On behalf of the entire Diocese of Orihuela-Alicante, I begin by expressing our gratitude to Pope Leo XIV for having said “yes” to the call to be our pastor; at the same time, we express our most sincere commitment to collaborate in the immense task entrusted to him… With you, Your Holiness, we are one heart and one soul!

The challenge facing Leo XIV is imposing, as the globalized culture in which we live is moving in a very different direction from that of the Gospel. Yet, we perceive many signs of dissatisfaction that denote that the heart of every person yearns for an authenticity and integrity that the welfare state is unable to offer. I do not doubt that the figure and vast legacy of Saint Augustine will be decisive in this pontificate. And this is no small matter, since Augustine is a true explorer of the human heart (in fact, he is known as the “doctor of the heart”), and I think he is the key figure in responding to the thirst for God latent in so much suffering and dissatisfaction: “You made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” (Confessions of Saint Augustine, Book I, Chapter 1).

In the days before the start of the conclave, I sent a message on social media in which I stated the following: “We need a Pope with the apostolic determination of Saint John Paul II, the doctrinal clarity of Benedict XVI, and the heart of Pope Francis…” Well, I have firm hope that God has heard our prayers and that in Leo XIV we will be able to see the three desiderata fulfilled.

We sense the apostolic determination of Saint John Paul II in the missionary spirit of an American who left his prosperous nation at a very young age to evangelize in Peru… Missionaries are those who consider the world their home, the weakest their treasure, and the Gospel their banner. What joy that we have the first missionary Pope in history! Obviously, I speak of “missionary” in the modern sense of the term, since the first missionary Pope was Saint Peter.

We perceive the doctrinal clarity of Benedict XVI not only in his extensive training (mathematical, philosophical, theological, and legal), but also in the unequivocal statements he made throughout his episcopal ministry and as Prior General of the Augustinian Order, embracing and proclaiming the Church’s Magisterium in its entirety, including the most controversial media-related issues that the dominant single-minded approach seeks to impose on the Church. In this regard, I find the motto chosen by Leo XIV very significant: “In Illo uno unum” (that we may be one in the One). With this expression, Saint Augustine underlines the importance of the Pope being an instrument of internal communion within the Church, around the same faith, without allowing worldly ideologies to cause internal divisions among us.

We see the heart of Pope Francis latent in the humility of Leo XIV. I found it particularly eloquent that our new Pope expressed, in his first homily (Mass “Pro Eclessia,” concelebrated in the Sistine Chapel the day after his election), the need to place the risen Christ at the center of evangelizing action (“Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, that is, the only Savior and the One who reveals the face of the Father”), thereby assuming the commitment to exercise authority without seeking personal prominence. These were his words: “Disappear so that Christ may remain, make oneself small so that He may be known and glorified.”

I began by saying that the challenge before Leo XIV is imposing; And so, I dare to take advantage of this greeting at the beginning of this pontificate to appeal to all our faithful to recover or begin the habit of praying the Our Father daily for the Pope’s intentions. Surely, in these past few days, many of you have already experienced the power and efficacy of prayer, as well as the great value it has in uniting us in the communion of the Church.

In these early days of his pontificate, many are curiously tracing Robert Francis Prevost’s past, trying to uncover the soul of this 69-year-old Augustinian religious, who has become our father in the faith. I won’t hide the fact that I’ve done so too, and I’ve discovered a precious pearl: the Consecration of the Diocese of Chiclayo to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Heart of Jesus, made by Bishop Robert Prevost in 2019 before the pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fatima. A true sign, in line with Pope Francis’ recently published encyclical (Dilexit Nos) on the Sacred Heart of Jesus!