Pope Leo XVI was elected on 5/8/2025 after the unfortunate passing away of Pope Francis. Pope Leo was elected at 70 years of age and was born in Chicago — marking the first time in history an American has been a Pope. The election has international importance, significantly affecting Catholics around the globe and even non-Catholics who are not part of the Catholic Church; this affects the manner in which we practice our faith, follow Church doctrine, and relate to one another on a daily basis. With this new spiritual figurehead, the Catholic Church steps into a new time of spiritual guidance and direction through our recently elected pope.
This is significant because Pope Leo XVI is much more than the head of the Catholic Church, he is also the figure to whom we look for spiritual guidance for billions of humans on the planet. Every move and every word that comes out of his mouth greatly affects Catholics by how we come to know God and live our faith day-to-day. A new pope can establish new goals, bring awareness to, and help address issues in the world both in and outside of the Church. For Saint Joe High School students and Catholic school students, Pope Leo’s leadership holds significance and significance for us; it affects our students’ prayer, shapes the manner in which we are taught in our classrooms, and brings unusual focus to being young members of the Catholic Church.
Many are wondering, how does this papal election have an effect on Saint Joe High School?The papal election of Pope Leo XVI has a very big impact on Catholic schools like Saint Joe. As a Catholic school, our daily morning and afternoon prayers, monthly Mass, regular times for reconciliation, service hours, and all of our Catholic customs are directly related to the leadership of the Church. When a new pope is chosen, he can place new emphasis on certain Catholic values such as youth involvement in the Catholic Church, Catholic school education, and protecting God’s creation. Those values are lived out each school day in class, through service projects, and throughout the entire school community. Pope Leo’s agenda has a direct influence on our day-to-day life as students. Being Americans ourselves, we too can have a sense of identification with Pope Leo XVI because he himself is American and was born in Chicago, the first pope to be born there. We identify with him more because of this. Being American-born can also create curiosity in us about how having grown up in America shaped his papacy, his values, and the way he approaches leadership.
Saint Joe students have shown great interest in finding out more about what type of leader Pope Leo XVI will be and how Pope Leo’s history and background will influence how he leads during papacy. Some students are inquiring whether his American upbringing will shape the way he behaves on global matters and whether he will focus on more youth Catholic education, since these are two aspects that directly affect student life at Catholic school. This is such an important moment for young people since it’s so open and accepting for students to imagine themselves as members of our Catholic Church and visualize how their voices might be heard and valued. Some students have pointed out that they feel more personally connected with the pope than they ever did before, knowing that he faces challenges similar to their own and understands the struggles of everyday life.
At Saint Joe High School, the election of Pope Leo XVI was honored in a way that brought together the entire community of Saint Joe High School. Classes took a break to observe the live papal inauguration announcement of Pope Leo XVI. This provided students with a unique chance to see the history of Catholicism unfold in real-time, directly within their classrooms. After watching the video, students and teachers debated over the papal inauguration, and this stirred up many feelings and conversations about religion and how the rule of our newly placed pope, Pope Leo XVI, might affect the future of our Catholic Church and local community. This shared experience of students and educators in our Catholic school was a living, breathing expression of the firm Catholic bond between our school community and the Catholic Church around the globe. The Vatican may be thousands of miles away, but these moments remind us that we belong to a much greater spiritual family, bonded through prayer, hope, and celebration with Catholics everywhere.
The election of Pope Leo XVI is not just a piece of Roman history—it is a benchmark that stretches out and touches the lives of Catholics everywhere, including our student body at Saint Joe High School. His legacy will decide how we grow in our faith, how we celebrate Catholic customs, and how we see our role in the greater Church. Witnessing his papacy has been a reminder that even as students, we are part of something beyond ourselves and our daily routine. As Pope Leo XVI begins, our school advances in hope, wonder, and restored faith, ready to embrace the path his papacy will take.
