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There are many famous buildings for which we’ve used the phrase “if these walls could talk” because of the history that was shaped within them, and the Sistine Chapel is high on that list. Michelangelo painted the ornate ceiling, and dozens of popes have been elected under its cover. But the outside world is not permitted to glimpse the occasion when the cardinals finally can utter the words “habemus papam” and emerge from the conclave. So, what exactly happened the moment Cardinal Robert Prevost was suddenly elevated to Pope? Timothy Cardinal Dolan is the spiritual head for the Archdiocese of New York and took part in the vote that gave the world Pope Leo XIV. He appeared on 710 WOR’s Mendte in the Morning program to describe the moment he saw history occur in the Catholic Church’s version of “the room where it happened”.
“It still does not fail to [send chills down your spine],” Cardinal Dolan told Ken Rosato, sitting in for Larry Mendte. “When [Cardinal Prevost] went over the required 87 [votes] to win, we just all burst into tears. When he said, ‘Accepto,’ the tears continued. ‘By what name will you be called?’ was the next question. When he responded ‘Leo,’ we were all kind of surprised. It wasn’t one of the names one would have thought of, but it made eminent sense. Again, the tears continued… and then he comes out of what they call ‘the room of tears,’ he comes out clad as the new pontiff, and we cried again!”
Only then do the cardinals leave the now-unlocked Sistine Chapel. Cardinal Dolan said they then went to St. Peter’s to introduce the new Pope to the faithful: “We’re there when we hear the cardinal deacon tell the crowd, ‘Habemus papam’- we have a pope- which sends up this towering eruption of applause and exuberance, and then, of course, the minute he walks out it goes on and on, and we’re just, again, we’re just like kids opening a Christmas present. It was an exhilarating experience.”
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