The archbishop of Miami, Florida (United States), Mons. Thomas Wenski, recently expressed his desire that Pope Leo XIV, chosen on May 8 as Successor of San Pedro, “be a meek pastor of souls, but with the heart and courage of a lion.”
“In the coming months and years, I am sure we will hear it roar,” said the American prelate, in an article published In the Florida Catholic.
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Mons. Wenski recalled that “although some of the ‘papal forecasts’ had suggested their name on the eve of the conclave, their choice was a surprise, if not a shock, for the millions waiting for the announcement of the new pontiff after the white smoke rose on the roof of the Sistine Chapel.”
“The general opinion was that no American could be elected Pope,” he said, because “the image of a Pope of the largest (and richest) superpower in the world, according to experts, made an American choice impossible, until it ceased to be.”
However, he stressed that Leo XIV “was not a typical American cleric,” and recalled that today Pope “spent much of his priesthood as a missionary in Peru.”
Highlighting both his “advanced academic titles and domain of several languages”, the American prelate stressed that the new Pontiff was also in charge of the vocational work, as well as the pastoral in “Missionary Campos of the Church.”
In this way, he said, he met “with many requirements that suggest that their papacy will be competent in administration, innovative in strategy and sensitive to the social, economic and cultural challenges of Catholics who seek to stay faithful to the Gospel in a world in rapid secularization.”
Mons. Wenski pointed out that Leo XIV “as Pope, will speak to the world as a pastor and teacher; but should not speak in the language of politics or controversy, but with the language of the Gospel of life.”
“We pray for him, it is not easy for anyone to put the fisherman’s sandals,” he said.
David Ramos
Graduate in Communication Sciences by the Private University of the North in Trujillo, Peru. With more than 12 years of experience in Catholic journalism working in ACI Press, I am based in Mexico since 2018. I have covered the trips of Pope Francis to Ecuador, Paraguay, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru and Panama.