In the May 8 interview with Citizen TV, the Archbishop of Nyeri since June 2017 recalled that Pope Leo XIV has visited the East African nation multiple times describing the 69-year-old American-born member of the Order of St. Augustine as an “amazing listener.”
“I had a chance to have long discussions with him, because Augustinians work here in Kenya in several missions,” Archbishop Muheria said, and added, “I remember he has been a very pleasant person; a person who listens deeply; he listens quietly; he’s not one who is rushed to start telling and speaking, so I know he is an amazing listener.”
Archbishop Muheria expressed optimism that the Church in Kenya is set to benefit from the missionary experience of the Holy Father, who succeeds the late Pope Francis.
“He (Pope Leo XIV) knows Kenya; he is a missionary; he knows mission land, and so for us in the younger church and missionary church we are very happy because we don’t have to do any more explanation. He has a good knowledge of what is on the ground,” the Kenyan member of Opus Dei said, and added, “It is very easy to relate and he will for sure take into account those realities that he has touched, in his Papacy.”
Archbishop Muheria expressed his belief that the new Pontiff is not going to be “just a Shepherd”, saying, “He will be a Shepherd with a firm direction, who gives us guidance. We will not be waffling in life; we will have a point of reference who is our father and that is why we call him the Holy Father.”
Commenting on the new Pontiff’s choice of name for his pontificate, the 61-year-old Kenyan Archbishop remembered Pope Leo XIII’s focus on “the Social Doctrine of the Church and on the problems and ailments of society.”
“Perhaps this could be a leaning to a very social concern of our new Pope, so he may be giving us a direction,” he stated.
On May 8 at at 6:09 p.m. Rome time, white smoke rose from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, signalling that the Cardinal Electors had elected the successor of St. Peter to take over from the late Pope Francis, who passed on Easter Monday, April 21 and was laid to rest on April 26 in his “beloved” Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major as he had explained in his testament.
The new pontiff appeared on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at approximately 7:25 p.m. Rome time, where the Protodeacon of the College of Cardinals and Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, Dominique Cardinal Mamberti, announced in Latin: “Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum: Habemus Papam!” (“I announce to you a great joy: We have a pope!”).
Following the announcement, Pope Leo XIV addressed the crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square and those watching around the world, offering his first blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world) as the new Roman pontiff.
