Father Jorge Garcia was about five blocks from St. Peter’s Basilica on the afternoon of May 8 when he heard the church bells begin to ring.
“My heart was beating hard, full of joy,” he recalls. “People were running. Just a lot of excitement.”
The appearance of white smoke from the Sistine Chapel and the tolling of the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica alerted the city that the new pope would soon be announced. Fr. Garcia quickly joined a group of priests and sisters for a short bus ride to St. Peter’s square to witness history.
Fr. Garcia is a diocesan priest ordained in 2008. He served as the Rector of St. Junipero Serra House of Formation from 2017 until last year when he began a year of study for his doctoral dissertation. In July he will begin a new assignment as Administrator of Holy Innocents parish in Victorville. He had initially traveled to Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis. When the Conclave began, he remembers thinking, “I have to stay here.”
The feeling of anticipation amongst those in Rome was palpable, Fr. Jorge says, “everybody was saying the Holy Spirit will bring us the right one.”
Like many, Fr. Garcia said he was surprised at the election of Cardinal Robert Prevost, the first U.S.-born pope in the Church’s history. There were many Americans among the huge crowd of excited Catholics, Fr. Garcia says, and when they realized the historical significance of Pope Leo XIV’s election audible chants of “U.S.A.” broke out.
“To see him for the first time was beautiful and amazing,” Fr. Garcia said, adding he appreciated Pope Leo XIV offering some words in Spanish. “I got to receive his first blessing.”
The experience was a powerful reminder of what it means to be Catholic, he added.
“To see the faith of the people, the unity of the Church. You could feel so proud of being Catholic there.”