Habemus Papam!
Fourth Sunday of Easter (C)
I was awakened by a phone call around 2am on Friday morning to inform me that white smoke had issued from the Sistine Chapel. I was in Armidale after attending the Ordination and Installation of its new bishop, Peter Murphy.
I turned on the television and awaited the announcement of who was to become the 267th Pope of the Catholic Church. It was early evening in Rome and the crowds continued to grow as news spread across the city. There was clear excitement in the air, all waiting in anticipation to learn who was the new Bishop of Rome and head of the Catholic Church.
Then, after an hour or so, the cardinal protodeacon, Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, appeared on the balcony. He announced the joyful news: Habemus Papam, “We have a Pope”. He announced that the new pope was Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost who has chosen the name Leo XIV.
The choice was a surprise to many. His was not one of the front runners being proposed as possible pope.
Born in 1955 and raised in Chicago in the United States, Robert Prevost joined the Augustinian order. Ordained a priest in 1982, he was sent to study in Rome and earned a licentiate in canon law from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, known as the Angelicum.
In 1985 he served as a missionary priest in Peru. He was elected Prior General of the Augustinians and served in that role for twelve years.
Pope Francis appointed him as Bishop of the Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru in 2014. He was made a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2023 and was named Prefect for the Dicastery of Bishops.
Pope Leo XIV is 69 years of age.
The conclave was brief, just a little over twenty-four hours, indicating that a consensus was reached easily. Many of the cardinals, standing at the balconies either side of the new pope were beaming with joy.
We have a pope. A common designation for a Pope is that he is shepherd in leading the Church, drawing on the image of the Good Shepherd used by our Lord in Chapter 4 of St John’s Gospel. Each Fourth Sunday of Easter we read a passage from this Chapter and this Sunday is commonly known as “Good Shepherd Sunday”. All this is very appropriate for this moment when a new pope is elected.
While the image of shepherd is the most used image for the role of a pope (and indeed, priests and bishops), it is worth recalling that the first encounter of St Peter with the Lord, described in detail in Luke chapter 5, the Lord called him to become a “fisher of men”. He was a fisherman, after all, so this designation would have made immediate sense to him. Jesus called him to have a missionary orientation.
Pope Leo was a missionary in South America for many years of his priestly life and so it is not surprising that while he said that the Church needed to pursue peace and justice, it also needed to “proclaim the Gospel without fear, to be missionaries”.
The Church is to be missionary in orientation and Pope Leo wants this of us.
Returning to the nature of the papacy as inspired by Jesus, the Good Shepherd, we can recall that last Sunday we read of the encounter of the Risen Lord with his disciples by the Sea of Galilee and the conversation between Jesus and Peter in which the Lord commissioned him to feed his lambs and look after his sheep. Peter, as first among the disciples, was to see his role in leading the Church as being a Shepherd, caring for the flock of believers.
This image points to the way in which the Church understands the nature of its leadership and governance. It is to be essentially pastoral, not simply managerial. It is focussed on serving the needs of people and not simply the application of administration.
Pope Leo exuded this spirit in his words to the crowds gathered in St Peter’s Square. His opening words were those of the risen Christ to his disciples on Easter Sunday evening, “Peace be with you”. He then spoke words of encouragement, saying,
So, let us move forward, without fear, together, hand in hand with God and with one another other! We are followers of Christ. Christ goes before us. The world needs his light. Humanity needs him as the bridge that can lead us to God and his love.
Here he reminds us that we are to focus our lives on Christ, knowing that he is the light of the world, and what the world needs most.
Pope Leo also commented on his membership of the Augustinian Order saying,
I am an Augustinian, a son of Saint Augustine, who once said, “With you I am a Christian, and for you I am a bishop.” In this sense, all of us can journey together toward the homeland that God has prepared for us.
These words reveal a desire of the Holy Father to be one with all members of the Church in the pilgrimage of faith. The good shepherd, the Lord reminds us, is one who knows the sheep and accompanies them, watching over them, guiding and protecting them.
So it is with joy that we now have a new Pope and we sense one who will be a true shepherd for us all. As he begins his role we do need to pray for him. His responsibilities are vast and complex, not only within the Church, but also as a spiritual and moral figure on the world stage.
We pray that God will endow him with the gifts necessary to guide the Church in the time ahead as a good shepherd.
Archbishop Julian Porteous
Sunday, May 11, 2025