The state’s Catholic bishops are calling on the half a million Catholics in Iowa to pray for Pope Leo XIV, the first American born pope.
Bishop William Joensen of the Des Moines Catholic Diocese spoke with reporters a few hours after the new pope was elected. “This is…Good Shepherd Sunday,” Joensen said. “And we believe and give thanks to God that he’s just given us such a good shepherd.”
Joensen was at St. Patrick’s Parish in Council Bluffs when the white smoke rose at the Vatican and Cardinal Robert Prevost was announced as the new pope. “It’s a remarkable day for the universal church…and certainly for the United States and all of us have a certain pride in the beautiful way that one of our own is elected the Roman Pontiff,” Joensen said, “something that many of us, kind of like the fall of the Berlin Wall, never thought we’d see in our lifetimes.”
Joensen notes Pope Leo, who grew up in the Chicago area, used the word unity several times in his opening address. “Maybe now as one from the Midwest — we like to think that we kind of carry that balance between the coasts — and now, you know, on a global perspective that Pope Leo will bring that charism to the church,” Joensen said. “Unity within the church, larger unity on a social and, God willing, peace on a geopolitical scale as well.”
The state’s other bishops issued written statements. The Archbishop of Dubuque, Thomas Zinkula, said Pope Leo’s first address “was a clarion call for greater unity.” In 2023, Pope Leo was put in charge of the Vatican office that evaluated the nominees for Catholic bishops around the world and that includes the Catholic bishops Pope Francis appointed to lead the Davenport and Sioux City Dioceses. Bishop John Keehner of the Sioux City Diocese says Pope Leo is “a holy man who will lead us with strong faith and humility.” Bishop Dennis Walsh of the Davenport Diocese said Pope Leo “will face many challenges, as did his predecessors,” and Walsh asked Catholics to join him “in prayer and thanksgiving” for the new pope.