Slideshow: Greeting Pope Francis

News of the white smoke above St. Peter’s first reached campus at around 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, and the bells in Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel began ringing shortly thereafter. Immediately, some students rushed to St. Ignatius of Loyola Hall — fittingly, it would turn out, given the election of the first Jesuit pope — while others went to Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel for the mid-morning Mass. In the Chapel, they prayed for the new Holy Father, and in Loyola Hall, they watched for him.

By the time the Holy Father was announced, Mass had ended, and Loyola Hall was filled to capacity. Crowded around the television set, students cheered at the words Habemus Papam, and celebrated their first glimpse of the newest successor to Peter … His Holiness Pope Francis. Others heard the happy news through a lunchtime announcement in St. Joseph Commons.

“The Thomas Aquinas College community rejoices at the election of Pope Francis, and we pledge our fidelity to the new Vicar of Christ and head of the Roman Catholic Church,” says Thomas Aquinas College President Michael F. McLean. “We join with our fellow Catholics around the world in offering prayers of thanksgiving for our new Holy Father and in asking God to pour forth His graces and blessings upon Pope Francis as he begins his pontificate.”

Video: Habemus Papam at Thomas Aquinas College

Posted: March 13, 2013