As Pope Leo XIV approaches the 100-day mark of his papacy on Saturday, Mississippi’s Catholics are largely ecstatic about the energy he has brought to their church. Cardinal Robert Prevost became Pope Leo on May 8 following the untimely death of Pope Francis.

Pope Leo XIV encouraged the participants of the Medjugorje youth festival to unite the flames of their hearts so that this fire may illuminate their journey and their pilgrimage toward God, who calls them and, in some cases, has raised up in them the desire to serve him through the priesthood or consecrated life.