To our surprise we watched by midafternoon the white smoke billowing from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel into the blue skies along with the magnificent sound of the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica resounding the message that a new Pope has been elected. We anxiously waited for the moment of the official announcement of his name and his presence on the balcony for the first time addressing the thousands in St. Peter’s square to hear that Robert Francis Cardinal Prevost, was elected as the 267th Bishop of Rome. The first American Pope who was taking the name Pope Leo XIV.
We heard his first words to the world: “Peace be with all of you.” He asked the faithful to pray with him a “Hail Mary” to our Blessed Mother for her guidance and help, that the Church might remain a beacon of truth and hope for all God’s children.”
With thanks to almighty God, and for the continued guidance of the Holy Spirit we the Daughters of Divine Charity pray together with the Universal Church and ask that you join us in praying for our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV:
O God, who in your providential design willed that our Church be built upon Peter, whom you set over the other Apostles, look with favor, we pray, on Pope Leo XIV, our Pope and grant that he, whom you have made Peter’s successor, may be for your people a visible source and foundation of unity in faith and of communion. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(Prayer taken from the Collect of the Mass for the Pope – The Roman Missal, 3rd edition.)