In the News
In a statement, B’nai B’rith International extended its warm wishes to our Catholic partners and friends around the world on the election of Pope Leo XIV. Read more at JNS.org.
Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, 69, a Chicago native, was elected as the new pope of the Catholic Church on Thursday. He will be called Leo XIV.
The first U.S.-born pope is also a Peruvian citizen and was previously archbishop of Peru, the Associated Press reported.
Most recently, the new pope was prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, “one of the most important jobs in the Catholic Church,” the AP reported, as “the powerful head of the office that vets bishop nominations from around the world.”
Prevost had “a prominence going into the conclave that few other cardinals have,” it added.
“We have to seek together to be a missionary church. A church that builds bridges and dialogue,” the new pope said in his remarks from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, CNN reported.
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Robert Spitzer and Daniel S. Mariaschin, president and CEO, respectively, of B’nai B’rith International, stated that “we look forward to continuing to work extremely closely with the Catholic Church and community during this new papacy, at a time of manifold common challenges.”