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Friday, June 20, 2025Faith

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I want you to know how eager and hopeful I am as I prepare for the Mass and for the opportunity to meet our new Holy Father face to face.

Archbishop Richard G.
Henning

With the passing of Pope Francis, Catholics around the world entered into a period of mourning for a disciple of Jesus who lived a life of faith, simplicity, and humility. As Holy Father, he spoke to us of the joy of the Gospel and the importance of compassion and solidarity -- realities that he lived as well as preached. As part of my own mourning for the Holy Father who called me to episcopal ministry, I traveled to his funeral. It was an extraordinary experience.
As the official mourning period drew to a close, the world's attention turned to the conclave and the election of a new pope. Personally, I avoided reading the commentary on the "candidates." I believe that the Holy Spirit assists the cardinals in their discernment, and I judged it best to trust that discernment. And so I prayed and waited.
Like most people, I was surprised at how quickly we saw white smoke. And like millions around the world, I watched the announcement of Pope Leo on a television screen filled with a sense of hope and excitement. Even for a short while, it was unsettling to be without a Holy Father, and I was eager to see the man given to the Church by the grace of God.

The next surprise was the fact that our new Holy Father was born and raised in the United States. I never had the opportunity to meet Pope Leo, and I knew almost nothing of him. Even so, I was moved by his first words -- words of peace from the Lord Himself. I was also struck that day by his tranquility in the face of such a momentous change in his life.
I was very intrigued by his choice of name, Leo XIV. I have long been a student of history, and I was aware of the foundational importance of the papacy of Leo XIII. That Leo lived in a time of great economic upheaval and dislocation. The Industrial Revolution had seen so many people moving from the rural past to a new and challenging urban environment. In that new world, some grew very rich while others found themselves trapped in poverty with little hope of escape. Political movements were as divided as the economy, and violence and oppression threatened. Drawing upon the nascent Catholic Social Teaching of the 19th century, Pope Leo XIII moved the Church and her teaching into that new and confusing world.
Our Leo, Leo XIV, was elected in the midst of another age of divisions and threats and wholesale changes in the economy and in the world of work. The technological revolution and the global economy have winners and losers, and there are new and significant threats to human dignity. It gives me great comfort to know that in these waters, we have another Leo at the helm.
On June 29, the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, I will travel to Rome where the blood of both saints was shed in witness to Christ. I am traveling because of the tradition that all archbishops appointed since the last June join the Holy Father for Mass. At this special Mass, he gives the new archbishops the "Pallium stole." Woven from lamb's wool and touched to the tomb of Peter, this stole is a visible sign of the unity between each archbishop and the Roman Pontiff.
I want you to know how eager and hopeful I am as I prepare for the Mass and for the opportunity to meet our new Holy Father face to face. His pontificate is only in its first months, but I already feel powerfully connected to this pope and I am filled with hope for his ministry and for the Church. Long live Pope Leo XIV!

- Archbishop Richard G. Henning is the Archbishop of Boston