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

2. Joseph D’Souza

Archbishop Joseph D'Souza of the Anglican Good Shepherd Church of India, who also serves as the president of the All India Christian Council, reacted to Leo XIV's election by declaring, "The prayer of all of God's people and our church will be with the new pope and our church will be with the new Pope as he leads in a very difficult time, a world which is confronting all kinds of polarization and cultures of hate."

"Even as the media and Americans celebrate the first American-born pope, we must remember that Pope Francis wanted a global pope," he said. "[V]oting cardinals delivered in their vote."

D'Souza stressed that "the present Pope is both American and Peruvian, as he is a naturalized citizen of Peru."

From 1985 to 1986, Leo XIV engaged in ministry work in Chulucanas, Peru. For about a decade starting in 1988, he served as a community prior, formation director and professor in Trujillo, Peru. After returning to the U.S. for over a decade, the pope moved back to Peru in 2014, where he became the apostolic administrator of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru. He was appointed bishop of the diocese a year later. He served in that position for eight years. 

"Imagine the celebration in Peru and throughout Latin America, with two popes in succession from the Latin world," D'Souza added. "This is not simply what the Catholic Church needs, but what the world needs – a spiritual leader with the entire world as his parish."