We welcome and pray for our new Pope, Leo XIV. Our Cardinals have chosen a man whose first public statement was “Peace be with you all”. His wide pastoral and administrative experience, together with his command of languages – he speaks English, Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese and can read Latin and German – augurs well for our Church.

In his first full speech he said, “To all of you, brothers and sisters of Rome, of Italy, of the whole world, we want to be a synodal Church, a Church that walks, a Church that always seeks peace, that always seeks charity, that always seeks to be close especially to those who suffer.”

He is quoted as saying in a published interview that “Maintaining unity in diversity is a real challenge”. This echoes our Catalyst logo, the arrows and the cross symbolising “diversity giving rise to communion” and Gaudium et Spes, “let there be unity in what is necessary, freedom in what is unsettled, and charity in any case.”