The new pontiff spoke to NBC News anchor Lester Holt, who was part of a news conference for some 6,000 journalists from around the world.

I met the man who would become Pope Leo XIV in October 2023. We were standing outside the Vatican’s Synod Hall, and from my short conversation with Cardinal Robert Prevost, I could tell he was a good listener,

The Rev. John T. Pawlikowski served as co-founder and director of the school’s Catholic-Jewish Studies Program and also served four terms on the board of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.