Pope Leo XIV was welcomed as the newest pontiff by a sea of faithful and an uninterrupted view of St. Peter’s Square on May 8, 2025.
Conversely, Pope Leo, born Robert Francis Prevost, introduced himself to the public speaking Italian and Spanish, and greeted onlookers both in person and virtually with a concise speech about building bridges and fostering hope for a synodal church.
“In his opening remarks, he mentioned being a missionary church that includes all people, and that comes right out of Pope Francis,” Dennis Doyle, professor emeritus at the University of Dayton in Ohio, told Fox News Digital.
Doyle taught at the Catholic research university for 40 years.
Pope Francis, the 266th Vicar of Christ, created Provest a cardinal in 2023.
“Pope Francis’ first major document was called ‘Evangelii gaudium,’ ‘The joy of the gospel,” Doyle said.
In his evanescent address, Pope Leo XIV said, “To all you brothers and sisters of Rome, Italy, of all the world, we want to be a synodal church, walking and always seeking peace, charity, closeness, especially to those who are suffering.”
“Pope Francis was really big into this idea of synodality,” Doyle said.
“For him, in his very brief remarks, to say we must be a synodal church, that is a big signal that he intends to continue much of what Pope Francis was about,” he said of Pope Leo XIV.
This is an excerpt from an article written by Fox News’ Gabriele Regalbuto.
