COMMENTARY: The words of the doctor of the Church, In Illo uno unum — ‘In the One, we are one’ — express the spiritual unity of all Christians as members of Christ’s body.

To understand Pope Leo XIV, look to his namesake, says Ward Fitzgerald, a Philly area businessman who helps raise money for papal causes.

Erik Pohlmeier, bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine, is one of many welcoming Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, a 69-year-old Chicago native, as Pope Leo XIV, the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church. Pohlmeier described the appointing of the first American Pope in history as a “great honor,” in a public statement issued by the diocese.

American cardinals who voted in the conclave played down the significance of the new pope’s roots in the United States, saying his service to the poor and the church had propelled him to the papacy.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has invited Pope Leo XIV to Ukraine. During their first phone chat, Zelensky thanked him for supporting peace.