Locals Witness New Pope’s Debut in Person

When the new Pope was announced last week, several folks from Fayette County were there to hear Pope Leo XIV’s first words to the world – in person.

Six Schulenburg residents (Sheila Brossmann, Ken Berger, Joyce Canada, Veronica Smith and Thomas and Pam Janda) all work together at the food pantry. Last July they all heard about a special pilgrimage to Italy Bishop Brendan Cahill was taking a group on, and they decided to sign up.

“Who would have thought back then that all this was going to happen?” Brossman said.

Those locals, part of a group of 38 from the Diocese of Victoria, were in St. Peter’s Square Wednesday evening to see black smoke arise above the Sistine Chapel (signifying no one had been elected pope).

The next morning after Mass, they returned to see more black smoke.

Between votes, they took a pilgrimage walk through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s (one of four Holy Doors of the Papal Basilicas in Rome that are only open during a Jubilee Year).

At 5:30 p.m. (their time) was the next vote. Some folks in their group went back to the hotel nearby.

But not Brossmann. “I took me this many years to get to Rome, and I’m not going back. I wasn’t going to miss it,” she said.

When white smoke arose above the square symbolizing a pope had been chosen, she said all around her people started cheering, some ran to find places to watch the ceremony, others started crying tears of joy. Brossmann snagged a spot with a great view, 200-300 yards away from the balcony above the square.

There, with 100,000 or so others, she said she waited for about a hour before they heard the Latin announcement that Cardinal Robert Prevost had been selected as the first-ever Pope from America.

“But I didn’t know what they were saying,” Brossmann said. “Then I heard someone near me say ‘Americano’ and that’s when I realized an American had been chosen.”

It was a truly amazing experience, Brossmann said.

The trip would have been special any other time, she said. The group got to walk through all four Holy Doors that are only open during this Jubilee Year, and they got to see the tomb where Pope Francis was laid to rest.

But the timing of this trip, to get to witness the selection and introduction of the new pope, is something Brossmann said she and the other locals will always treasure.