Pope Leo XIV celebrated his first mass on Friday in the Sistine Chapel on Friday where he was elected less than 24 hours earlier, warning the dangers caused by a lack of faith and hoping that the Catholic Church could be a tag enlightening the “dark nights” of the world.
Leo, former cardinal Robert Prevost and the first American pope, looked calm while delivering mass in the famous fresco chapel with the same cardinals who chose it to be the 267th pontiff and the successor of Pope Francis.
Dressed in relatively simple white and gold clothes, Leo, who was born in Chicago but who spent two decades as a missionary in Peru, said a few words in English before continuing his homily in a fluid Italian.
In the homily, Leo, 69, painted an image of the church he would like to see, saying that he would seek to serve as a “faithful administrator” for the church as a whole.
The new pope, which leads 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide, recognized that the Christian faith is sometimes “considered absurd” and preserves it “the weak and the unintelligent”.
“A lack of faith is often tragically accompanied by the loss of meaning in life, the negligence of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the family crisis and so many other injuries that afflict our society,” he said.
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Leo had to have lunch with the cardinals and they will then be free to leave the Vatican and return home to the world.
Quick and secret meeting
The pope was elected at the end of a two -day conclave which was wrapped Thursday evening when White Smoke extinguished the chimney on the Sistine Chapel.
Given the nature of the conclaves, when the cardinals are far from the world and sworn in secret, little or nothing is likely to emerge – at least for the moment – on the way in which Leo has obtained the majority of two thirds required so quickly.
The successor to Pope Francis, who died last month at the age of 88, inherits a number of major challenges, ranging from a budget deficit towards divisions as to the Church should be more welcoming to the LGBT community and divorced them, and should let women play a more important role in his business.
He will also have a crowded program, the Vatican celebrating a holy year which brings millions of additional tourists to Rome.
Before the Leo elections, the American cardinals had been widely struck off as a papal contenders due to a widespread hypothesis that the World Church could not be led by a superpower pope.
However, it also holds Peruvian citizenship, which means that it has a deep knowledge of the Western and less developed nations.
US President Donald Trump was quick to congratulate Leo. However, the new Pope has a story of criticizing the policies of Trump and the Vice-President JD Vance, according to articles on Robert PREVOST’s X account.
Leo worked for decades in northern Peru, first as a missionary and later as a bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023. The Catholics went down to the streets of the small town in northwestern Peru, and the bells of the church sounded to celebrate the elections of a man whom they adopt as one of their own.
One of the indications of what type of Leo church church will be in his choice of name. The last pope with this name was Leo XIII, who led the church from 1878 to 1903. He was known for his objective devoted to questions of social justice.
Prévost only became a cardinal in 2023. He gave few interviews with the media and is known to have a shy personality.
Francis brought it to Rome two years ago to lead the Vatican office responsible for choosing the priests who should serve as Catholic bishops, which means that he has helped select many bishops of the world.
–Writing by Keith Weiditing by Crispian Balmer and Frances Kerry
