St. Thomas Aquinas.
Leo XIII, was also known as “the Rosary Pope” for his unmatched 11 encyclical letters on Marian devotion.
Aside from Leo XIII, himself not canonized, there have been 12 others who share a name with the new pope, and five of those predecessors attained the heights of sanctity and have been proclaimed saints.
The first pope to bear the name, Pope Leo the Great (c. 400-461), truly had the character of a lion, from which the familiar papal name draws its meaning. A bold defender of the faith amid times of controversy and division, Leo is also remembered for successfully persuading Attila the Hun to spare Italy from an intended invasion of Italy. In doing so, Leo the Great is credited as one of the most influential patristic-era popes, who greatly increased the church’s influence and authority.
Leo the Great was a steady and sure leader amid many threats to the peace and stability of Roman culture at his time, including famine, disease, poverty and a rise in immigration.
His homilies and writings are evidence of the teaching that helped the church overcome various Christological controversies in the fifth century, in the lead up to the Council of Chalcedon in 451. For his doctrinal clarity and ability to articulate unity, Leo the Great was declared a doctor of the church in 1754, one of only two popes so designated.
Pope Benedict XVI said that Leo the Great taught the church “to believe in Christ, true God and true Man, and to implement this faith every day in action for peace and love of neighbor.”
St. Leo II (611-683), who was elected Peter’s successor two centuries later, only reigned for just under nine months. Remembered for a love of music and a unique skill for preaching, Leo II’s brief pontificate is best remembered today through various hymns he composed for the Liturgy of the Hours.
St. Leo III, who reigned as pope for nearly two decades before his death in 816, crowned Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor in 800. This honor stemmed from, no doubt, Leo’s gratitude for Charlemagne’s protection of him after an attack on his reputation and his life.
St. Leo IV, whose eight-year pontificate ended in 855, restored several churches in Rome after Muslim invaders plundered the sacred structures. The Italian Renaissance painter Raphael commemorated various scenes associated with Leo IV’s time in office. One fresco called “Battle of Ostia” recalls how Leo IV assembled various naval fleets to defend the ancient port at the mouth of Rome’s Tiber River. Another, “The Fire in the Borgo” depicts how Leo’s blessing extinguished a fire near the Vatican in 847.
The relics of popes Leo II, Leo III and Leo IV are enshrined in an altar in St. Peter’s Basilica, close to another altar that contains the relics of St. Leo the Great.
The most recently sainted Leo, St. Leo IX (1002-1054), brought reform to the church, reiterating mandatory clerical celibacy and defending the church’s belief in Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist amid scandal.
A native of modern-day France, Leo IX was allegedly born with red crosses marking his entire body, considered by some as a form of the stigmata. Divisions between Eastern and Western halves of the church intensified during his pontificate, with the Great Schism coming amid the interregnum just after his death.
The relics of St. Leo IX are also separately enshrined in an altar in St. Peter’s Basilica.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – With a huge and festive crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Leo XIV led his first Sunday recitation of the “Regina Coeli” prayer and urged all Catholics to pray for vocations, especially to the priesthood and religious life.
Before the pope appeared on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica May 11, the crowd was entertained by dozens of marching bands and folkloristic dance troupes who had marched into the square after attending an outdoor Mass for the Jubilee of Bands and Popular Entertainment.
Pope Leo also noted that it was Mother’s Day in Italy, the United States and elsewhere. “I send a special greeting to all mothers with a prayer for them and for those who are already in heaven,” he said. “Happy holiday to all moms!”
Italian officials estimated 100,000 people were in St. Peter’s Square or on the surrounding streets to join the new pope for the midday prayer.
In his main address, Pope Leo said it was a “gift” to lead the crowd for the first time on the Sunday when the church proclaims a passage from John 10 “where Jesus reveals himself as the true Shepherd, who knows and loves his sheep and gives his life for them.”
It also is the day the Catholic Church offers special prayers for vocations, especially to the priesthood and religious life.
“It is important that young men and women on their vocational journey find acceptance, listening and encouragement in their communities, and that they can look up to credible models of generous dedication to God and to their brothers and sisters,” the pope said.
Noting that Pope Francis had released a message in March in preparation for the day of prayer, Pope Leo told the crowd, “Let us take up the invitation that Pope Francis left us in his message for today: the invitation to welcome and accompany young people.”
“And let us ask our heavenly Father to assist us in living in service to one another, each according to his or her state of life, shepherds after his own heart, capable of helping one another to walk in love and truth,” the new pope said.
Setting aside his prepared text, he told young people in the square, “Do not be afraid! Welcome the call of the church and of Christ the Lord.”
After reciting the “Regina Coeli,” he mentioned how the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe was celebrated May 8, the day of his election.
While that is reason to celebrate, he said, “‘the Third World War is being fought piecemeal,’ as Pope Francis often said. I, too, appeal to the leaders of the world, repeating this ever-relevant plea: Never again war!”
Pope Leo prayed for the people of Ukraine, saying, “May everything possible be done to achieve as soon as possible an authentic, just and lasting peace. May all prisoners be freed, and may the children return to their families.” Ukraine says thousands of children have been forcibly taken to Russia during the war.
The pope also told the crowd, “I am deeply saddened by what is happening in the Gaza Strip. Let the fighting cease immediately. Humanitarian aid must be given to the exhausted civilian population, and all hostages must be released.”
He praised India and Pakistan for reaching a ceasefire agreement, but said, “But how many other conflicts are there in the world?”
Pope Leo entrusted his “heartfelt appeal” for peace to Mary, “Queen of Peace, that she may present it to the Lord Jesus to obtain for us the miracle of peace.”
Earlier in the day, Pope Leo had celebrated Mass at an altar near the tomb of St. Peter in the grotto of St. Peter’s Basilica. Father Alejandro Moral Anton, the prior general of the Order of St. Augustine, to which the pope belonged, was the principal celebrant.
Afterward, the Vatican press office said, he stopped to p
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Less than 48 hours after being elected, Pope Leo XIV got in the front seat of a minivan and traveled 40 miles southeast from the Vatican to pray at a Marian shrine cared for by his Augustinian confreres.
And on his way back to the Vatican May 10, he went to Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major, stopping to pray at the tomb of Pope Francis and before the icon of Mary “Salus Populi Romani” (health of the Roman people).
The Vatican press office said he arrived at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Genazzano just after 4 p.m. local time. The shrine is famous for a small fresco of Mary holding the infant Jesus.
A description on a website of Catholic shrines says, “The Christ Child nestles close to his mother. Mary supports Jesus with her left arm. She bends her head toward him, and their cheeks touch tenderly.”
The ancient image is “dear to the order” of Augustinians and was beloved by Pope Leo XIII, whom the new pope is named after, the press office said.
Several hundred people cheered the pope’s arrival at the shrine, and he greeted many of them before going into the shrine to greet the friars. “He stopped in prayer in front of the altar and then in front of the image of the Virgin where he and those present recited the prayer of St. John Paul II to Our Lady of Good Counsel.”
St. John Paul had visited the shrine in April 1993.
An undated file photo shows Pope John Paul II greeting then-Augustinian Father Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV. (Photo: OSV News photo/Augustinian Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel handout via Reuters)
The prayer assures Mary that the faithful turn to her with “their hopes and sorrows, their desires and needs, their many tears shed and their yearning for a better future. Turn, O Mother, your gaze upon this people, accept their generous intentions, accompany them on their journey toward a future of justice, solidarity and peace.”
Pope Leo told those gathered at the shrine, “I wanted so much to come here in these first days of the new ministry that the church has given me” to seek Mary’s help “to carry out this mission as Successor of Peter.”
The spoke of his “trust in the Mother of Good Counsel,” who has been a companion of “light, wisdom.”
Before leaving the town, he told the people that the shrine and the Marian image are “a great gift” that carries with it a responsibility. “Just as our Mother never abandons her children, you must remain faithful to her.”
Deacon Paulo Salazar finished up a long day of classes on May 8 and debated whether he should come to St. Peter’s Square. He said something in his soul told him he needed to visit despite being exhausted. It’s a moment he believes he will hold on to forever.
Deacon Salazar returned to St. Peter’s Square on May 9, already trying to relive history.
The seminarian from the Diocese of Brooklyn had eight hours of classes at the Pontifical North American College on Thursday. He headed out with 10 other men in formation to St Peter’s Square, 10 minutes before the white smoke started.
“It was a tremendous event, a very historical moment for me, a very emotional moment as a Catholic to witness,” said Deacon Salazar.
When he heard the name of the new Holy Father, he couldn’t contain his joy.
“I think I grabbed one of my friends and like, ‘Prevost, American.’ It’s American, and then hearing Pope Leo XIV, it was just a very, a very graceful moment,” he said.
Deacon Salazar said there were lots of prayers before they got their first look at the new pontiff, a man who they could already feel a connection to.
“I think, for us, there’s an even greater fervor of just sort of sharing that American blood that that, you know, that runs through our bodies. And it was just a beautiful moment to experience that, and especially with that being an American pope.”
This wasn’t the first time the St. Joan of Arc parishioner met the American pope. Then-Cardinal Robert Prevost celebrated mass at the seminary on Thanksgiving day.
“I think we sent him home with a couple slices of pumpkin pie. He may have liked it a lot,” said Deacon Salazar. “I got a chance to meet him before he was even Pope Leo XIV. And, it just speaks to just his personality of just a really prayerful man. A very humble man. Really charitable man. And I’m just very much looking forward to how he is and how will reign as a Roman pontiff.”
Deacon Salazar hasn’t stopped his prayers for the Holy Father.
“I went to go to the tomb of Saint Peter to pray for the Holy Father, asking Peter to intercede for him and to give him that strength that he had, to lead the flock,” said Deacon Salazar.
Deacon Salazar is eager to see how Pope Leo XIV leads the church as the seminarian spends the next month in Rome. The deacon will be ordained in the Diocese of Brooklyn in June and plans to follow the direction of the new pontiff as he becomes a priest.
History has just been made in St. Peter’s Square: the Catholic Church has its first American pontiff. Currents News is at the Vatican getting the pulse of the people.
A seminarian from the Diocese of Brooklyn shares what it was like to witness the election of the new Holy Father, and how it’s inspiring his own journey to the priesthood.
From the Empire State Building to hometown celebrations, New York City and Chicago are honoring Pope Leo XIV.
Kindergarten:
2nd Grade:
Honorable Mention: Yara Desalu
4th Grade:
5th Grade:
Honorable Mention: Elena Cortes
6th Grade:
7th Grade:
Honorable Mention: Kheera Seenarine
8th Grade:
Honorable Mention: Blondine Sillon
9th Grade:
10th Grade:
11th Grade: