A Message from Archbishop S. Jeffrey Grob - Pope Leo XIV

Statement of Archbishop Jeffrey S. Grob

We rejoice with the Universal Church for what God has done in giving us a new successor to St. Peter. The wonderful qualities that already have been seen in the life and ministry of our new Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, shown by his vision to leave his homeland and to go on mission in service to people of another land, renew in us our own call to be missionaries of the Gospel.

The choice of the name Leo, starting with Leo the Great (Leo the first) as a great reformer of the Church, up to Leo XIII, whose writings about the Church’s social doctrine, especially in Rerum Novarum, recall for us our own commitment to peace and justice.

We honor the memory of Pope Francis and now rejoice with Leo XIV, asking God to grant him the wisdom and peace of heart to shepherd well. As Americans, it is especially gratifying to witness the history of the first American Pope.

I invite people to join me in prayer and celebration as I celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving on Tuesday, May 13, at 6 p.m., at our Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist.