'A watershed moment': Evangelical leaders react to Pope Leo XIV

By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Friday, May 09, 2025

Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, tells Spirit-filled Christians at the Empowered21 Global Congress to stand up for their faith at the Jerusalem Pais Arena in Israel on Sunday May 24, 2015. | The Christian Post/Leonardo Blair

1. Samuel Rodriguez

The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, the president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference and pastor of an Assemblies of God megachurch in California called New Season, described the election of Leo XIV as head of the Roman Catholic Church as "a watershed moment in the history of the Catholic Church."

According to Rodriguez, Leo XIV's election "is a reminder that faith is for all people in all places and that the gospel is an invitation to us all."

"God is moving in America and around the world, and I thank and praise Him for his continued work in our midst," Rodriguez added. "My prayers are with the Catholic Church during this historic transition. May she experience a fresh move of God, where the centrality and the finished work of Christ define her mission, where biblical orthodoxy grounds her purpose, and where the preaching of the gospel — filling the earth with the truth, love, righteousness, and justice of Jesus Christ — determines her success."