Harris County Catholic shares excitement of Pope Leo XIV, hopes his election will have impact on churches here
The Brief
Local Catholics react to the news of the first American Pope, Pope Leo XIV.
A member of the Prince of Peach Catholic church says Pope Leo XIV is a very humble servant leader.
Patrick Spedale shares the history of Pope Leo XIV and his work with Pope Francis.
TOMBALL, TEXAS - For the first time, an American Cardinal, Robert Prevost, was elected pope.
He is now known as Pope Leo XIV.
While this is historic, Catholics in Houston share more on the impact this could have here at home.
Patrick Spedale, Director of Worship at the Prince of Peace Catholic Community in Tomball, says it was a shock to see an American elected Pope.
RELATED: Cardinal Robert Prevost elected new Pope Leo XIV: Here's what's next
What they're saying
"So the emotion of it is the cardinals and their wisdom, guided by the Holy Spirit, elected a pontiff, the 267th pope of the universal church, who is a man of great humility, a man of great love of the poor that wants to see the church being as he said today," Spedale said. "It's historic and momentous. This is not something that we saw coming or expected or that I even thought was a remote possibility."
Spedale says Pope Leo embodies a lot of the qualities of Pope Francis and worked closely with him. He adds, Pope Leo is considered as a very humble servant leader, so very much so in the style of Pope Francis.
"It certainly makes sense the offices that he's been serving in led him to be a strong contender of the papacy. He was in charge of the Dicastery for bishops. So he worked closely with Pope Francis about who would be named bishops of different dioceses since 2023," Spedale said. "He was also the prefect of the Dicastery of the church in Latin America, so overseeing operations and missions and personnel of the church in Latin America."
Spedale adds there is significance in Pope Leo choosing his name.
"By taking the name Leo the 14th, he makes a very strong nod or gesture to Pope Leo the XIII, "Spedale said," So, by taking the name Leo the 14th, he definitely announces that there is going to be continued advocacy for the church to speak up on behalf of the poor, the oppressed, the marginalized, and to call power to truth and to justice."
What's next
Spedale said that he hopes Pope Leo XIV will have an impact on the American Catholic Church.
"I think that he will bring the gospel in a way that Francis started with" Spedale said," It will be a chance for Pope Leo to influence the church in the United States to continue to discover the gospel in news ways. How do we read the signs of the times today and how we apply the gospel to our country to our world in everything that we do and continue to be an emphasis on solidarity, social justice and care for the worker and the poor and creation as well, which is a major part of Catholic social teaching.
The Source
FOX 26 reporter Leslie DelasBour spoke with Patrick Spedale, Director of Worship at the Prince of Peace Catholic Community.
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So, not something I ever thought would happen, but it's amazing what'll happen when you love someone enough, when you're willing to fight for what you know is right, and when you're angry. Zach Wichter: And you mentioned before you were also in DC the day the decision came down. What was that experience like, and what were you thinking about, and what would you have said to John if he was there with you? Jim Obergefell: I'm just holding the hands of friends sitting on either side of me thinking, all right, here it comes, here it comes. And of course I'm thinking, John, I wish you were here, I wish you could experience this, I wish it was your hand I was holding. All I wanted in that moment was to hug and kiss John and say, "Our marriage can never be erased." He wasn't there. I didn't have that joy of sharing that moment with him. I thought about so many people who I had met over the course of the case, the people who were coming up to me and sharing photos and telling me stories and talking about what this potential decision meant to them and what it meant to the person they loved, their child, was thinking about them. And then just the unexpected realization that for the first time in my life as an out gay man, I actually felt like an equal American. I wasn't expecting to feel that. And that was a really beautiful realization. I feel equal. It's about queer kids having a future, knowing that in the words of a mom and dad who stopped me on the street in Philadelphia with their child in a stroller, they said, "Thanks to you and those other plaintiffs, Jim, we know our kid can one day marry the person they love, no matter whom that person is." That's what I think about. So, I don't get too hung up in the "you're a historic figure" because that just, I don't know, feels weird to me. I focus more on the difference the fight I was part of has made for millions of people. Hundreds of thousands of couples have gotten married since June 26th, 2015. And that's something we should celebrate. I'm really, really grateful that I got to be part of that. And it's simply because John and I loved each other and we wanted to exist. Zach Wichter: Jim, thanks for coming on The Excerpt. Jim Obergefell: Thanks for having me. It was great. Zach Wichter: Thanks to our senior producers, Shannon Rae Green and Kaely Monahan for their production assistance. Our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to podcasts@ Thanks for listening. I'm Zach Wichter. Taylor Wilson will be back tomorrow morning with another episode of The Excerpt.
