Annuntio Vobis Gaudium Magnum
We have a pope—American!
Let’s shout with pride and brio!
Let’s raise a glass and make a din
To praise the XIVth Leo.
Our hearts are glad: this joy, this hope,
No thief can steal or rob.
We marvel at this sight: a pope
Who once was known as Bob.
Thomas DeFreitas was born in Boston in 1969. A graduate of the Boston Latin School, he attended the University of Massachusetts, both in Boston and in Amherst. His poems have appeared in Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Plainsongs, Dappled Things, Ibbetson Street, and Pensive, and in these pages. His latest collection is Walking Between the Raindrops (Kelsay Books, 2025).