On behalf of the International Schoenstatt Family, Fr. Alexandre Awi Mello, president of the International Presidium, sent a letter to the new Pope, His Holiness Leo XIV. The content of the document is provided below:
Bujumbura (Burundi), May 11, 2025
His Holiness Leo XIV
Apostolic Palace,
Vatican CityDear Pope,
Warm greetings from the heart of Africa, where I am on mission! From here, I convey to you the gratitude and heartfelt prayers of the Schoenstatt Family worldwide! Your election as our pastor has filled us with joy and hope. I am happy to have had the grace to meet you at the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and to have met you once at the Vatican.
As a family, we pray that the Holy Spirit will grant you all the wisdom, love, courage, and faith you need to guide us as the People of God. We trust that your time as Pope will progressively become a time of peace and building bridges between all peoples and all human beings, transmitting to them the love of God, the Father of all.
I believe you have had the opportunity to get to know the Schoenstatt Movement in Peru, and we want you to know that we humbly wish to contribute to its mission for the universal Church. Schoenstatt was born out of a simple act of faith and a Covenant of Love with Mary in our Original Shrine on the banks of the River Rhine. We were born to be apostles, serve the Church, and help build the Kingdom of God in Christ and Mary.
We are at your disposal in the more than 200 Shrines of the Mater Ter Admirabilia in more than 30 countries. Our lay people, families, and young people, as well as our consecrated men and women, carry out different educational, social, and pastoral projects in the spirit of “Dilexit Ecclesiam”, the words that our Founder, Father Joseph Kentenich, asked us to engrave on his tomb.
May Mary, Mother of Jesus and our Mother, always be at your side, guiding your path! On June 9, we will crown her in our Shrine in Rome as “Queen Mother of the Church,” asking especially for your Petrine ministry. May she help us all live according to the Gospel and be more united with Christ and with each other.
With the most profound respect and love, on behalf of our General Presidium and the Schoenstatt Family in Africa, from where I accompanied your election, and throughout the world,
Fr. Alexandre Awi Mello, ISch
