Pope Leo XIV has taken aim at autocrats causing war and unrest across the globe, in his first speech after his inauguration as the top of the Catholic Church.
Addressing a whole bunch of hundreds of well-wishers, including dozens of world leaders and European royalty, during a mass in St Peter’s Square, Leo said he believed his role as the brand new pontiff was to “shield the flock without ever yielding to the temptation to be an autocrat, lording it over those entrusted to him”.
He said he desired to be a servant to the faithful through the 2 dimensions of the papacy: love and unity.
“I would love our first great desire to be for a united church, an indication of unity and communion, which becomes a leaven for a reconciled world,” he said. The Vatican underlined this line within the English translation given to the media ahead of the speech, suggesting its centrality to the brand new pontiff’s address.
He added that the world “must not close itself off into small groups”. “We are called to supply God’s like to everyone as a way to achieve that unity which doesn’t cancel our differences but values the non-public history of everyone and the social and non secular culture of each people,” he said.
“Brothers and sisters, that is the hour for love. The heart of the gospel is the love of God that makes us brothers and sisters. With my predecessor Leo XIII, we will ask ourselves today, if this criterion were to prevail on this planet, wouldn’t every conflict stop and peace return?
“Let us construct a church founded on God’s love, an indication of unity for a missionary church that opens its arms to the world.”
Father Ed Tomlinson, the chief priest running St Anselm’s Penubury in Tunbridge Wells, said the speech showed that Pope Leo desired to “govern every day from the centre of the authentic church”.
“This is a person who desires to heal the church and world but who knows, crucially, this cannot occur without the fruit and proof of an authentic Christian witness,” he said.
“Thus, any message delivered by the church today must come from a spot of authentic lived holiness and real love. This might be the important thing message of his papacy: be authentic and loving in your faith.”
Professor Rocco D’Ambrosio, a lecturer at Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, who wrote a book about Pope Francis, described the homily as “very touching”. “In a number of words, it covered love, humility, unity and brotherhood respecting all of the differences,” he said.
The pontiff took his first popemobile ride through St Peter’s Square this morning, greeting the crowds who joined presidents, patriarchs and princes for the formal installation ceremony of history’s first American pope. An estimated 250,000 individuals are expected to have turned out for the event.
The bells of St Peter’s Basilica tolled as Leo waved from the back of the open-topped truck that looped slowly through the square after which up and down the boulevard.
The crowd cheered “Viva il Papa” and waved loads of Peruvian, American and Holy See flags — representing Leo’s nationalities — mixed in with flags of other nations, banners and umbrellas to shield pilgrims from the springtime sun.
Security was tight as civil protection crews in neon uniforms funnelled pilgrims into quadrants within the piazza while priests hurried into St Peter’s Basilica to prepare for the mass.
Born in Chicago, the 69-year-old pontiff spent a few years as a missionary in Peru and in addition has Peruvian citizenship. As well as becoming the primary American pope, he’s the primary to have Peruvian citizenship.
Robert Prevost, a relative unknown on the world stage who only became a cardinal two years ago, was elected pope on 8 May after a brief conclave of cardinals that lasted just 24 hours.
He replaces Pope Francis, from Argentina, who died on 21 April after leading the church for 12 often turbulent years during which he battled with traditionalists and championed the poor and marginalised.
US vice-president JD Vance, a Catholic convert who clashed with Francis over the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies, led a US delegation alongside secretary of state Marco Rubio, who can also be Catholic, on the mass.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky can also be in attendance, alongside his wife, Olena Zelenska, his chief adviser Andriy Yermak and foreign minister Andriy Sybiha. Mr Zelensky’s spokesperson suggested they were open to further peace talks in Rome after the ceremony, following the success of the Ukrainian president’s impromptu meeting with Donald Trump at Pope Francis’s funeral.
Mr Zelensky and Mr Vance were seen greeting each other within the run-up to the ceremony. The pair smiled as they shook hands just a number of months after they were locked in a fiery exchange within the White House, when Mr Vance accused Mr Zelensky of being ungrateful for American support for Ukraine.
The inauguration mass is a ritual full of symbolism that connects back to Peter, Jesus’s apostle, and his special mission as head of the Catholic Church.
No recent role is conferred but Leo will receive two crucial signs of his pontificate, the “pallium” and the fisherman’s ring, marking his role as successor of Peter.
The pallium is a narrow stole-like vestment with two pendants to be worn across the shoulders, decorated with crosses representing Jesus’s wounds. It is fabricated from white wool in an elaborate procedure where the lambs traditionally were blessed before being sheared, identical to for the same vestments given to archbishops on their ordination.
The fisherman’s ring recalls the Gospel passage where Jesus appeared to the apostles after his resurrection, as that they had spent an evening fishing with no catch. He told Peter to solid in a selected spot, and the nets strained with a lot of large fish, a few of which the apostles then shared with Jesus in a lakeside breakfast.
An image of Peter with the online, standing for the church’s evangelisation mission and its unity, is engraved on the ring alongside the pope’s name. When a pope dies, the ring is crossed over so it may well not be used as a seal for papal documents. Cardinal Luis Tagle of the Philippines, who was widely thought to be a papal contender, will present Leo with the ring.
