Habemus Papam! We have a new Pope. Cardinal Prevost was Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops in Rome for about two years before his election to the Papacy. He was appointed there in 2023, in succession to Cardinal Ouellet, who was considered papabile at the last Conclave. Cardinal Ouellet was the successor of Cardinal Re, who has become particularly famous after presiding at the late Pope’s funeral and at the Mass introducing the conclave. Cardinal Re was Prefect of the then Congregation for Bishops while your parish priest was working as an official of the dicastery, in the early years of this century.
So the pontificate of Pope Leo XIV is soon to be inaugurated. The Mass of Inauguration is set to take place next Sunday (18th May). The choice of name places the new Pope in a series of great popes who have taken that name, beginning with Pope Saint Leo the Great, champion of the doctrine concerning the two natures of Christ, as defined by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. The most recent Pope Leo was Leo XIII, who died in 1903. With his ground-breaking encyclical, Rerum Novarum, of 1891, he effectively launched what has become known as Catholic Social Teaching. His devotion to our own Saint Bede led him to proclaim Saint Bede a Doctor of the Church, and to dedicate to him what has become known as the Beda College, a seminary in Rome for late vocations which Pope Leo did much to help establish. He is also associated very much with the judgement on the invalidity of Anglican Orders, and in that way has shaped relations between the Catholic Church and the Church of England.
Our own Cardinal Nichols, one of the electors in the recent conclave, is a Member of the Dicastery for Bishops, as is Cardinal Roche, the youngest of the English electors. As Members, they take part in the meetings of the Dicastery, which generally take place every fortnight, and they vote on episcopal appointments. Over the past two years they will have come to know Cardinal Prevost well, and they will have seen him at work. His experience at the helm of this important Dicastery will have taught him much about the current needs of the Church throughout the world. He is a member of the Augustinian Order, indeed he was its Superior General from 2001 to 2013, another office which will have given him experience of the Church all over the world, and a track record of governance. There has been much talk of his experience of working in Peru, where he served as a bishop from 2015 until 2023. That link with Latin America continued after his move to Rome, because not only was he closely involved in the appointment of all Latin American bishops, but he also served as President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, a department of the Dicastery for Bishops.
One of the new Pope’s first tasks will be to reinstate (or replace) the heads of Dicasteries, who all ceased to hold office as soon as Pope Francis died. He will also have to appoint his own successor as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. That will be a most interesting appointment, as will be his choices regarding the other heads of department in the Roman Curia. In due course he is likely to appoint a new Archbishop for us here in Westminster, as Cardinal Nichols approaches his 80th birthday.
In the meantime, our diocese continues to promote vocations to the priesthood, seeking to form shepherds after the heart of Christ. This weekend, which is Good Shepherd Sunday and the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, we have the annual Collection for the diocesan Priest Training Fund after all Masses. There are currently 50 men studying at Allen Hall Seminary, 13 of whom are from our own diocese. Two of these are deacons for Westminster. We also have two seminarians at the Royal English College in Valladolid. Last year 3 deacons who studied at Allen Hall were ordained priests. The fund also supports the ongoing enrichment and formation of our ordained priests. Your gift ensures that the diocese can provide training for these men who offer their lives to serve God’s people. Please be as generous as you can, and support this vital cause with your prayers.
On Wednesday of this coming week, 14 May, at 7.30pm there will be a Wigmore Hall Concert in St James’s Church. It is the first of a series of concerts given there by The Sixteen, directed by their founder, Harry Christophers, and featuring the music of Palestrina, whose fifth centenary occurs this year. The concert is expected to last approximately one hour, without an interval. Tickets are available from the Wigmore Hall Box Office (cf. https://www.wigmore-hall.org.uk/whats-on/202505141930e).
Wednesday is also the feast of one of the lesser-known Apostles, Saint Matthias, who was elected in order to bring the total back up to Twelve after the death of Judas Iscariot (cf. Acts 1:15-26). The method of his election, there described, shows that this process, familiar to our new Pope as a former Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, was simpler in those early days! Because of the evening concert, the 6pm Mass on Wednesday will be celebrated in the Lady Chapel.
Finally, we look forward to our parish confirmations next Sunday, when Bishop Nicholas Hudson has kindly agreed to confer the sacrament during the 4pm Mass. We thank the young people who have come forward for the sacrament and we thank the catechists who have worked so hard to prepare them. As they receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit next Sunday, we pray that they will always be guided and sustained in their Christian lives.