Wetang’ula recalls Pope Leo XIV’s historic visit to Kenya
National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula has referred to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, now known as Pope Leo XIV’s 2024 visit to Kenya, as a divine blessing and historic favour for the country.
Taking to his official on the night of Thursday, May 8, 2025, shortly after Pope Leo XIV was officially announced as the 267th pope, Wetang’ula recalled his historical visit and his role in consecrating the new chapel of Our Mother of Good Counsel in Nairobi on December 10, 2024.
The speaker added that Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Kenya took place outside the Lenten season, highlighting that it was a special occasion distinct from the typical period of Lent, which begins in February or March.
“Kenya is truly a blessed nation. Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, visited Kenya in December 2024. He presided over the dedication of the new chapel of Our Mother of Good Counsel in Nairobi on December 10, 2024,” he stated.
“This visit occurred outside the Lenten season, which typically begins in February or March. Therefore, his visit did not coincide with Lent.”
Pope Leo XIV
Before his election as Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops.
He now leads the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics as their new spiritual leader; the 69-year-old from Chicago, Illinois, is the first-ever pope from the United States.
According to Vatican news, Pope Leo XIV was born on September 14, 1955, in Chicago, Illinois, to Louis Marius Prevost, of French and Italian descent, and Mildred Martínez, of Spanish descent. He has two brothers, Louis Martín and John Joseph.
On September 1, 1977, Prevost entered the novitiate of the Order of Saint Augustine (O.S.A.) in Saint Louis, in the Province of Our Lady of Good Counsel of Chicago, and made his first profession on September 2, 1978. On August 29, 1981, he made his solemn vows.
In Rome, he was ordained a priest on June 19, 1982, at the Augustinian College of Saint Monica by Archbishop Jean Jadot, then pro-president of the Secretariat for Non-Christians, which later became the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and then the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.
Cardinal role
Pope Francis created him a cardinal in the consistory of September 30, 2023 and assigned him the Diaconate of Saint Monica. He officially took possession of it on January 28, 2024.
As head of the Dicastery, he participated in the Pope’s most recent Apostolic Journeys and in both the first and second sessions of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality, held in Rome from October 4 to 29, 2023, and from October 2 to 27, 2024, respectively.
