Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 9, 2025 /
11:47 am
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.
Madalaine Elhabbal is a staff reporter for Catholic News Agency based at EWTN’s Washington, D.C., bureau. She has been published by CatholicVote and has also worked as foreign language assistant in France. She is a graduate of Benedictine College.
