Fox News' Benjamin Hall and theologian Jonathan Morris take a look at the ramifications of Pope Leo XIV's election as leader of the Catholic Church. #foxnews #fox #news #pope #religion #rome #catholic #world #us #american
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00:00Our coverage continues. That's a live look at Vatican City, where the first ever American Pope has been named a cardinal from Chicago, delivering a very powerful message there live to a massive crowd that had been growing for hours there and days, I should say, in St. Peter's Square. That's where our Benjamin Hall is and Jonathan Morris. What a moment that was. And here we go. Now we explore what are the implications of the first ever American Pope.
00:30American Pope to you, Benjamin. Well, absolutely. I mean, that's something that Jonathan and I have been talking about for a while. I think it was quite interesting that the Pope did not speak in English. He spoke in Italian. He spoke in Spanish, but not in English. And I think perhaps sending a message to the other cardinals and to the Catholic Church that he would not be totally governed by his American identity, that he would be a Pope for the whole world. And if you look at his own background, he has spent a lot of time around the world. He lived in Peru for many years. He's had a number of different leadership roles within
00:59in the Vatican. So he is very firmly seen more so as a global Catholic leader rather than an American leader. And I wonder if he was trying to send that message by not speaking in English. And, you know, I was asking Jonathan earlier what that gives him as a Pope, the fact that he has had so many leadership roles and he's lived over the world. Does that give any suggestion as the kind of Pope that he might be?
01:19It does. It does. And very well said, Benjamin. The fact is, he's a very astute man. You can see that already. He came out, as Bishop Barron mentioned, in a more traditional dress. That tells all of the conservatives, especially the Catholic conservatives, who were concerned that Pope Francis was putting aside the traditions of the church, saying, hey, it's okay. I understand you.
01:44He also gave the message very clearly that the world needs peace as his first line, his first line. And he repeated it over and over again. He said, peace be with you. Those are the words of Jesus who looked at his apostles after the resurrection.
02:02And they were frightened in that upper room. And they were frightened in that upper room. And he said, peace be with you. They were afraid of their lives, for their lives. And many of them died for the faith. But he said, my peace is with you.
02:15He also gave a very clear message, as you mentioned, Benjamin, about by choosing to speak in Latin and some of the prayers in Italian and in Spanish. He didn't have an American accent. I speak Spanish and Italian. I can tell you his Italian and Spanish were superb. And he's telling people, I understand you. I feel you. And I love you. He talks about love.
02:41I know, you know, we just had an Argentinian pope in Pope Francis. And I was speaking to some Spanish speaking Americans before coming over. And they said, oh, no, please bring back another Latin American. I said, you've already had one. Come on, give it a break. But he is he is actually a Latin American in many ways.
03:04He's an American born in Chicago, having gone to an American university, having served Americans. But he spent most of his priesthood, most of his ministry in Peru.
03:16Yeah. You know, it's interesting because there are so many different parts of the Catholic Church at the moment. And I think it might be fair to say that perhaps some of the more conservative ones will be somewhat upset to a certain degree that he was picked over a more conservative figure.
03:30Would you have any advice for him? And you've watched so many conclaves. You know, you know, so many cardinals.
03:36Would you have any advice for him when he enters the leadership of this church, when he has to try and bring together all of these different groups and these segments?
03:45Well, I'm nobody to give advice to any pope and certainly not on his first day. But the cardinals have given him advice.
03:51And the cardinals in those days leading up to the conclave spoke very clearly about what they believed the church needs.
04:01And he has that in his in his mind, in his heart. And if he accepted, as he did, the papacy to be the 267th successor of St.
04:11Peter, he knows what he's getting himself into. And he is obviously filled with the grace of God now to carry out that task.
04:19And I would say I'm sorry, Benjamin, one last thing. Advice in terms of not to the pope, but how about to us to give him some time?
04:28And for if you think he's too liberal, if you think he's too conservative, give him time.
04:34The papacy, the weight of the papacy has a way of changing you. We've seen it over and over again.
04:41That's right. With Pope Francis, I think many people were surprised with the kind of pope that he became over his time.
04:46And it was Pope Francis that Pope Leo XIV made him a cardinal. But he did that only 20 months ago.
04:52And it seems to me an incredibly short time to have been a cardinal before being made pope.
04:57Can you think of a pope that has been a cardinal for less time in modern era?
05:02Listen, he's yeah, he's only been working back at the Vatican for two years.
05:06And then he became a cardinal shortly after that. But he's he's also 69 years old.
05:13That's relatively young. You can see it. We've been used to, of course, Pope Francis and watching him grow old and watching him die, really.
05:22And that was beautiful, beautiful in and of itself. But now we have a relatively young pope and he looks like he's physically fit.
05:30He looks sure of himself, as Bill Hemmer mentioned. He looked happy.
05:36And yet he also looked quiet. This is going to be quite the ride.
05:40Sixty nine years old. And many people have been saying that they perhaps it would be a cardinal who is in his 70s.
05:46Because when you're in your 60s, that's a pope who could be there for 25, 30 years.
05:51I mean, it can be a really long paper scene.
05:55Do you think that that he sets off on this journey trying to make big decisions early on?
06:01Or do you think that he would enter it slowly?
06:04He seems to be a careful man, an astute man, a careful man.
06:10He was elected by his own Augustinian brothers to be their provincial and then to be their general superior, so to speak, in charge of Augustinians throughout the world.
06:20And he succeeded at that.
06:22Can you explain Augustinians? You know, he's an Augustinian.
06:25What do they what are their teachings? What sort of defines them?
06:30So just to clarify what a religious order is in the first place.
06:34Right. So there are diocesan priests, but then there are Jesuits, Franciscans, Augustinian is a religious family within the Catholic Church.
06:42And they're often to do with teaching.
06:44Well, we think of Villanova, Villanova University.
06:46They run a fabulous university in the United States, but they have different types of ministries throughout the world, including education.
06:53Yeah. Well, so there we go.
06:54You know, we know a fair amount about Pope Leo XIV.
06:57But I think the one thing that everyone knows is that we don't know what kind of a pope he will really be.
07:01And I think we'll learn that in the coming weeks, days, if not the coming years.
07:05Sandra.
07:05Benjamin, Jonathan, thank you so much for that.
07:07I want to also let everybody know that President Trump has responded to the election of the new pope, and he has issued a statement.
07:15Congratulations to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was just named Pope.
07:20Hey, Sean Hannity here.
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