Welcome Pope Leo XIV

The Catholic Education Diocese of Cairns community joins with people of faith around the world in welcoming today’s election of Cardinal Robert Prevost as Pope Leo XIV.

The first Pontiff from north America, as an Augustinian missionary he served as Bishop of a local diocese in Peru; as Augustinian Provincial in Chicago, and then as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops at the Vatican.  

Our Bishop, Joe Caddy, met the then-Cardinal Prevost at the Vatican last year, and shares his thoughts on our new Pope:

Last September, at a course for new bishops organised by the office of Cardinal Prevost, I was privileged to meet him and have some interaction. His final words to the new bishops at that conference resonated with me and have remained with me. He said, in wrapping up our meeting, that if we do nothing else as bishops, we should ‘make friends with the poor.’  Pope Leo XIV will undoubtedly bring his own unique approach to the papacy, but I am sure he will continue in the spirit of both Pope Francis and the Gospel message of Jesus Christ, urging the Church to reach out to the peripheries and bring Good News to the poor.

The election of Pope Leo XIV by 133 Cardinal electors marks a new chapter for the global Catholic Church. As the 267th Successor of Peter, Pope Leo XIV is expected to continue the Church’s mission of compassion, outreach, and service to the marginalised.