Pope Leo XIV Calls His Election Both A Cross And A Blessing

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV, historical past’s first U.S.-born pontiff, mentioned Friday that his election was each a cross to bear and a blessing as he celebrated his first Mass as the head of the Catholic Church.

Leo spoke off-the-cuff in English within the Sistine Chapel to the cardinals who elected him to follow in the footsteps of Pope Francis, who put a dedication to social justice on the core of his papacy. He acknowledged the good duty they’d positioned on him earlier than delivering a short however dense homily on the necessity to joyfully unfold Christianity in a world that always mocks it.

“You’ve gotten referred to as me to hold that cross and to be blessed with that mission, and I do know I can depend on every one in every of you to stroll with me as we proceed as a church, as a group, as associates of Jesus, as believers, to announce the excellent news, to announce the Gospel,” he mentioned.

It was in the identical frescoed chapel that Leo, the Chicago-born Augustinian missionary Robert Prevost, was elected Thursday afternoon because the 267th pope, overcoming the normal taboo in opposition to a pope from the US due to the secular energy the nation wields.

Leo will likely be formally put in as pope at a Mass on Might 18, the Vatican mentioned Friday, and can preside over his first common viewers Might 21.

Leo had requested all heads of Vatican workplaces, who technically misplaced their jobs with the demise of Pope Francis, to return to work till additional discover, in line with the Vatican. It mentioned he needed to take time for “reflection, prayer and dialogue” earlier than taking any additional selections on confirming them definitively.

Two girls delivered the readings of Scripture at the beginning of the Mass, maybe a sign of Leo’s intention to proceed Francis’ concentrate on increasing girls’s position within the church. As a cardinal, Leo put into apply one in every of Francis’ most revolutionary reforms by having three girls serve on the Vaticab board that vets bishop nominations.

Talking in near-perfect Italian, Leo lamented that the Christian religion in lots of elements of the world is “thought-about absurd,” mocked or opposed within the face of temptations similar to cash, success and energy. He complained that in lots of locations Jesus is misunderstood, “lowered to a type of charismatic chief or superman.”

“That is true not solely amongst non-believers but in addition amongst many baptized Christians, who thus find yourself dwelling, at this stage, in a state of sensible atheism,” he mentioned. “A scarcity of religion is commonly tragically accompanied by the lack of that means in life, the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the disaster of the household and so many different wounds that afflict our society.”

The cardinals applauded because the Mass concluded. Leo was seen sporting easy black footwear — eschewing, as Francis did, the crimson loafers of the papacy most popular by some traditionalist popes.

Shortly thereafter, the Vatican mentioned Leo had requested all Vatican leaders, who technically misplaced their jobs when Francis died April 21, to stay of their posts.

Francis, the first Latin American pope, clearly had his eye on Prevost and in some ways noticed him as his inheritor obvious. He despatched Prevost, who had spent years as a missionary in Peru, to take over a sophisticated diocese there in 2014. Francis introduced Prevost to the Vatican in 2023 to move of the Vatican’s highly effective Dicastery for Bishops, which vets bishop nominations world wide and is among the most essential jobs in church governance.

Since arriving in Rome, Prevost had saved a low public profile however was well-known to the lads who rely, and revered by those that labored with him. Considerably, he presided over one of the revolutionary reforms Francis made, when he added three women to the voting bloc that decides which bishop nominations to ahead to the pope.

In a 2023 interview with Vatican Information, the then-cardinal mentioned the ladies had enriched the method and reaffirmed the necessity for the laity to have a larger position within the church.

“Even the bishops of Peru referred to as him the saint, the saint of the north, and he had time for everybody,” mentioned the Rev. Alexander Lam, an Augustinian friar from Peru who is aware of the brand new pope.

The final pope to take the name Leo was an Italian who led the church from 1878 to 1903. Leo XIII softened the church’s confrontational stance towards modernity, particularly science and politics, and laid the muse for contemporary Catholic social thought. His most well-known encyclical — a high-level papal instructing — addressed staff’ rights and capitalism in the beginning of the economic revolution and was highlighted by the Vatican in explaining the brand new pope’s selection of title.

The earlier Leo additionally had shut ties to the Augustinian order: He rebuilt an historic Augustinian church and convent close to his hometown of Carpineto, exterior Rome, that’s nonetheless in use by the order immediately.

Vatican watchers mentioned Prevost’s resolution to call himself Leo was notably important given the Leo XIII’s legacy of social justice and reform, suggesting continuity with a few of Francis’ chief issues. Particularly, Leo cited one in every of Francis’ key priorities of constructing the Catholic Church extra attentive to put folks and inclusive.

“He’s persevering with lots of Francis’ ministry,’’ mentioned Natalia Imperatori-Lee, the chair of non secular research at Manhattan College within the Bronx. She added that his election may ship a message to the U.S. church, which has been badly divided between conservatives and progressives, with a lot of the opposition to Francis coming from there.

“I feel it will be thrilling to see a unique type of American Catholicism in Rome,’’ Imperatori-Lee mentioned.

Leo mentioned in a 2023 interview with Vatican Information that the polarization within the church was a wound that wanted to be healed.

“Divisions and polemics within the church don’t assist something. We bishops particularly should speed up this motion in the direction of unity, in the direction of communion within the church,” he mentioned.

Leo’s brother, John Prevost, was so shocked that his brother had been elected pope that he missed a number of cellphone calls from Leo throughout an interview Thursday with The Associated Press.

John Prevost described his brother, a fan of Wordle, as being very concerned for the poor and those that don’t have a voice. He mentioned he expects him to be a “second Pope Francis.”

“He’s not going to be actual far left and he’s not going to be actual far proper,” he added. “Type of proper down the center.”

In his first hours as pope, Leo went again to his previous residence within the Sant’Uffizio Palace to see colleagues, in line with selfies posted to social media. Vatican Media additionally confirmed him within the moments after his election praying within the Pauline Chapel earlier than rising on the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica to greet Rome and the world.

On Sunday, he’s set to ship his first midday blessing from the loggia and attend an viewers with the media on Monday within the Vatican auditorium, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni mentioned.

Past that, his first overseas journey could possibly be on the finish of Might: Francis had been invited to journey to Turkey to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, a landmark occasion in Christian historical past and an essential second in Catholic-Orthodox relations.

Franklin Briceño in Lima Peru, Obed Lamy and Hallie Golden in New Lenox, Illinois, Colleen Barry in Schiavon, Italy, and Vanessa Gera and Giada Zampano in Rome contributed.

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