Habemus Papam!
The Catholic Church has a new Pontiff – Pope Leo XIV, the 267th successor to Saint Peter.
Corina Cristea, 09.05.2025, 13:50
Only four rounds of voting were required to elect the 267th pope of the Catholic Church. On Thursday evening, tens of thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square waiting for the news, while people around the world watched the white smoke arising from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, announcing a successor to Pope Francis, who passed away on the second day of Easter. American Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, a former missionary in Peru, is the new Pontiff of the Catholic Christian world, a community totaling some 1.4 billion believers. An hour later, the announcement Habemus Papam! officially heralded the pontificate of Leo XIV, whose first speech, echoing many of the ideas promoted by Pope Francis, focused on the importance of peace in the world, the need to build bridges of communication and the unity of the church.
Messages of congratulations started arriving from political and religious leaders from all over the world, including from Romania, a predominantly Orthodox country, visited six years ago by Pope Francis and, previously, in 1999, by Pope John Paul II. Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church expressed his belief that the new Pope will continue to promote dialogue and cooperation with the Orthodox Church, but also that he will continue to support the Orthodox Romanians who live in large numbers in various countries in Western Europe, especially in Italy, as His Holiness’ predecessors did “constantly”. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bucharest, Aurel Percă, expressed hope that the new Pope, Leo XIV, will dedicate himself “fervently” to promoting peace in a world torn by conflict and polarization. The entire Catholic Church in Romania supports the new pontiff with prayer, Cardinal Lucian, the Archbishop of the Romanian Eastern-Catholic Church, and the president of the Episcopal Conference of Romania, also said in a message.
The Government in Bucharest also congratulated the new head of the Catholic Church, reaffirming its commitment to promoting interfaith dialogue and supporting the continuity of Christian values and the stability of faith. In turn, the interim president of Romania, Ilie Bolojan, expressed hope that the new Pontiff will bring comfort to those affected by war and injustice.
In Washington, President Donald Trump said it was an honor for the United States to have the first American Pope. Other leaders from countries such as Germany, Spain, France, Poland, Portugal, the United Kingdom and Latin-American states with large numbers of Catholic believers conveyed messages of congratulation, as did Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, or Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. All expressed hope that the new Pontiff would help promote peace. The same message was also conveyed from Brussels by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, said that the Vatican and Moscow share the same Christian values. (VP)
