00:00As an American Catholic, how does it feel to witness the first election of the first Pope from the U.S.?
00:07It's great to be with you, and it's really exciting here at Catholic University of America.
00:11Yesterday, when the new Pope was announced, he came out on the balcony, and we discovered that he's an American.
00:17There was tremendous shouts and howling from the students here, really of glee and joy.
00:22So he was an unexpected candidate for so many, partly because he's an American.
00:27And it was a common theory that there's no way that the Cardinals could elect an American because the United States is so powerful politically in the world.
00:36And to be Pope is also to be the head of state, a very special state that has moral influence around the world.
00:42And yet, really, we should have considered him more, this Robert Prevost.
00:47We should have considered him more, the Cardinal Robert Prevost, as a possible candidate because of his tremendous background.
00:53So not only is he an American, but he has dual citizenship.
00:55He's also a citizen of Peru, and he has tremendous experience in the Vatican and in Rome, governing over a religious organization that's called the Augustinian Fathers that has worldwide breadth.
01:09And he was the superior general for them for 12 years.
01:12And he's also been working in Rome for Pope Francis in the designation of bishops from around the world for just a couple of years.
01:19So he very rapidly rose. And I'm sure, too, that in the Vatican, they're looking for someone who can clean up the financial mess in the Vatican.
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