Local priest shares personal connection with Pope Leo XIV
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — A Mass of Thanksgiving was held Friday at the Cathedral in downtown Syracuse for the election of the new pope.
“I never really thought I would see a day that there would be an American pope,” said Bishop Lucia.
A man, Father John Oduor first met in 2005 in Kenya. But back then, he knew him as Father Prevost.
“I wanted to join the Augustinian community, so I joined them as a postulant studying philosophy way back in Nairobi in a little town called Langata, so that’s when I met him,” said Fr. Oduor.
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He says Pope Leo XIV stayed with them at the mission house for a few weeks.
“We just knew him like a priest, Father Bob. He was just like any other priest in the house and I can say that he’s a very kind man. He was very kind,” said Fr. Oduor.
Father Oduor also says he was quiet, but humble, with a great sense of humor.
“I can say he loved us. As students, you could feel that he loved us just like Augustinians. He would always tell us to leave together, stay as one. Love one another,” said Fr. Oduor.
When Father Oduor heard who was chosen as the new pope, he says he was overcome with joy.
“I stood from my seat and I shouted Father Bob is the pope and I sat down, made a sign of the cross and I felt it,” said Fr. Oduor.
“To see Father Prevost rise from priesthood from a priest, to a prior general, to a bishop, to a cardinal, and now to a pope, what do you think, the holy spirit is telling you that he is chosen,” said Fr. Oduor.
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