Faithful God, we thank you for calling Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as Bishop of Rome and Pope Leo XIV. May he be a servant of communion for all your people, and a witness to peace and hope in the human family.

 

Through your Holy Spirit, enable him day after day to walk in the footsteps of your Son Jesus, as a creator of unity in the mystery of communion that is his Body, the Church, compassionate towards those who suffer and in solidarity with every person who seeks peace.

In a letter to the new pope, Brother Matthew wrote:

At this moment of particular importance for the whole Church, we pray that the Holy Spirit will sustain you in your ministry, so that you may be a sign of unity, peace and hope for the whole world. In this sense, your first blessing urbi et orbi touches us deeply, especially the call to be “a synodal Church, a Church on the move, a Church that always seeks peace, that always seeks charity, that always seeks to be close especially to those who suffer”.

On Tuesday, a prayer for the conclave was held in Taizé and elsewhere in the world, an initiative taken up by the World Council of Churches in an online prayer at midday.

Photo : ecumenical prayer vigil in Rome on September 30, 2023, the day of the consistory at which Bishop Prevost became a cardinal. (C) Lars König, Taizé / Together Media Team