SOURCE: The Independent
Story by Aine Fox
- 1h •
4 min read
The new Pope is a “citizen of the world” and the moment he accepted his election inside the secret conclave meeting brought “elation”, a cardinal who was there has said.
The leader of Catholics in England and Wales, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, spoke of a “quite remarkable spirit of fraternity” during the time he and 132 others were sequestered away from the world to elect the new leader.
Each of the cardinals took an oath of secrecy about the conclave and their vote, but Cardinal Nichols was able to share some detail on the moment Cardinal Robert Prevost accepted his election.
Asked about the atmosphere, he said: “It was elation, frankly, it really was.”
He spoke of the formal moment the cardinal was elected and asked if he accepted, to which he said there was a clear, “I accept”.
“That brought a round of applause,” Cardinal Nichols added.
The new Pope was elected on the fourth ballot on Thursday, with white smoke from the Sistine Chapel coming just over 24 hours after the doors had been closed for secret voting to begin.
Asked how he felt the new Pope might get on with the US administration under President Donald Trump, Cardinal Nichols said: “I haven’t given Trump a thought.”
The comments come as a Vatican expert from the UK, who has met the Pope, said she thinks he is likely to present a “quite challenging” message to Mr Trump but will not be confrontational.
Mr Trump spoke of the excitement and honour it is to have the first head of the 1.4 billion-member Catholic Church from North America.
Pope Leo has spoken of peace, unity and bridge-building, although a social media account in the 69-year-old’s name before he was elected shared posts critical of the Trump administration.
In February, it shared an opinion piece which chastised US Vice-President JD Vance as wrong about some aspects of Christian teaching.
Asked if this could make a first meeting between the US leaders and the new Pope awkward, UK theologian Professor Anna Rowlands said she thinks the pontiff will be able to avoid confrontation while also challenging them.
Speaking from Rome, she told the PA news agency: “He’s unlikely to be confrontational, I think, because of his nature, and yet I think the content of what he says will be quite challenging.
“I think he won’t want to simply judge Donald Trump. I think he will genuinely want to engage in a fruitful dialogue towards genuine human good, a just peace, security in the world, a genuine orientation towards real values – those are the kind of things he will want to enter into dialogue with the US administration on.”
The new Pope celebrated mass in the Sistine Chapel on Friday, beginning his first full day in his role as the Church’s leader.
The Vatican has confirmed he will be formally installed at a mass on May 18.
Among other messages of congratulations were those from the King, who sent good wishes from himself and the Queen in a private message to the Pope, while Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said it was a “deeply profound moment of joy for Catholics in the United Kingdom and globally”.
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