The election of Pope Leo XIV is a defining moment in the life of the Catholic Church in the United States bringing a new energy and interest in the faith, Bishop Frank J. Dewane stated during a Mass in honor of the new Holy Father on May 20, 2025, at Epiphany Cathedral in Venice.
“Pope Leo provides the faithful with a renewed hope, knowing that we have a Holy Father who is from our own shores – one who knows us from within and from without,” Bishop Dewane said. “It is hard to overstate the opportunity and the challenges the Holy Father will face. While Pope Leo faces these challenges, he seems to have embraced his new role, setting his agenda with a spirit of joy.”
The Bishop said an election of a new Pope offers the opportunity to reflect on the role of the Successor of St. Peter, “to confirm us in faith and be at the center of drawing us ever deeper into that faith. At his inauguration, Pope Leo’s first great desire was for a united Church. We need to hear his call – with him the shepherd, and we the sheep who follow.”
In his early public comments, Pope Leo has addressed many important issues facing the Church and the world. Bishop Dewane praised the Holy Father for invoking Pope Leo XIII who brought the Church into the modern world during the Industrial Revolution, creating and bringing together the social doctrine of the Church.
“We need good guides as we move through life as the world does not place value on truth,” Bishop explained. “We’ve heard the Holy Father already address a variety of issues that need to become more developed by men and women of Faith.”
Bishop Dewane then quoted Pope Leo, who reminded us that, “we are on a journey together. The gloom of the world will pass away. It is life with the Almighty God that we seek. We pray that the Lord will lead us to make clearer the arrival of the new heaven and the new earth.”
While the May 20 Mass intentions were to pray for Pope Leo XIV, Bishop Dewane reminded the faithful that the Holy Father is prayed for at every Catholic Mass, and that we must always remember the Holy Father in our prayers. “He needs our prayers and our support,” Bishop Dewane said.
“Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will watch over, will guide, will strengthen, will inspire, and will grace our new Holy Father with the courage he needs to live out his new calling,” Bishop Dewane said. “We also pray that he is given the grace that he needs to be that Shepherd that was elected by the Cardinals, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Let us keep Pope Leo in our prayers as he prays for all of us.”
Prayer for Pope Leo XIV (Roman Missal)
O God, shepherd and ruler of all the faithful, look favorably on your servant Leo XIV, whom you have set at the head of your Church as her shepherd; grant, we pray, that by word and example he may be of service to those over whom he presides so that, together with the flock entrusted to his care, he may come to everlasting life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
