The Central Committee expresses its joy at the election by the College of Cardinals in Rome on 8 May of Cardinal Robert Prevost as pope. The new Pope Leo XIV is the first pope to come from North America, and the first native English-speaking pope to be elected since the Englishman Adrian IV in 1154. With a father of French origin and a mother of Spanish origin, and after a priesthood and episcopate exercised largely in Peru, Pope Leo is a truly international figure. Our friend Archbishop Luc knows him well following several visits to Belgium, the most recent with his predecessor Pope Francis last year. We will keep him in our prayers as he begins his new global ministry, honouring him as patriarch of the West and hoping earnestly for renewed unity, common ground and mutual action between Catholic and Anglican Christians during his pontificate.