Episode Transcript
[00:00:10] Speaker A: Welcome to a very special edition of our diocesan podcast, Big City Catholics, with Bishop Robert Brennan, the diocesan bishop of Brooklyn and Queens, and myself, Father Christopher Henyu. Bishop, you can do the honors.
[00:00:20] Speaker B: Habemos papam. We have a pope.
We're thrilled to welcome Pope Leo xiv.
[00:00:27] Speaker A: What a great thing you and I are here at St Joseph's Co Cathedral. We're watching the announcement, just to see the joy on your face, too. The joy is palpable. It's so exciting to see a Fairly young pope, 69 years old, and he.
[00:00:40] Speaker B: Hails from Chicago, Illinois, from the United States. He was a missionary. Boy, this is great. A missionary bishop who became the Pope. That's going to set a tone, right?
[00:00:50] Speaker A: Absolutely. Continues that message of Pope Francis, that idea of being missionaries, going out to the peripheries. He worked for many years. Most people wouldn't even know him necessarily as an American. Because he worked so long in Peru.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: Exactly. You could see from his reading in Spanish his love for the people he served in Peru. Now he's been in Rome a couple of years, serving for the dicastery of bishops and.
[00:01:13] Speaker A: And a relatively new cardinal.
[00:01:15] Speaker B: A relatively new cardinal, yeah.
[00:01:17] Speaker A: Only in only two years now. So, like, his whole life has changed, you know, that's such a beautiful thing. He gave tribute to the Augustinians, of which he's.
[00:01:25] Speaker B: He said, I am a son of St. Augustine. And I love the quote he used. He said, St. Augustine once said, with you, I am a Christian. For you, I am a bishop. And that's going to mark, I think, a lot of his papacy, that sense of solidarity, but also humble service. You could see it.
[00:01:46] Speaker A: And you actually share some kind of a unique background in your studies together, too.
[00:01:51] Speaker B: Yes. So his undergraduate degree was in math, and then he went on to study with the Augustinian priests. But there's just one quarrel, and I say this as a Queen's man, that, you know, Villanova is a strong rival to us in basketball at St. John's but it's still part of the Big East.
[00:02:14] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. That's right. He had such a beautiful way about him when he come onto the balcony. Very emotional, very like.
[00:02:21] Speaker B: It wasn't a toothy smile, it was like his lips were sealed, but you could just see his beam and he.
[00:02:26] Speaker A: Could see the emotion absolutely in his face.
Now, the choice of Leo xiv. So Leo xiii, you know, we were talking about this earlier with just concerns of social justice and continuing that idea, that theme of that papacy.
[00:02:40] Speaker B: So Leo XIII served at the end of the 19th century and was the pope who wrote Rerum Navarum. Rerum Navarum was the great social encyclical. This was the beginning of the Industrial revolution, where you had child labor, where you had people working in terrible conditions. And he was a voice for those who were poor, for the workers, for those who were struggling. I would imagine that enters into his decision. The other piece to his message is, you know, he thanked Pope Francis. He said a beautiful tribute to Pope Francis. But like Pope Francis, he picks up that theme of welcome the churches for all.
The church is for all. I understand that, you know, he was wanted to walk in synodality. So I think he'll pick up a lot of the work that Pope Francis did, but I think he'll bring a new emphasis being a missionary bishop.
[00:03:36] Speaker A: Yeah, you mentioned that idea of the welcome the missionary church. We should receive everyone like this square. It's been said that, like, when the St. Peter's Square was designed, it was designed as like, arms to walk.
[00:03:46] Speaker B: That's right. To embrace all people. That's right. He said like the square earlier this week, when we were kind of drafting, you might say, this week's podcast, when we didn't know what the news would be at the end of the week. You made a good point that this year we've been sort of living a very powerful Easter season. We experienced death and resurrection on Easter Monday as we heard of the news of the death of Pope Francis. We went through that period of mourning, but also we mourned like people who have hope, and we mourned in the light of the resurrection. It was certainly an Easter message. We remembered Pope Francis. Francis going out into the square and greeting people with an Easter message. And then we've been moving now toward sort of a Pentecost. So it's an abbreviated season, an intense season, but we were calling upon the Holy Spirit and the church united with Mary. We were invoking the name of the Holy Spirit. And I thank you for that insight. That was a very powerful insight. I thought of it this morning as I was listening watching the chimney. And somebody made the point of St. Peter's Square was filled with people speaking all different languages. And there you go. Another reference to Pentecost. And here it is. He speaks the different languages to the world, to the city and to the world.
[00:05:03] Speaker A: Yeah. And yet a language of unity and justice and peace. His opening words were about peace.
[00:05:09] Speaker B: And his opening words and his closing words. And it was his closing words, if I got it right. It was something along the lines of. And peace to you and to all your families. It's very practical. Yeah.
[00:05:18] Speaker A: May my greeting of peace enter into your hearts and your families. I think we're really in for a beautiful new age in the history of our church. Certainly, we pray for a healthy and long reign of his Papacy.
[00:05:33] Speaker B: He's 69 years old, looks to be very energetic, kind of reminiscent of the early days of Pope St. John Paul II. He was a little younger, but still, the idea of somebody energetic leading the church, I think this can be a really good thing for us.
[00:05:48] Speaker A: And pausing in the midst of his opening remarks to pray through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary. And today, this day that the Pope was announced, a day in honor of our Blessed Mother Mary of Pompeii. So there's a connection there to the Marian tribute.
[00:06:02] Speaker B: And that, too, was a very Pope Francis thing to do. Well, to all the people of Brooklyn and Queens, I hope that you can rejoice with us with the church throughout the world. We firmly believe as Catholics that Christ has his hand in this, that the work of Peter is really that the risen Christ is working in and through him. And we pray for him as he begins this new service to the church. But we also have to really come together as a church and embrace him and follow where he's going to lead us now into this new era before we pray to now Our Father, hail Mary and glory be. That's a traditional way of praying for the intentions of the Holy Father. And so that's something you can do right at home, maybe on your own. Maybe as soon as this podcast ends.
[00:06:47] Speaker A: Perhaps we could pray it together.
[00:06:48] Speaker B: Father Chris made the suggestion. Why don't we do that together? So when we come to the close, we'll pray the Our Father, Hail Mary and glory be for our Holy Father. But thank you for joining us for this week's podcast. It's abbreviated, but this news is so fresh, we wanted to share it with you as soon as possible. We'll absorb it all in the next days to come and have much more to talk about. Not only next week, but I think, for years to come.
[00:07:14] Speaker A: Absolutely, Absolutely. Bishop, why don't we begin our prayer as we do for our Holy Father, Pope Leo xiv.
[00:07:20] Speaker B: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[00:07:23] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:07:23] Speaker B: Amen. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
[00:07:31] Speaker A: Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[00:07:40] Speaker B: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
[00:07:45] Speaker A: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for our sinners now and at the hour of our death.
[00:07:49] Speaker B: Amen. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
[00:07:53] Speaker A: As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
[00:07:57] Speaker B: And may Almighty God watch over, protect and bless our Holy Father, Pope Leo xiv. And may the Lord watch over and grant you his peace and his grace. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[00:08:10] Speaker A: Amen. Good to be with you on this exciting and historic day, Bishop Avemus. Popham. We'll talk again next week.
