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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 12, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Pro-life organizations are stepping up their campaign to defund "big abortion" as the reconciliation bill is expected to come up for debate in the House Energy and Commerce Committee this week. 

On Wednesday, May 7, digital billboards with ads from pro-life organization Live Action lit up Times Square, urging passers-by to help defund Planned Parenthood.

Since the Trump administration announced its plan to defund Planned Parenthood in March, pro-life leaders have been working with lawmakers and urging citizens to contact their representatives with the hope the reconciliation bill will defund federally defund the organization by Memorial Day. 

With that date only weeks away, activists are campaigning to make it happen.

"Although there are multiple reasons why Planned Parenthood deserves to be defunded," Live Action reported, "the billboard highlighted two main reasons that America's biggest abortion business should lose the $700 million it receives from federal tax dollars each year."

Live Action's billboard messages focused on how the organization provides cross-sex hormones to minors and "commits" thousands of abortions every week.

One billboard displayed the number "1076" in large type. According to Planned Parenthood's 2022-2023 annual report, that is the number of abortions the organization performs daily.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America (SBA) is also seeking to defund Planned Parenthood. On April 29, the organization held a gala in Washington, D.C., with pro-life supporters and legislators from across the country.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, told attendees there has "never been a more important moment to stand for this cause."

Johnson explained that the reconciliation bill would redirect funds from "big abortion" to "federally qualified health centers." 

Other federal legislators who attended included Sens. Jon Husted, R-Ohio; Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio; Tim Sheehy, R-Montana and Steve Daines, R-Montana.

The reconciliation bill cannot directly defund the abortions Planned Parenthood performs because under the Hyde Amendment, organizations already cannot use federal funds for abortion. However, the bill can stop taxpayer dollars from going toward Medicaid funds that Planned Parenthood and similar organizations use. 

Kelsey Pritchard, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America political communications director, told CNA that while President Donald Trump did reinstate the Hyde Amendment, the money is "fungible" and "Planned Parenthood's largest federal funding comes through Medicaid reimbursements."

Pritchard said former Planned Parenthood directors have told SBA that these funds support the abortion infrastructure by covering utilities, staffing, and patient intake for abortion-related operations rather than the women's cancer and health screenings the money is intended for. 

The money is what enables it "to do nearly 400,000 abortions annually, all while they're getting $2 million in tax money every single day. It's really allowing them to keep their doors open," she said.  

The pro-life movement is "unified" and "encouraged by the energy right now," according to Pritchard.

"It's a very popular move to get the American people out of the forced funding of abortion businesses. I think that's why we've seen so much support and why we're so hopeful that this is the time."

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CNA Deutsch, May 10, 2025 / 13:42 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Saturday visited and prayed at a Marian shrine outside of Rome, greeting the community there and urging them to "be faithful to the Mother."

The Holy Father visited the Shrine of the Mother of Good Counsel in Genazzano on Saturday afternoon. The sanctuary, located about an hour east of Rome, is run by the religious of the Order of St. Augustine and "houses an ancient image of the Virgin, dear to the Order and to the memory of Leo XIII," according to the Vatican.

The pope greeted the religious at the shrine before praying at both the altar and the Marian image there, according to the Vatican. The Holy Father also prayed St. John Paul II's prayer to the Mother of Good Counsel with the assembly.

"I wanted so much to come here in these first days of the new ministry that the Church has entrusted to me, to carry out this mission as the Successor of Peter," Leo told those present.

The pope told the community that the shrine was "such a great gift" to them.

"As the Mother never abandons her children, you must also be faithful to the Mother," he said. The Holy Father also offered a blessing to those present.

Leo on Saturday also visited the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, where he prayed in front of the tomb of Pope Francis, his immediate predecessor.

Francis is one of eight popes buried in the papal basilica.

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CNA Newsroom, May 10, 2025 / 11:45 am (CNA).

An effort backed by the U.S. bishops to protect a centuries-old Native American religious site from destruction scored a win in federal court on Friday when a district judge blocked the sale of the location while the matter is considered by the U.S. Supreme Court.

U.S. District Judge Steven Logan said in the Friday order that the federal government would be prohibited from selling the Oak Flat site in Arizona while the coalition group Apache Stronghold waits for the Supreme Court to potentially consider its case.

The federal government several years ago moved to transfer Oak Flat to the mining company Resolution Copper after having protected the site for decades. The group's proposed mining operations would largely obliterate the site, which has been viewed as a sacred site by Apaches and other Native American groups for hundreds of years and has been used extensively for religious rituals. 

Apache Stronghold filed a challenge to the transfer, arguing that it violates both the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and an 1852 treaty protecting Apache territory. The religious liberty law group Becket is representing the group in the case. Several lower courts have already ruled against the Native American group.

Logan in his Friday ruling said he was persuaded by "the fundamental freedoms at stake in this case."

"It is undisputed that if the transfer goes forward and Resolution Copper's mining plans are effectuated, [the Native American groups] will suffer irreparable harm in the long term," he wrote. The injunction, meanwhile, would "not stop Resolution from mining a single ounce of copper should the transfer ultimately be upheld."

The "balance of equities" in the dispute is in favor of Apache Stronghold, Logan said, insofar as they have "established a likelihood of irreparable harm should the transfer proceed" and have raised "serious questions" about the merits of the case.

The injunction will hold until the Supreme Court either refuses to hear the case or else issues a decision should it take the case up, Logan ordered.

U.S. bishops say transfer 'jeopardizes religious liberty'

Last year the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) joined an amicus brief with the Christian Legal Society and the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America, arguing that the lower court decisions allowing the sale represent "a grave misunderstanding of RFRA that fails to apply its protections in evaluating that destruction."

The transfer of the land "jeopardizes Native American religious practice and religious liberty more broadly," the groups argued.

The Knights of Columbus similarly filed a brief in support of the Apaches, arguing that the decision to allow the property to be mined "reads into RFRA an atextual constraint with no grounding in the statute itself."

The decision is devastating not just to the Apaches but to "the myriad religious adherents of all faiths and backgrounds who use federal lands every day for their religious exercise," they said. 

Religious liberty scholars from the Notre Dame Law School, Seton Hall University, and the University of St. Thomas School of Law also filed a brief backing the Native Americans. Numerous other religious groups also filed amicus briefs.

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Vatican City, May 9, 2025 / 18:28 pm (CNA).

Americans gathered in St. Peter's Square on May 8 to celebrate the election of Pope Leo XIV, the first pontiff from the United States. Born Robert Francis Prevost on Chicago's South Side, the 69-year-old Augustinian friar was chosen by the College of Cardinals after just two days of conclave. 

While American flags were scarce among the sea of international banners, those present from the U.S. lingered in the square long after the Holy Father appeared out on the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica for the first time. They shared prayers, chants, and reflections on the unprecedented moment.  

"Never in a million years did I think that the Holy Spirit would send us a beautiful cardinal from Chicago," said Deacon Steven Marcus, a Maronite Catholic from Florida. "You could tell by his face that he's filled with the Holy Spirit. He's filled with love. This is who the Church needs." 

Moments after the white smoke rose, the crowd surged toward the front of the basilica.  

John Stadeno, a Villanova University graduate from Philadelphia, stood front and center with his friend, John Sanchez of New York, clutching an American flag and wearing a Phillies jersey and a baseball cap. Together they chanted the name of the spiritual father of the new pope's religious order: "Agostino! Agostino!" 

"It's an affirmation of the Augustinian way," Stadeno said, referencing the shared alma mater with the new pope. "Prevost is a good man. He's worked hard as a missionary, as a bishop. He'll do a good job." 

Sanchez added: "God bless the new Pope Leo XIV and God bless the U.S.A." 

Brother Benedict Mary Bartsch, OP, a 29-year-old Dominican from Hawaii studying at the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas — where the new pope is also an alumnus — expressed his awe at witnessing the event firsthand.

"It's an amazing opportunity to be here in Rome, to be at the heart of the Church, and praying all these days for the cardinals and for the election of the new Holy Father. And to be here in the square when it actually happened, it's just amazing." 

Upon seeing Pope Leo XIV emerge, Bartsch observed: "He seemed like he was very moved. I mean, you could see he was tearing up a little bit. You could see that he understood the sort of weight, the burden that comes with the office, with the Petrine office." 

Andres Novoa, 33, from the Archdiocese of Miami, held up one of the few American flags in the square. "It feels unbelievable," he said. "The Church needs a lion. The Church needs to realize that Christ is the Lion of Judah. The Church needs to assert herself as the mother and teacher, you know, that is what the world needs. And the Church is not here to hurt anyone. It's here to give everyone salvation." 

Novoa joked about the unexpected turn of events: "I thought the only thing this American flag would do for us was get us beat up. And now, the last thing we expected was an American pope." 

David Solheim, an Eastern Orthodox Christian from Phoenix, traveled to Rome for the conclave. "I came out to Rome specifically for the conclave, something I always wanted to do. Like a bucket list item," he said. "And never thought that my first conclave would be the first American pope."

He noted the pope's initial reaction: "You could tell he wasn't expecting it. He was nervous. Like, I think all of us would be up there. He seems like a genuine shepherd and pastor and I look forward to what the future holds for the Church." 

Jerry Grogan, holding an American flag before the announcement, expressed his pride: "It's so exciting to have someone from Chicago, my hometown, to represent the Catholic Church. I'm so proud."

He recounted a conversation with a priest from Champaign, Illinois, also waiting in St. Peter's Square, where they doubted the possibility of an American pope. "Lo and behold, now we have our first American pope," he said. 

Pope Leo XIV, known for his missionary work in Peru and his role in the Roman Curia as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, brings a global perspective to the papacy. Fluent in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, Italian, French, and Portuguese, he is also reportedly a White Sox fan who enjoys playing tennis and the game of "Wordle," according to his brother.  

"You could tell by the people that were in the square today how much they love Almighty God and how much they love our new Holy Father. Good things are happening for our Church," Marcus said.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 9, 2025 / 11:47 am (CNA).

The American arm of the worldwide Pontifical Mission Societies (TPMS) is celebrating yesterday's election of Pope Leo XIV.  

"The Pontifical Mission Societies in the USA rejoices in the historic election of the first pontiff from the United States of America, Leo XIV, Chicago native Robert Cardinal Prevost, a missionary at heart who served for many years as a priest and bishop bringing Christ and his Gospel to the people in rural Peru," said Monsignor Roger Landry, the organization's national director since January.  

"Together with all of our fellow American Catholics and citizens, and with all those served in the 1,124 missionary dioceses and territories across the world," Landry continued, "we commit ourselves to praying for him and his intentions as he continues the work of Peter as a fisher of men throughout the globe."

Funded in large part by a special collection at Catholic parishes each October, TPMS includes the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, the Society of St. Peter the Apostle, the Missionary Childhood Association, and the Missionary Union of Priests and Religious.

The societies support missionary activity by building churches, helping to form present and future priests and religious, sustaining fledgling missionary dioceses, and erecting schools and catechetical centers.

Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, was elected 267th pope on Wednesday evening, with white smoke rising from the Sistine Chapel at around 6:09 p.m. Rome time. The new pontiff then appeared on the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at approximately 7:25 p.m., where Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, the protodeacon of the College of Cardinals and prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, announced in Latin: "Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum: Habemus papam!" ("I announce to you a great joy: We have a pope!")

Before appearing on the balcony, the newly elected pope spent time in the "Room of Tears," a small chamber adjacent to the Sistine Chapel. This traditionally named room is where new pontiffs first don the papal vestments and have a moment of private prayer and reflection as they absorb the magnitude of their election to the chair of St. Peter.

Following the announcement, Pope Leo XIV addressed the crowds gathered in St. Peter's Square and watching around the world, offering his first blessing "urbi et orbi" (to the city and the world) as the new Roman pontiff.

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Rome Newsroom, May 9, 2025 / 12:26 pm (CNA).

From Europe to the Asia Pacific, millions of Catholics are celebrating the election of U.S.-born Pope Leo XIV as the 267th leader of the Catholic Church.

After news of "white smoke" began to spread across Rome, Singaporean theology student Dominic Nalpon managed to arrive at the center of St. Peter's Square in time to hear the awaited "Habemus papam!" ("We have a pope!") announcement and see the new Holy Father.

"My first impression of the new Pope Leo XIV was that he had a sense of presence about him," Nalpon told CNA on Thursday. "I was especially joyful at his name 'Leo' as it brings to mind two other popes of the same name who are dear to me."

"Leo the Great who is a doctor of the Church and the one who turned away the Huns from invading Rome through the intercession of Sts. Peter and Paul," the Angelicum student continued, "and Leo the XIII, who is renowned for laying the foundations for Catholic social teaching and reviving Thomism."

Father Dante Bendoy, OSA, prior provincial of the Augustinian Province of the Philippines, praised the new pope's "genuine pastoral heart" and "deep commitment to our order and the Church." 

"As Augustinians, we take pride and joy in his election, for he is the first Augustinian to be elected pope — a historic milestone that fills our hearts with gratitude and hope," Bendoy said in a Friday statement.

"We cherish the memories of his warm presence, the Mass he celebrated with us, his humility, and the photos we shared," he said after recounting the several times Pope Leo XIV — as prior general of the Augustinians from 2001 to 2013 — visited the Philippines. 

While Bendoy recognized his confrere's recent election as a "divine blessing," he said the papal office is a "high calling" that is "not without its crosses."

"Let us be reminded that, just as our Holy Father Augustine did, there is always grace on the cross," the Filipino religious superior said. "We his Augustinian family stand united in prayer and support, confident that God's grace will sustain him in his sacred mission."

Religious priests who had the opportunity to meet Pope Leo during his visits to India in 2004 and 2006 have also expressed their joy with the news of the Church's first Augustinian pope, Agenzia Fides reported on Friday.

"When he was here, we knew him as an extraordinarily simple person, down-to-earth, always ready to face the difficulties of everyday life," said Father Jacob Mullassery, OSA, who accompanied him on both visits.   

"Before each meeting or pastoral activity, he spent a long time in silent Eucharistic adoration," recalled Father Metro Xavier, OSA. "He demonstrated a profound love for the Church and total reverence for her magisterium — his spiritual life gave us a testimony of prayer and simplicity."

In Australia, pastors of Holy Spirit Parish in Sydney also shared their pride on social media for having hosted the new Holy Father during his visit to their church in 2005. 

"We rejoice in the election of our dear brother Robert Cardinal Prevost, OSA, as Roman pontiff … God bless our new pope," the Facebook post read. "The [then] prior general of the Augustinian order visited our parish and presided over Mass on Dec. 16, 2005."

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CNA Staff, May 9, 2025 / 12:56 pm (CNA).

Police in a small Pennsylvania town have arrested a man they claim detonated an explosive on the altar of a small Catholic chapel this week. 

Father Kevin Gallagher, the pastor at St. Teresa of Calcutta Parish in Mahanoy City, told CNA on Friday that on Tuesday, May 6, a man came into the parish chapel at around 9 p.m., "placed an explosive device on the altar, lit it, and then ran out." 

The device subsequently exploded, damaging a monstrance, the altar, the ceiling, and some stained-glass windows.

Investigators thought the explosive might have been a quarter-stick of dynamite, Gallagher said.

Police arrested 32-year-old Kyle Kuczynski shortly after the incident. He was charged with multiple crimes including arson.

The priest said he wasn't aware of what might have motivated Kuczynski to allegedly detonate the device, though he said the suspect had visited the chapel prior to the explosion and had disturbed the nuns who were there at the time. 

"The cops knew him. They said he's a troublemaker," Gallagher said. He speculated that mental issues could have played a role in the suspect's behavior. 

"Luckily nothing caught fire" after the explosion, the priest said, adding that the parish would undertake repairs of the chapel soon. 

In a statement after the explosion, Allentown Bishop Alfred Schlert said the attack was "an act of darkest evil."

"I thank God that no one was injured in the incident and that the suspect has been taken into custody by law enforcement," the bishop said. 

"At the same time, I am heartbroken that such a heinous, hateful, and evil act occurred at St. Teresa of Calcutta. This act of religious hate is an affront to the long and devout history of faith among the people of Mahanoy City."

"While offering forgiveness, I pray the person who perpetrated this crime will receive the help needed and the justice demanded for their actions," the prelate added.

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CNA Staff, May 9, 2025 / 13:32 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Department of Justice says a recent data breach of a California consulting firm exposed data of Catholic clergy abuse survivors in nearly a dozen bankruptcy lawsuits. 

In a May 6 letter addressed to attorneys at law firm Proskauer Rose LLP, the Justice Department's Nan Eitel, the associate general counsel for Chapter 11 practice in the Executive Office for United States Trustees, said that late last month multiple government trustees received notice of a data breach at Berkeley Research Group (BRG).

The Emeryville, California-based BRG offers corporate finance and economic consulting, including to Catholic dioceses in bankruptcy proceedings. The government's letter said the data breach had occurred on March 2 but that trustees were only first informed on April 28. 

The breach "affected multiple Chapter 11 cases … and the security of data maintained by BRG in its role as a financial adviser to official committees in those cases," the letter said. 

The breach included data associated with 10 Catholic bankruptcy cases, nine of which are diocesan or archdiocesan cases and one of which was filed by the Franciscan Friars of California. 

"Although such a large-scale data breach would be of concern to the United States Trustee in any bankruptcy case, that the breach occurred in archdiocesan and diocesan cases — where the claims information of sexual abuse survivors is the most sensitive and confidential of all information — is very concerning," the government said. 

The "incident update" provided by the Berkeley Research Group "raised more questions than it answered about what transpired and what BRG has done and intends to do going forward to remediate the breach in each case," the government said. 

BRG "file[d] a single generic notice on each affected case docket" and did not contact each affected party individually, the government alleged.

The company's response appears "wholly deficient" to the scope of the breach, the Justice Department argued. It demanded the company provide information on each affected case as well as clarify why the company "delayed two months" before notifying trustees and whether or not the company has contacted federal law enforcement over the breach. 

Among the affected bankruptcy cases include those of the archdioceses of Baltimore and New Orleans as well as the dioceses of Albany and Rochester, among others.

New York-based law firm Proskauer Rose LLP did not immediately respond to an email from CNA asking if it was the legal representative of BRG.

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Vatican City, May 9, 2025 / 13:52 pm (CNA).

In his first Mass as head of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV called on the faithful to "bear witness to our joyful faith in Jesus the Savior" in a world where "a lack of faith is often tragically accompanied by the loss of meaning in life." 

Preaching in the Sistine Chapel on May 9 to the cardinals who elected him, the first pope born in the United States opened his homily in English. 

"My brother cardinals, as we celebrate this morning, I invite you to recognize the marvels that the Lord has done, the blessings that the Lord continues to pour out on all of us through the ministry of Peter," the new pope said, speaking off the cuff.

 "You have called me to carry that cross and to be blessed with that mission, and I know I can rely on each and every one of you to walk with me, as we continue as a Church, as a community of friends of Jesus, as believers to announce the good news, to announce the Gospel." 

He continued the rest of the homily in Italian, reflecting on the Gospel question Jesus posed to Peter: "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" 

Leo XIV — the Chicago native and Augustinian missionary born Robert Prevost — said the world's response often rejects Jesus "because of his demands for honesty and his stern moral requirements." 

"Even today, there are many settings in which the Christian faith is considered absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent. Settings where other securities are preferred, like technology, money, success, power, or pleasure," he said.

"These are contexts where it is not easy to preach the Gospel and bear witness to its truth, where believers are mocked, opposed, despised, or at best tolerated and pitied," he continued. "Yet, precisely for this reason, they are the places where our missionary outreach is desperately needed."

"A lack of faith is often tragically accompanied by the loss of meaning in life, the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the crisis of the family, and so many other wounds that afflict our society." 

The pope said this is "the world that has been entrusted to us," where believers are "called to bear witness to our joyful faith in Jesus the Savior." 

"It is essential to do this, first of all, in our personal relationship with the Lord, in our commitment to a daily journey of conversion. Then, to do so as a Church, experiencing together our fidelity to the Lord and bringing the good news to all," he said. 

"I say this first of all to myself, as the successor of Peter, as I begin my mission as bishop of Rome and, according to the well-known expression of St. Ignatius of Antioch, am called to preside in charity over the universal Church (cf. Letter to the Romans, Prologue)," he said. 

"St. Ignatius, who was led in chains to this city, the place of his impending sacrifice, wrote to the Christians there: 'Then I will truly be a disciple of Jesus Christ, when the world no longer sees my body' (Letter to the Romans, IV, 1)," the pope said.  

"Ignatius was speaking about being devoured by wild beasts in the arena — and so it happened — but his words apply more generally to an indispensable commitment for all those in the Church who exercise a ministry of authority. It is to move aside so that Christ may remain, to make oneself small so that he may be known and glorified (cf. Jn 3:30), to spend oneself to the utmost so that all may have the opportunity to know and love him. May God grant me this grace, today and always, through the loving intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church." 

Leo XIV offered the Mass in the Sistine Chapel, where he was elected Thursday afternoon as the 266th successor of Peter. It marked the first time Pope Leo XIV prayed the Eucharistic Prayer as bishop of Rome, saying "and me, your unworthy servant." 

Beneath Michelangelo's frescoes, Leo prayed the prayers of the Mass in Latin. The two readings were delivered in English and Spanish. At the end of the liturgy, he led the cardinals in singing the Marian Easter hymn "Regina Caeli," joined by the Vatican's Sistine Chapel Choir. 

The Vatican announced that Leo will be formally installed at a Mass on May 18 and will preside over his first general audience May 21. He is scheduled to deliver his first Regina Caeli blessing at noon on Sunday. 

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Vatican City, May 9, 2025 / 14:19 pm (CNA).

The United States cardinals who were part of the conclave that on Thursday elected Pope Leo XIV, the first U.S.-born pontiff, called him "a citizen of the world," in continuity with Pope Francis but with his own manner of doing things.

At a May 9 press conference at the Pontifical North American College in Rome following Leo's election, seven cardinals fielded questions about participating in the conclave, the qualities of Pope Leo, and the impact of having an American pope.

While Cardinal Robert McElroy, the new archbishop of Washington, D.C., expressed surprise at the election of a U.S.-born pope, something he said he never expected to see in his lifetime, others, including Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, archbishop emeritus of Galveston-Houston, underlined that where Leo is from was of little importance to the cardinals' decisions compared with the new pontiff's quiet manner and missionary experience. 

Leo XIV "is a citizen of the world," Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York underlined, and "where he came from is secondary" to what he represents now as pope and leader of the universal Church.

Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, Leo's hometown, emphasized the unity and common purpose of the cardinal electors, who, he said, treated one another with respect and "jelled" inside the conclave, allowing at least 89 men from many different countries and backgrounds to agree and make a decision in just 24 hours.

McElroy described an atmosphere of contemplation, from walking into the conclave to the chanting of the Litany of Saints, to coming face-to-face with Michelangelo's "Last Judgment" on the wall of the Sistine Chapel.

"All sense of divisions within the world fell away and we were looking into the souls of each other," reflecting on which soul had the capacity to be Christ's vicar on earth, he said.

Like Pope Francis, Pope Leo will promote a missionary discipleship, McElroy said. Leo is "at his core a missionary. In every way a missionary giving his life for the Church."

Cardinal Christophe Pierre, of French origin but the apostolic nuncio to the U.S., was also present in the press conference and seconded the reflection that the conclave took place in a spiritual atmosphere rather than a political one.

The archbishop emeritus of Washington, D.C., Cardinal Wilton Gregory, got emotional as he recounted pledging his respect, fidelity, and love to the new pontiff after his election. He said the former Cardinal Robert Prevost made the biggest impression on the other cardinals during small, side conversations during lunch or coffee breaks, rather than in one big speech before the whole assembly.

McElroy added that the new pope did speak during the general congregations before the conclave, but it was less about what he said and more about how he said it.

Cardinal Joseph Tobin of the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, shared the most evocative image from inside the Sistine Chapel.

He recalled walking up to cast one of his votes, and immediately afterward, turning and looking over toward the then-Cardinal Prevost, who had his head in his hands. 

"And I was praying for him, because I can't imagine what happens to a human being when he faces something like [becoming pope]," Tobin said. "And then when he accepted it, [it was like] he was made for it. All of whatever anguish [he had] was resolved by the feeling, I think, that this wasn't simply his saying yes to a proposal, but God made something clear and he agreed to it."

Tobin, who has known Pope Leo XIV for about 30 years and worked with him when they were both superiors of their respective religious congregations, said: "I don't think he's one to pick fights with people, but he's not one to back down if the cause is just."

Tobin, DiNardo, Gregory, Cupich, and Dolan all encouraged journalists to let Leo grow into the office of pope, watching what he does and says in this new role before casting judgment.

"You can't capture tomorrow by looking at yesterday," Gregory said.

McElroy added that while the cardinals were looking for someone "following the same pathway as Francis," they were not interested in choosing "a photocopy."

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