Leo XIV celebrates first Mass as Pope
The first North American Pope said his election was both a cross and a blessing.
Pope Leo XIV, history’s first North American Pope, has said his election was both a cross and a blessing as he celebrated his first Mass in the Sistine Chapel.
Leo spoke off-the-cuff in English to the cardinals who elected him to lead the Catholic Church and follow in Pope Francis’ footsteps over social justice.
He acknowledged the great responsibility they had placed on him before delivering a brief but dense homily on the need to joyfully spread Christianity in a world that often mocks it.
“You have called me to carry that cross and to be blessed with that mission, and I know I can rely on each and every one of you to walk with me as we continue as a church, as a community, as friends of Jesus, as believers, to announce the good news to announce the Gospel,” he said.
It was in the same frescoed chapel that Leo, the Chicago-born Augustinian missionary Robert Prevost, 69, was elected on Thursday afternoon as the 267th Pope, overcoming the traditional prohibition against a pontiff from the United States.
Leo will be formally installed as pope at a Mass on May 18, the Vatican said on Friday, and will preside over his first general audience on May 21.
Two women delivered the Scripture readings at the start of the Mass, perhaps an indication of Leo’s intention to follow Francis’ priority to expand women’s role in the church.
As a cardinal, Leo put into practice one of Francis’ most revolutionary reforms by having three women serve on the board that vets bishop nominations.
Speaking in near-perfect Italian, Leo lamented that the Christian faith in many parts of the world is “considered absurd”, mocked or opposed when there were temptations such as money, success and power.
He complained that in many places Jesus is misunderstood, “reduced to a kind of charismatic leader or superman”.
“This is true not only among non-believers but also among many baptized Christians, who thus end up living, at this level, in a state of practical atheism,” he said.
“Yet, precisely for this reason, they are the places where our missionary outreach is desperately needed. A lack of faith is often tragically accompanied by the loss of meaning in life, the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the crisis of the family and so many other wounds that afflict our society.”
The cardinals applauded as the Mass concluded. Leo was seen wearing simple black shoes, not the red loafers of the papacy preferred by some traditionalist popes.
Francis, the first Latin American pope, clearly had his eye on Prevost and in many ways saw him as his heir apparent. He sent Prevost, who had spent years as a missionary in Peru, to take over a complicated diocese there in 2014.
Francis then brought Prevost to the Vatican in 2023 to head of the Vatican’s powerful Dicastery for Bishops, which vets bishop nominations around the world and is one of the most important jobs in church governance.
Since arriving in Rome, Prevost had kept a low public profile but was well-known to the men who count, and respected by those who worked with him.
Significantly, he presided over one of the most revolutionary reforms Francis made, when he added three women to the voting bloc that decides which bishop nominations to forward to the pope.
Vatican watchers said Prevost’s decision to name himself Leo was particularly significant given the previous Leo’s legacy of social justice and reform, suggesting continuity with some of Francis’ chief concerns.
Specifically, Leo cited one of Francis’ key priorities of making the Catholic Church more attentive to lay people and inclusive, a process known as synodality.
