SAN ANTONIO – Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller of the Archdiocese of San Antonio spoke with reporters on Wednesday evening hours after Robert Prevost was confirmed as the Catholic Church’s newest pope.
The briefing took place at 5 p.m. at the San Fernando Cathedral Center Hall Sala before evening Mass at 7 p.m.
Trinity University political science professor John Francis Burke joined KSAT anchor Stephania Jimenez on Thursday outside San Fernando Cathedral for his thoughts on the newest pope of the Catholic Church.
Watch Jimenez’s interview with Burke below.
The new pope, Robert Prevost from Chicago, is the first one from the U.S. in the history of the Catholic Church. Prevost, a 69-year-old member of the Augustinian religious order, took the name Leo XIV.
Prevost had been a leading candidate for the papacy, but there had long been a taboo against a U.S. pope, given the country’s geopolitical power already wielded in the secular sphere.
As the Catholic community prepares for the new chapter, García-Siller’s briefing is anticipated to provide insight into the historic election and the vision that Pope Leo XIV may have for the future of the Church.
García-Siller provided a statement on Facebook on Thursday afternoon about the election, which can be read below.
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