By Pamela Seal
Diocese of Lake Charles
Michael DesOrmeaux, a seminarian for the Diocese of Lake Charles, was blessed with the opportunity to meet Pope Leo XIV with other students in Rome on Sunday, August 24, 2025. Pope Leo received seminarians during a private audience in Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace before leading the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square.
DesOrmeaux is continuing his studies at the Pontifical North American College in Rome as he enters his first year of Configuration Stage. He is a parishioner of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and the son of David and Courtney DesOrmeaux.
Remarking how “real” the visit seemed, Michael said, “The room had no AC and the temperature was comparable to Louisiana in August, so I never once thought to myself, ‘I must be dreaming.’”
When sharing the news of the papal visit with his family, he said, “I told them about the joy of hearing my spiritual father speaking in clear English. His message was truly impactful.”
The Holy Father’s message concerned the importance of praying for the virtue of perseverance, Michael said. “Pope Leo touched on other priestly virtures, but this one was the one that the Holy Father most wanted to hammer in for the American seminarians,” he noted.
“The pope shared a story about how when he was young he worked with another priest who was in his eighties who prayed daily for perseverance,” Michael shared. “He thought to himself, ‘If that guy is praying for peserverance, then I had better get started!’”
Michael commented that the Holy Father joked that he has fond memories of interacting with people from the Pontifical North American College.
“Last year when he was Cardinal Prevost, he celebrated Thanksgiving Day Mas for the school and deeply enjoyed the pumpkin pie,” remarked Michael who said it was good to hear the Holy Father gently cracking jokes.
Michael said he was struck how Pope Leo carried himself with appropriate dignity, but clearly was also human — a balance he though the pontiff struck well.
“The purpose of the North American College’s founding was so that American seminarians could grow in their love of the Holy Father, and this experience definitely did that for me,” he shared. “If Christ became human, why should His Representative on Earth not be human?”
As Pope Leo started to leave, the group of seminarians and others gathered began to sing, “Ad Multos Annos,” (“to many more”).
Before the private audience, the seminarians were given a tour of some areas of the Apostolic Palace.
“One of the highlights of Raphael’s beautiful wall frescoes was when I found what appeared to be a crawfish among the other food items,” Michael recalled. “After the audience, we prayed in the Pauline Chapel, where Pope Leo prayed after he was elected.”
Before the tour ended, the seminarians sang the “Salve Regina” before the image of Our Lady and the souls who are being pulled to heaven by hanging on to the rosary, to which Michael said, “The Sistene Chapel’s acoustics were perfect.”
While he is not certain about what is entailed on the academic side of things, Michael said that he will be focusing on adapting to life in Rome and learning to receive all that the Pontifical North American College has to offer.
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