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Beloved Parishioners,

Last week I shared a reflection on our new Pontiff Pope Leo XIV and today I share the concluding part of that reflection. The election of Pope Leo XIV, born Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, on the 8th of May, and his choice of papal name carry deliberate echoes of Pope Leo XIII. While addressing the cardinals at the General Assembly, Pope Leo XIV affirmed thus:

Beloved Parishioners,

Today I share with you a reflection on our new Pope. On the evening of Thursday, May 8, 2025, following the burst out of the most anticipated white fumes from the chimney aloft the Sistine chapel, Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, Cardinal Protodeacon of the Holy Roman Church, walked out of the Loggia of Saint Peter’s Basilica wearing a solemn warmth around him to announce the most prominent Latin phrase of the moment “Habemus papam!”

Beloved Parishioners,

I send you my warmest greeting from our seminary in Nigeria where I am teaching the second- and third-year theologians preparing for their priestly ordination. As I continue my time with them, I want to share a reflection on the role of Peter the first pope of the Catholic Church.

Beloved Parishioners,

May the joy and peace of the risen Lord inundate our hearts and lighten up our ways! The past couple of days have been laden with a lot of mixed feelings and sombre emotions for all of us and that’s quite understandable. We woke to the joy of Easter only to be greeted by the sudden passing of our dearest Pope Francis, an event that threw all of us into mourning.