The 8th of June marks a month since Pope Leo XIV was elected. Reflecting on the gift of the Holy Father to the Church in this time of history, Archbishop Alfred Adewale Martins of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos shares his thoughts and wishes for Pope Leo XIV.
Sr Oluwakemi Akinleye fsp – Lagos
Your Grace, as Pope Leo XIV marks one month since his election as Pope on the 8th of June 2025, what are your thoughts and aspirations for him? What do you wish that, through his papacy, the Church will attain?
Since the announcement of his election, he has had a significant impact on the world in many ways. I believe that from all indications and from all the events that have taken place so far, he is the right choice for our Church and world today. People from diverse backgrounds have acknowledged that God was at work in his election, and so we thank God for him.
The Pope’s gestures, the way he has spoken, and the things he has said have also been inspiring. We believe that, indeed, God is at work in his being our Pope at this point in time. And so, we need to continue to pray for him that as he carries the burden of office and faces all the responsibilities of being Pope, he will do it with the Grace of God alive and active and with the Holy Spirit guiding his actions. We pray for him in that direction.
A voice of peace
We also hope and pray that he continues to be a voice for peace, both in the world and within the Church; that his actions and decisions will work towards the attainment of peace in the world. The way he has spoken on behalf of, or rather spoken for, peace in Gaza, Ukraine, and other parts of the world is encouraging. Certainly, this has had a positive impact on everyone who is listening to him. We hope that they will follow his advice. I also believe that the need to fortify the unity of the Church amid the differences that we have today is extremely important. The gestures we are seeing already indicate that he’ll be the bridge builder among the different groups and positions within our Church. And, we have high expectations that with the help of God, our Church will continue to flourish even better than ever before. We certainly will continue to pray for him.
Looking forward to Pope Leo visiting Africa
The Church in Africa, do you see our Bishops expecting him to come visit soon, or are you thinking of ways to better collaborate with the Holy Father?
Yes, we expect him to visit Africa. Thankfully, he is familiar with the situation in our country, having visited Nigeria several times before. And with his brothers, the Augustinians, with us. He has good information and good knowledge of our situation. Additionally, the President of our country was at the inauguration, and he told us that he had personally extended an invitation to him. We, the Bishops who attended the inauguration, also informed the President that we would expect him to support us when we extend a formal invitation to the Pope to visit our country, Nigeria. We truly look forward to that. Well, that would really be wonderful.
