Pope Leo XIV was born in Chicago, spent years as a missionary and a bishop in Peru, and now lives in Rome.
He’s the leader of the global Church, and on Nov. 21, he’ll be taking questions from young people in a packed football stadium in Indianapolis.
One of those questions will come from a high school senior from Downey.
Ezequiel Ponce, 17, a senior at Downey High School who belongs to St. Dominic Savio Church in Bellflower, will be one of a select few teens who earned the opportunity to ask questions to Pope Leo in a historic digital Q&A on Nov. 21 during the second day of the National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC) in Indianapolis.
Leo will address some 15,000 young people ages 14-18 at the conference, this year being held at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. In previous years, Pope Francis had sent video messages to NCYC attendees, but this event will be the first time a pope will directly engage with youth in the U.S. during a live online Q&A and broadcast via EWTN.
“I was absolutely ecstatic,” Ponce said after hearing that he was chosen. “I remember being in school and just doing my regular thing in class, and I get the email, and my jaw drops. It’s the only thing I could think about. I remember telling my parents and they were super excited for me.”
When NCYC organizers asked JC Montenegro, youth ministry coordinator at St. Dominic Savio, if they knew of a teen who could help figure out what questions to ask the pope, he had just the person in mind.
“Even at a young age, he’s a leader,” Montenegro said of Ponce. “He’s someone who is insightful, someone who is committed, someone who is battling his own emotions and fears, but yet he’s always there to help others, and I think that is something that is commendable.”
For months, Ponce has participated in virtual meetings with about 40 other teens nationwide, discussing issues facing young people and what potential questions they might ask the pope.
“I’ve only ever had meetings or talked to people in California, and there’s people from Hawaii, from New York, I mean, all over the United States,” Ponce said. “So it really struck me, and it was a really good experience to get to talk to them and hear their experiences.”
NCYC leaders had the tough task of narrowing down a slate of 40 teens to select five speakers and three alternates who would ask questions to Leo. In looking for a diverse selection of regions and cultural groups, Ponce was chosen along with Mia Smothers, a high school freshman from Maryland, Elise Wing, a high school senior from Iowa, Christopher Pantelakis, a high school junior from Nevada, and Micah Alciso, a high school senior from Hawaii.
As he prepares for his big moment, Ponce is encouraged by the fact that the Holy Father is making the effort to speak to young people.
“I honestly have been amazed on how much the pope genuinely wants to engage in dialogue,” Ponce said. “Because I feel that young people assume that the other generations look down upon us, especially the Gen Z and stuff, because it’s the age of technology and all that.
“It could just be simple things like, how do you pray, or how do you deal with your mental health, with school, and with social media? So I feel like if he talks about these things, he could further relate to us, in a sense, and not just disregard it.”
Montenegro, too, will be watching to see what Leo says to the young people, knowing the challenges of evangelizing to the youth and hoping something productive comes of the historic Q&A.
“I think we as adults sometimes we don’t understand the youth culture,” Montenegro said. “So we just want young people to come to the church and do what we have done for many years. But it’s a beautiful opportunity to dialogue in a different way. And I hope, I pray, that this is how the dialogue is going to be. Just the fact of having different ages sitting at the table will become something beautiful.”
At a Nov. 12 press conference at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ fall plenary assembly, NCYC leaders said the dialogue with the pope “shows that the Church is listening, not just speaking.
“This encounter is not a media event, it’s a synodal moment where one universal Church walks with a young church in the United States,” said Christina Lamas, executive director of the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry.
Ponce is active in youth ministry at his parish, including being the head counselor at the church’s summer camp, “Camp Savio.” The experiences have made him consider becoming a math teacher. He currently takes a class at his high school that allows him to teach one period at Doty Middle School in Downey.
“It just gives me an opportunity to let out my inner child, because I know in high school and in life, we can get easily caught up and get into a slump,” Ponce said. “And I think that kids with their wild imagination, they can really bring a sort of light to your day because they’re so silly and goofy.”
But for now, he’s focused on NCYC and Leo, and what he might bring back from the experience.
“I was just reflecting back on how far I’ve come and how I didn’t really do all my service work to get something out of it,” Ponce said. “I did it because I love doing it genuinely, from the bottom of my heart.”
Ponce says he’s noticed that in general, his peers are scared to show interest in the Church or faith.
“They have the questions, but they’re kind of afraid to ask those questions. I feel like if they’re introduced the way I was introduced, with the community and the love, they would see the passion in the Church. So I feel that I want to bring that experience to not only all the people around America, but also the people back home.”
