ST. LOUIS – Graduate students at a theological school in Florissant were excited with yesterday’s announcement of the new pope. 

“Everyone was excited. They were excited to see who it was and then the name that he chose. So both by who it was and the name he chose of Leo the XIV,” said Ben Akers, Augustine Institute Chief Mission Officer. “One of the key fathers of the church is St. Augustine. It’s the name of our institute. We take him as a patron. So we were very excited when the pope came out and said, ‘I am a son of St. Augustine.’”

He said within minutes of the announcement at the Vatican, the school held mass.

“Within 10 minutes of him giving a blessing to the city and to the world, the Urbi et Orbi blessing, we were here praying for the new pope, using his name in the mass and in the liturgy. We were all able to pray for him as he began his new ministry. So we have to be one of the first groups in the world to have a mass with the new pope’s name being used,” Akers said.

The Archdiocese of St. Louis released a statement to FOX 2 saying,

“Most Reverend Mitchell T. Rozanski, Archbishop of St. Louis, will celebrate the regularly scheduled 10:00 a.m. Mass on Sunday to pray for newly inaugurated Pope Leo XIV. Catholics, and men and women of all faith backgrounds, are invited to join us in praying for the pope.”