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First American Pope, Leo XIV, Addresses the World. Aired 1:30- 2p ET

Aired May 08, 2025 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[13:30:00]

POPE LEO XIV (through translator): With dialogue, with meeting, to be one common people living always in peace. Thank you to Pope Francis.

I should also like to thank all my Cardinal brethren who have chosen me to be the successor of Peter and to walk with you as a united church, always seeking peace and justice, seeking to work with men and women who are faithful to Jesus Christ, without fear, to proclaim the gospel, to be missionaries.

I am a son of St. Augustine, Augustinian, Augustine who said, with you I am a Christian and for you a bishop, and I think in that sense we can all walk together to that homeland, that home which God has prepared for us.

To the Church of Rome, a very special greeting. We have to seek together to be a missionary church, a church that builds bridges and dialogue, always ready to accept like this great piazza with its arms.

We have to show our charity presence and be in dialogue with love, and I'd also like to say a greeting in Spanish to all those who, and particularly to my dearest beloved diocese in Peru, where a faithful people accompanied their bishop to share their faith with him, and who has done so much to be a faithful church.

To all you, brothers and sisters of Rome, of Italy, of the entire world, we must be a synodal church, one which goes forward and which always seeks peace, charity, and to be close to those who suffer.

Today, this is the day of the supplication to the Madonna of Pompeii. Our Mother Mary always wanted to accompany us and be near us to help us with her love, and I should like to therefore pray together with you. Let us pray for this new mission for the entire church and for peace in the world and let us ask for this special grace from Mary, our God.

Hail Mary, full of grace. You are blessed amongst all women and blessed be the fruit of your womb. Holy Mary, pray for us sinners and be present at the hour of our death. Amen.

[13:35:00]

(APPLAUSE)

(CHEERING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Holy Father Leo, to all faithful who are present and who receive his blessing through radio, television, and other media communications, let us pray for peace in the world, and we pray to the Almighty that he keeps the present Pope long in his post to preserve the church throughout the world.

POPE LEO XIV: Sancti Apostoli Petrus et Paulus: de quorum potestate et auctoritate confidimus, ipsi intercedant pro nobis ad Dominum. Amen.

Precibus et meritis Mariae semper Virginis, beati Michaelis Archangeli, beati Ioannis Baptiste et beatae sanctorum Apostolorum Petri et Pauli et omnium Sanctorum misereatur vestri omnipotens Deus et dimissis omnibus peccatis vestris, perducat vos Iesus Christus ad vitam aeternam.

Indulgentiam, absolutionem et remissionem omnium peccatorum vestrorum, spatium verae et fructuosae penitentie, cor semper penitens et emendationem vitae, gratiam et consultationem sancti Spiritus et finalem perseverantiam in bonis operibus, tribuat vobis omnipotens et misericors Dominus.

Amen.

Et benedictio Dei omnipotentis. Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti, descendat super vos et maneat semper.

[13:40:00]

(APPLAUSE)

(CHEERING)

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: And we have just heard Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Provost of Chicago, address this crowd, bless this crowd. It is a stunning moment. And I feel all of us were moved to tears to watch such a moment. There is a new Pope, and it is a history-making moment. The first American Pope.

He talked about being a missionary. He talked about a unified church. He mentioned Pope Francis more than once. And in this square, it was a rapt audience.

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. He emphasized the importance of peace. He praised Pope Francis.

He said that evil will not prevail. He emphasized that God loves everyone unconditionally. He said that he is a son of St. Augustine, he is a member of the Augustinian order. And he quoted that famous phrase of St. Augustine, with you I am a Christian, but for you I am a bishop. That idea that all the people in the church, the hierarchy and those normal members of the church walk together, and that is showing he wants to continue with the reforms of Pope Francis. Very clear. And he also mentioned the Diocese of Peru, which he led for a number of years. BURNETT: Yes and watching him the way he came across. We know he talked about a missionary church. He himself was a missionary. There seemed to be -- he paused, he looked at this crowd, there seemed a joy and also a gentleness.

LAMB: I think that's absolutely right. You know, I've met Pope Leo XIV when he was Cardinal Prevost. And when I met him, he came across as a very thoughtful person, a very measured person.

I thought today he seemed, you know, overjoyed in some ways and sort of had received the kind of the grace of office, and you could see that he had thought carefully about what he was going to say. I think that was why there was a delay. He really thought about what he wanted to make, what he wanted his first message to be.

BURNETT: And he wrote it. I mean, he took his time. It took time. It wasn't just a brief blessing.

LAMB: Yes, he's different to Francis in that way. Francis used to speak off the cuff. Pope Leo XIV is more, I think, measured. He wants -- he's more of someone who wants to prepare before he speaks, but what he says has a very strong impact.

BURNETT: Yes and being thoughtful and being measured are such incredible qualities of leadership, and to see that is so profound, and to watch, and those, I mean, every single person here with their hands waving at him, phones, of course, in the air, but then just drinking in the moment that we had just witnessed.

Father Art Purcaro, I just, I want to bring you into this because I know you're a close friend of the new Pope, and you hear Christopher, who has met him, talk about his thoughtfulness, his kindness, and we were seeing the gentleness with which he presented himself here. I know that you are a professor at Villanova, and you were with the Pope just last week in Rome, and when I say the Pope, of course, I mean Leo XIV.

Are you as stunned as the world is to hear this news?

FATHER ART PURCARO, ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT, VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY (via phone): I'm perhaps more stunned than the world is. I'm so pleased for us, for the world, the Church, for the world. This is a man who is a man of God, and what I've just heard him say is how he has lived, but I do believe what I've heard others say.

It's a special moment. He has taken a new name. He is a new person, and I believe he has chosen very intentionally and very well.

If you listen to what he just said for the first time, you heard the Catholic social thought, those principles on which our faith is founded in what now Leo XIV has declared to us in his opening statement to the world.

[13:45:00]

He's dignity, solidarity, subsidiarity, common good, a bridge builder, and as a true Augustinian, Pope Leo XIV has asked for the prayers, but he's also committed himself to being of the people of God and for the people of God for a better world for all. I am just overwhelmed. I'm awed.

I'm so pleased that God is able to choose each and every one of us to be in the world a sign of God's love for all.

BURNETT: Father Purcaro, do you know why he picked the name Leo? And had you ever had any conversation with him about a moment like this and what he would do or the name that he would pick?

PURCARO: Hopefully the 14th would would probably never. We have talked with friends. We have been friends for second from when he was a recently ordained to his years working in Peru as a missionary. I worked with him right here in Rome. He was the prior general. I worked with him as member of the General Council.

And when he started in the Diocese of Chiclayo, I had the privilege of of working with the clergy and the people there that he asked me to do that. But I don't think that that person ever suspected that God would ask him to do this.

But I do, as I say, I believe that he has chosen well, thoughtfully, because Leo XIII was the man who brought to the fore in the history of the church, Catholic social thought.

And it's a statement, I believe, that this is somebody who wants to continue the role that Pope Francis has chosen in the world, to be a pastor, to encourage everyone to be missionary disciples. That's not something that the hierarchy does for us. It's that we do together for the world.

So I don't -- I'm not surprised that he has chosen the name. And I'm very pleased that he has chosen that name.

BURNETT: Of course, a name of such importance. And Father Purcaro, stay with us. Christopher, I think as we sit here and it sinks in that this has happened, I can't help but -- and Father Beck mentioned this -- we are in a world where America's role has changed.

It has changed by choice. It has changed by its government, and it has changed in the way that the rest of the world sees it. You know, you talk about boycotts or the perception of America, that for Americans to be given such a gift, frankly, and for Americans to realize what that means, there is something incredibly powerful that I think is only just barely starting to sink in.

LAMB: Yes, I think that's right. It is incredible. And I think maybe Cardinal Prevost epitomizes the best of America, someone who is outward looking, someone who has a global vision, someone who wants to be a bridge builder, someone who recognizes the Church's and the Pope's role in the world to bring people together, to be focused on peace, to focus on finding solutions.

I think Cardinal Prevost, from what I know, is renowned for someone who can bring together those who have different points of view, but find a synthesis, find a way forward. And I think that's what the Cardinals have opted for.

BURNETT: Yes, and a statement -- Father Sam Sawyer joins us as well -- that they all knew they were making. Yes, they were sequestered, but they walked into that room in the world that we are all living in. And it is a world that is afraid and a world that is nervous. And they walked out of that room selecting Leo XIV, the first American pope.

FATHER SAM SAWYER, S.J., PRESIDENT AND EDITOR IN CHIEF, AMERICAN MAGAZINE: Well, and I think also in what he said from the loggia, speaking so much about peace, he's aware as well that the world is afraid, the world needs to be called back to peace, and he's doing that. But yes, it's such a stunning moment. You know, with Francis, we never would have expected the first Jesuit pope.

We never would have expected the first American pope. And now we've had both. Really an amazing moment.

BURNETT: It is an amazing moment. I think when it first happened and I saw your face and Christopher's face, your eyes were popping that this could have actually occurred.

Ben Wedeman is in the crowd as you have been. And Ben, I believe you're talking to some Americans.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we are with two Americans, Donna and Bud Matura, who arrived this morning in Italy, and they were in their hotel when they heard about the white smoke. They tried to come here in a taxi, but the crowd was too much. So they got out and just ran here.

DONNA MATURA, VISITING AMERICANS: We did. And everybody else.

WEDEMAN: And to find out that the Pope is from your country, what's your reaction?

[13:50:00]

D. MATURA: Amazing. I'm just, I'm shocked and I'm thrilled. And I just hope that he continues to do the wonderful works that Pope Francis did and just makes us all unified in the end.

WEDEMAN: And Bud, you were here before. You served in the military during the 1980s. You're back and back. The timing is quite incredible.

BUD MATURA, VISITING AMERICAN: Amazing. Amazing. Yes.

I was here 41 years ago, saw Pope John Paul II about 100 feet over there. And this is amazing. It's just very emotional and just super proud we have an American Pope.

Obviously a special man. Hopefully, you know, just leading the Church in today is a big task and it seems like he's up to it. You know, having getting voted in by, you know, that many Cardinals, so just incredibly exciting.

WEDEMAN: And what we also heard was fluent in Italian, fluent in Spanish. He worked in Peru. This is a man clearly of the world.

D. MATURA: He is very worldly and I think he's going to be a unifier. I really do. And I think, um, especially, you know, now in America, I think we need that more than anything is to represent the world and, and to show that we are peaceful and we believe in love and we're Christ loving people.

WEDEMAN: And what are you going to take away from your experience here in St. Peter's Square?

B. MATURA: I would say hope would be the biggest thing. Certainly hope, confidence in Christ. Always.

You look at the top of the cathedral and the monument there, you see the cross. So ultimately he's in charge. And I believe that, you know, good will prevail through Christ, through the Pope.

WEDEMAN: All right. Well, thank you both of you. And I hope you have a nice rest of your trip.

D. MATURA: Thank you so much.

WEDEMAN: So Erin, here's two people very happy to see an American Pope and hopeful that he will make a difference -- Erin.

BURNETT: Well, it is, it is a moment of, of surprise and in moments of surprise and unexpectedness, things can happen. I want to bring in Father Robert Hagan. He has known Pope Leo XIV for more than 25 years.

So father Rob, Wow. Can you believe this is real?

FATHER ROBERT HAGAN, FRIEND OF NEW POPE LEO XIV: We are shocked. We're very excited. It's almost leaves you speechless.

We're very, very, very happy for the Augustinians and for the world and for the Church. He is an exceptional man. He's a good human being. And I think the world is going to see a real instrument of God's grace and love. We're very blessed.

BURNETT: Father Rob, he talked about missionary, a missionary church. He talked about building bridges. He clearly had prepared, or he took the time -- we waited over an hour. So it was longer than we had anticipated. And maybe it was because he was writing what he chose to say to the crowd. Having known him for a quarter century, as you do, what did you hear as you heard him address the tens of thousands here?

HAGAN: I heard his lived experience. That wasn't just a speech. That's who he is. It's the life he lives. He is a bridge builder. He is a person of hope. He's incredibly bright, but he doesn't condescend. He uses his gifts in a way that lifts people up. And he's been doing it really throughout the course of his whole life, in his life as an Augustinian, his life as a missionary and a priest.

And certainly he will bring those gifts now as our Holy Father, the Pope. BURNETT: And knowing him as you do, what do you think his response was when he realized, at whatever point he realized in the past day and a half, that it was going to be him, that he was going to be the next Pope?

HAGAN: You know, as Catholics, as Christians around the world, we understand that this is really guided by the Holy Spirit. And so you really don't know. Just like Pope Francis at the time.

I mean, there's a lot of things that you read and a lot of people like to handicap these things. But until it actually happens and the Spirit moves in the direction that God wants us to move in, you really don't know. And so I think there was a lot of prayer, a lot of reflection, a lot of speculation.

And I don't think that Pope Leo had any designs on the office. You truly want what it is God's will to be. And so the Spirit has spoken.

[13:55:00]

And I think it's very humbling for all of us. And I can only imagine how he feels that the Spirit has designated him with this office and responsibility and opportunity to really be the instrument of peace and healing and hope that our world needs at this time.

BURNETT: And what does it say, Father, to you that in a world where there has never been an American Pope, in part because of America's dominance in the world, there were reasons that there had not been, and that at this moment, when America's relationship with the world is so fraught and so fragile, that the 133 Cardinals in that room would choose him, would at this moment choose an American?

HAGAN: As an American, I'm very humbled. I'm very proud. We are a loving people. I think that we all have our faults and our challenges and our growing edges. But Pope Leo represents all that is good about being an American, that to want to work for the freedom and the justice and the opportunity for all people, the core values upon which this country was founded. To leave some of the other things behind and really be an instrument, a promoter of all things good for the common good, for people on the margins, for the poor. These are the values that Pope Leo has lived.

As you know, you know, he has served as a missionary. He served as a leader. He served as an administrator, as a counselor, as a teacher. He's worn many hats. And so I think this is a culmination of gifts and experience that now the world will be proud of.

And certainly Americans, I think, can hold up as what we all aspire to be, to be the loving peacemakers, the promoters of freedom and justice that we're all called to be.

And so hopefully that will inspire people to do it in their -- where they find themselves, in their particular walks of life.

BURNETT: Father Rob, I appreciate your time and thank you so much. Thank you for sharing some of your friend, 25 years of friendship, and now seeing him on a stage and in a moment that is truly hard to comprehend, this incredible moment. Thank you so much.

So it does start to sink in. And I guess it's, you know, you see people here, just something good, something wonderful, a new Pope. Whoever it was, this crowd would have been full of joy, right?

When they said, I am so happy. That was before they knew who it was.

LAMB: Yes.

BURNETT: But then we find out also that we are a part of a moment in history, all of us collectively around the world watching this, and certainly here you feel it.

LAMB: Absolutely. And, you know, it's a moment of incredible joy, excitement, surprise. And I think the fact that it is an American Pope, the first American Pope, adds to what is an extraordinary moment.

Because I think there would have been a little bit of disappointment or deflation if we had seen a Pope from Europe or from Italy on the balcony. Because the papacy has already moved beyond Italy with Pope Francis, who was the first Latin American Pope. Now we're seeing that continuing.

The fact that the Church is more than Europe and it is going beyond that, I think that is so significant. I think that's also part of why this is such an historic and special moment.

SAWYER: I think that's such an interesting point. With Pope Francis, we had somebody who was a Latin American but of strong Italian heritage and had that connection. Now we have a Latin American who's actually a North American from the United States.

And this mixed identity, the way it really represents the Church's universal reach and universal mission, is really beautiful.

BURNETT: Yes. Father Mark Lewis joins us now. Father, also, I know you have known the Pope, Pope Leo XIV, for a long time.

Did you ever imagine that your friend, Robert Provost now, Pope Leo XIV, would be in this moment?

FATHER MARK LEWIS, FRIEND OF POPE LEO XIV: Actually, no. I've never met him.

BURNETT: OK, I'm sorry. I was misinformed. What do you think of an American becoming Pope in this moment? Is that something that you ever expected to see?

LEWIS: No, no. I was pretty clear that I didn't think I would ever see a U.S. Pope, so it's a complete surprise for me.

END