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Seminarians at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers erupted in cheers as Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, was announced. FOX 5’s Richard Giacovas was there for the emotional moment, as future priests broke into chants of “USA!” and knelt in prayer for the new Holy Father.
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Election of the new pope is, of course, big news at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers
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All right, Fox 5's Richard Giacobis joins us live from there now. Richard, what's the reaction like there
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Can it compete to what we just saw from Jody Goldberg in Long Island? I think so, Steve and Natasha
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It was emotional, but it was also euphoric to watch history unfold with the future leaders
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of the Catholic Church. Remember, these young seminarians have been studying here at St. Joseph's, and at a time
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when there is a vocational crisis in the church, these young future priests
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watch and prayed with their first ever American pope. That was really the moment that captures how overjoyed this group of soon-to-be priests
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were feeling today. They gathered in a room adorned with photos of past popes, never imagining
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that Pope Leo XIV would ultimately be their next holy father. But after applauding their new pope
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and even they broke into chants of USA, USA, then it really set in. These young seminarians
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join Pope Leo in his first prayer, kneeling down for his first blessing, then a standing
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ovation before gathering in the chapel to pray the rosary. Pope Leo's photograph is already on
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display outside of the chapel here. And for the young seminarians and the faculty here at St
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Joseph today it one of the most poignant and profound days of their lives We not ordained yet So the first half of our priesthood will be this new Holy Father And just to see you know an American pope you know thinking about like
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you know, he understands, you know, us, you know, as Americans and stuff like that. You know
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he's worked all across the world, but he finds his root in America. I think it's very exciting
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to have a leader of our church who is one of us. I'm actually studying here from the Midwest
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West. And so him being from Chicago, it was just it was very surprising. But but I was yeah
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I thought when he came out on on the balcony, he just seemed very, very at peace. And then he
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proclaimed peace to all all who were present. And I thought that was powerful
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You know, we always look for that Westchester connection as reporters. And we found one here
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in Yonkers because we could tell you that the seminary here in Yonkers is accredited by one of
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the Roman universities where Father Robert Provost at the time had studied. If you know
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about the seminary here in Yonkers, it's been visited by many popes, not Francis, but the last
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pope to visit here was Pope Benedict back in 2008. The hope now among all the seminarians and the
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faculty here is that Pope Leo will make a visit within the next few years. It would be something
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to see. We are live on a very emotional and historic day here at St. Joseph's Seminary in
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Yonkers. Richard Schiaff is Fox 5 News. A lot of seminaries trying to vie for that visit from the
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new pope. Interesting stuff. We appreciate it. Thanks so much, Richard
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