Category: Diocese of Scranton News

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Less than 48 hours after being elected, Pope Leo XIV got in the front seat of a minivan and traveled 40 miles southeast from the Vatican to pray at a Marian shrine cared for by his Augustinian confreres.

And on his way back to the Vatican May 10, he went to Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major, stopping to pray at the tomb of Pope Francis and before the icon of Mary “Salus Populi Romani” (health of the Roman people).

The Vatican press office said he arrived at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Genazzano just after 4 p.m. local time. The shrine is famous for a small fresco of Mary holding the infant Jesus.

A description on a website of Catholic shrines says, “The Christ Child nestles close to his mother. Mary supports Jesus with her left arm. She bends her head toward him, and their cheeks touch tenderly.”

The ancient image is “dear to the order” of Augustinians and was beloved by Pope Leo XIII, whom the new pope is named after, the press office said.

Several hundred people cheered the pope’s arrival at the shrine, and he greeted many of them before going into the shrine to greet the friars. “He stopped in prayer in front of the altar and then in front of the image of the Virgin where he and those present recited the prayer of St. John Paul II to Our Lady of Good Counsel.”

St. John Paul had visited the shrine in April 1993.

The prayer assures Mary that the faithful turn to her with “their hopes and sorrows, their desires and needs, their many tears shed and their yearning for a better future. Turn, O Mother, your gaze upon this people, accept their generous intentions, accompany them on their journey toward a future of justice, solidarity and peace.”

Pope Leo told those gathered at the shrine, “I wanted so much to come here in these first days of the new ministry that the church has given me” to seek Mary’s help “to carry out this mission as Successor of Peter.”

The spoke of his “trust in the Mother of Good Counsel,” who has been a companion of “light, wisdom.”

Before leaving the town, he told the people that the shrine and the Marian image are “a great gift” that carries with it a responsibility. “Just as our Mother never abandons her children, you must remain faithful to her.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The Catholic community is alive, beautiful and strong, and it is up to its pastors to protect and nourish the faithful and to help bring God’s hope to the whole world, Pope Leo XIV said.

For that reason, the pope invited the cardinals “to renew together today our complete commitment to the path that the universal church has now followed for decades in the wake of the Second Vatican Council,” and that “Pope Francis masterfully and concretely set it forth in the apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium” (“The Joy of the Gospel”), he said May 10, in his first formal speech to the College of Cardinals.

He also said that he chose his name in homage to Pope Leo XIII, recognizing the need to renew Catholic social teaching to face today’s new industrial revolution and the developments of artificial intelligence “that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and labor.”

The pope, who was elected in a conclave of 133 cardinal electors on the fourth ballot May 8, met with members of the college, including non-electors, in the New Synod Hall at the Vatican.

Pope Leo told the cardinals that after his “short talk with some reflections,” which the Vatican press office published, they would have “a sort of dialogue,” which many of them had asked for, “to hear what advice, suggestions, proposals, concrete things, which have already been discussed in the days leading up to the conclave.” Those discussions in the closed-door meeting were not published.

In the text that was released, the pope said the events of the past three weeks, beginning with Pope Francis’ final days, his death and funeral, have allowed them “to see the beauty and feel the strength of this immense community, which with such affection and devotion has greeted and mourned its shepherd, accompanying him with faith and prayer at the time of his final encounter with the Lord.”

“We have seen the true grandeur of the church, which is alive in the rich variety of her members in union with her one head, Christ,” Pope Leo said.

The Catholic Church is “the womb from which we were born and at the same time the flock, the field entrusted to us to protect and cultivate, to nourish with the sacraments of salvation and to make fruitful by our sowing the seed of the Word, so that, steadfast in one accord and enthusiastic in mission, she may press forward, like the Israelites in the desert, in the shadow of the cloud and in the light of God’s fire,” he said.

Because of that, the pope asked the cardinals to renew together their “complete commitment” to the church’s post-Vatican II journey, which was detailed in Pope Francis’ 2013 apostolic exhortation on the proclamation of the Gospel in today’s world.

“I would like to highlight several fundamental points” from the document, he said: “the return to the primacy of Christ in proclamation; the missionary conversion of the entire Christian community; growth in collegiality and synodality; attention to the ‘sensus fidei’ (the people of God’s sense of the faith), especially in its most authentic and inclusive forms, such as popular piety; loving care for the least and the rejected; courageous and trusting dialogue with the contemporary world in its various components and realities.”

“Sensing myself called to continue in this same path, I chose to take the name Leo XIV” for several reasons, he said, but mainly because Pope Leo XIII, “in his historic encyclical ‘Rerum Novarum’ addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution.”

Today, the church continues to offer “everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and labor,” he added.

Pope Leo XIV, the first pope from the United States, said that, “beginning with St. Peter and up to myself, his unworthy successor, the pope has been a humble servant of God and of his brothers and sisters, and nothing more than this.”

Many popes, and most recently Pope Francis, demonstrated this with his “complete dedication to service and to sober simplicity of life, his abandonment to God throughout his ministry and his serene trust at the moment of his return to the Father’s house,” he said.

“Let us take up this precious legacy and continue on the journey, inspired by the same hope that is born of faith,” he said, reminding the cardinals that it is “the risen Lord, present among us, who protects and guides the church, and continues to fill her with hope.”

“It is up to us to be docile listeners to his voice and faithful ministers of his plan of salvation, mindful that God loves to communicate himself, not in the roar of thunder and earthquakes, but in the ‘whisper of a gentle breeze’ or, as some translate it, in a ‘sound of sheer silence,'” he said.

“It is this essential and important encounter to which we must guide and accompany all the holy people of God entrusted to our care,” he said.

Thanking the cardinals for their role as the pope’s closest collaborators, he said their presence has proven to be “a great comfort to me in accepting a yoke clearly far beyond my own limited powers, as it would be for any of us.”

God, too, “will not leave me alone in bearing its responsibility,” he said, and he knew he would also be able to count on the closeness of “so many of our brothers and sisters throughout the world who believe in God, love the church and support the vicar of Christ by their prayers and good works.”

He concluded his remarks by embracing the hope St. Paul VI expressed at the inauguration of his Petrine ministry in 1963 and he invited them to do the same.

St. Paul prayed that hope “pass over the whole world like a great flame of faith and love kindled in all men and women of goodwill. May it shed light on paths of mutual cooperation and bless humanity abundantly, now and always, with the very strength of God, without whose help nothing is valid, nothing is holy,” he said, quoting the saint.

ROME (CNS) – While it is interesting and perhaps even a point of pride that the new Pope Leo XIV was born in the United States, most of the U.S.-based cardinals who participated in the conclave that elected him said nationality was not a factor.

“I think the impact of him being an American was almost negligible in the deliberations of the conclave and surprisingly so,” Cardinal Robert W. McElroy of Washington told reporters May 9 during a news conference at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.

“What surprised me was the real absence of that being a key question at all,” the cardinal said.

Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, retired archbishop of Galveston-Houston, told the reporters that while the cardinals chose a pope who is a U.S. citizen, “he’s really a citizen of the entire world since he has spent so much of his life, ministry, missionary work and zeal for Christ in South America,” mainly in Peru.

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York said, “The fact that he was born in the United States of America, boy, that’s a sense of pride and gratitude for us,” but the new pope is also a citizen of Peru. And he has work in the Roman Curia as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops for the past two years.

“He’s a citizen of the world,” Cardinal Dolan said.

“Where he comes from is now sort of a thing of the past. You know, Robert Francis Prevost is no longer around. It’s now Pope Leo,” the cardinal said. “He’s the pontiff of the church universal. Where he came from, (that’s) secondary.”

The cardinals were asked to what extent could people interpret the election of Pope Leo “as a reflection of the desire of the cardinals to offer a counterweight to the global influence of President Trump.”

Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory, the retired archbishop of Washington, said, “The cardinals were quite aware of things that have occurred in the United States, statements that have been made, political actions that have been taken.”

“But what the cardinals were concerned about primarily, at least from my conversations with them,” Cardinal Gregory said, “was, ‘Who among us can bring us together; who among us can strengthen the faith and bring the faith to places where it has grown weak, bring the faith to places where there seems to be less enthusiasm or appreciation of the common things that draw us together?'”

Cardinal Dolan responded, “It should not startle us that we would look to Pope Leo as a bridge builder. That’s what the Latin word ‘pontiff’ means. He’s a bridge builder. Will he want to build bridges with Donald Trump? I suppose, but he would want to build bridges with the leader of every nation. So, I don’t think at all that my brother cardinals would have thought of it as a conduit to any one person.”

The cardinals at the news conference all mentioned the cardinals going into the conclave looking for someone who could proclaim the Gospel and strengthen the unity of the church while also continuing the approach and projects of Pope Francis.

“We are looking for someone to follow the pathway of Francis, but we are not looking for a photocopy,” Cardinal McElroy said.

Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago, Pope Leo’s hometown, told reporters that the church does not speak of replacements for a bishop or pope, but of successors for them.

“That’s a very important distinction to make, and that is what we were looking for as well,” Cardinal Cupich said. The cardinals asked themselves, “Who could bring forward the not only the ministry and life and tradition of Francis, but everything that preceded him, especially from that pivotal moment of life in the church (that was) the Second Vatican Council.”

Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the papal nuncio to the United States, quoted the French poet Charles Peguy: “Everything begins in mysticism and ends in politics.”

The conclave was the opposite, he said. In the days of preparation for the conclave, the media particularly had taken a political view of the election of the new pope.

“What I experienced was that everything begins in politics and ends in mysticism. This is what we lived” in the conclave, Cardinal Pierre said. The conclave began “in this kind of confusion” of languages, cultures and not knowing each other.

The only solution, he said, was to dialogue and listen to one another, setting aside prejudices and entering into a process of prayerful discernment.

Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, said he had known Pope Leo for 30 years; they were in Rome together in the late 1990s and early 2000s when Cardinal Tobin was superior general of the Redemptorists and Pope Leo was superior of the Augustinian friars. More recently, Cardinal Tobin served as a member of the Dicastery for Bishops, where then-Cardinal Robert F. Prevost was prefect.

Talking about the new pope’s international experience, Cardinal Tobin first referred to him as “Bob” and then corrected himself, “Pope Leo.”

Describing the new pope’s leadership style, Cardinal Tobin said, “I don’t think he’s one that likes to pick fights, but he is not one to back down if the cause is just. And I guess the last thing I’d say about Bob is that he really is a listener, and then he acts.”

Cardinal Tobin said that during the actual election in the Sistine Chapel, when he went up to cast his ballot as the outcome became clearer, he walked by then-Cardinal Prevost, “who had his head in his hands.”

“I was praying for him, because I couldn’t imagine what happens to a human being when you’re facing something like that. And then when he accepted it, it was like he was made for it,” the cardinal said. “All of the anguish or whatever was resolved by feeling — I think — that this wasn’t simply his saying yes to a proposal, but that God had made something clear, and he agreed with that.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV will officially inaugurate his papacy with Mass in St. Peter’s Square May 18.

Although he was pope from the moment he accepted his election May 8, the inauguration Mass – which replaced the papal coronation after the pontificate of St. Paul VI – formally marks the beginning of his ministry with his reception of the fisherman’s ring and his pallium, a wool band worn around his shoulders.

The Vatican announced the date for the Mass May 9 along with events on his schedule for the rest of the month.

In a separate statement, the Vatican said the new pope has asked the heads of the dicasteries of the Roman Curia and the offices of Vatican City State to continue in their posts “on a provisional basis.”

When Pope Francis died April 21, and when any pope dies, most of the top Vatican officials lose their positions, giving the new pope a chance to appoint his team. Those reappointed included two women who were the first appointed to their posts and who succeeded cardinals: Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist Raffaella Petrini, who is president of the office governing Vatican City State; and Consolata Missionary Sister Simona Brambilla, prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

In reappointing the officials temporarily, the Vatican said, “the Holy Father wishes to set aside some time for reflection, prayer and dialogue before any final appointment or confirmation is made.”

Here is Pope Leo XIV’s schedule for the month of May released by the Vatican May 9:

— May 10. Meeting with cardinals.

— May 11. Recitation of the “Regina Coeli” prayer at noon from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.

— May 12. Meeting with members of the media covering the conclave and his election.

— May 16: Meeting with diplomats accredited to the Holy See.

— May 18: Mass for the solemn inauguration of the pontificate at 10 a.m. Rome time (4 a.m. EDT) in St. Peter’s Square.

— May 20: Formal possession of the Rome’s Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.

— May 21: Pope Leo’s first weekly general audience.

— May 24: Meeting with members of the Roman Curia and employees of Vatican City State,

— May 25: Recitation of the “Regina Coeli” prayer in St. Peter’s Square. Formal possession of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome, followed by formal possession of Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major.

ROME (OSV News) – He enjoys gelato after lunch, plays tennis weekly in the gardens of the Augustinian Curia in Rome and roots passionately for the Chicago White Sox.

But now, the man once known as Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost — a quiet, thoughtful Augustinian with decades of missionary experience in Peru — is Pope Leo XIV, the 266th successor of St. Peter.

For his brothers in the Augustinian order, his election has been met with a mixture of “joyful disbelief” and deep spiritual affirmation.

“I kept saying, ‘This is incredible,’ but I was also filled with joy,” said Father Joseph Farrell, the American prior general of the Order of St. Augustine. “As soon as I heard Roberto Francesco, I thought, it has to be Prevost. There were tears of joy — I was in the square when it happened.”

Father Farrell describes Pope Leo XIV as a man who leads by example, someone who “would never ask anyone to do anything he wouldn’t do himself.” His leadership, he said, is grounded not in ambition or politics, but in lived humility and fulfillment of the wide range of tasks a missionary might have — from teaching theology in Trujillo, Peru, or changing a flat tire.

“He’s someone who walks with people, who brings them along on the journey,” Father Farrell said. “That’s what mission is. Pope Francis said the church doesn’t just have a mission – it is a mission. I think Leo will continue that.”

The new pope has not yet personally reached out to Father Farrell, something Pope Francis had done on the day of his election when he called the superior general of his own religious order, the Jesuits. But he did send a telling one-word text after the election. “I asked him, ‘Cubs or White Sox?'” Father Farrell shared with a smile. “He just replied: Socks!”

That playful spirit – balanced by a calm, steady presence – is central to how Augustinians see Leo XIV’s upcoming papacy.

“My expectation is that he will be a little bit more reserved (than Pope Francis),” said Father Farrell. “Pope Leo XIV is a man who listens before he speaks, who listens before he acts. He needs that. He will react; he is a man who is very secure in himself, but he always listens first.”

One of the things few may know about the new pope is his commitment to exercise as part of his spiritual balance. “He played tennis here weekly. He realizes just how important staying in good physical shape is. He certainly plays tennis for the joy of the game, to keep up with the game, but also for stress relief!”

Asked if he pictures the newly elected pope continuing with his weekly tennis appointment, the priest said that he’s not sure but wouldn’t rule it out even if there is no tennis court in the Vatican.

While St. John Paul II was known as an athlete pope, the building of a tennis court would have to be the new pope’s task as the Polish one was rather famous for mountain hiking, skiing and swimming.

From Seville, Spain, another Augustinian voice echoed the same blend of affection and admiration. Father Eduardo Martín Clemens, diocesan director of the Pontifical Mission Societies and former missionary in Peru, lived and worked alongside then-Father Prevost in Trujillo.

As a priest, the pope joined the Augustinian mission in Trujillo in 1988 as director of the joint formation project for Augustinian candidates from the vicariates of Chulucanas, Iquitos and Apurímac. He stayed there until 1998.

“I’m convinced the new pope is a gift to the whole church,” said Father Clemens. “The Holy Spirit has been very generous.”

Father Clemens remembers a man who embodied both “the pragmatism of a North American and the open heart of Latin America.” He says then-Father Prevost never treated mission as a task but as a calling so deeply personal that “it was hard to distinguish if he was, in fact, a foreign missionary or Peruvian.”

He recalls weekends spent traveling together to remote corners of the country: “He’d always stop where the suffering was greatest. Whether to hear confessions or simply be present, was close to those in need.”

For Father Clemens, Pope Leo XIV’s spirituality is deeply rooted in the Augustinian tradition, but never at the expense of openness. “He embraced the new without breaking with tradition,” he said. “He was never a man of consensus in the political sense – but a man of communion. He built bridges.”

As a seminary formator and later bishop, the man who is now pope was known for his deep theological knowledge, even of canon law, which he applied “in a pastoral way, never making others feel trapped by rules, but liberated by truth,” said Father Clemens.

In his first public words as pope, Leo XIV quoted St. Augustine: “For you I am a bishop, with you, I am a Christian.” That, Father Clemens says, is exactly who he’s always been.

“In him, apostolic succession takes on flesh,” he said. “He is the man the church needs today – to build bridges and embrace everyone with his heart.”

(OSV News) – The following are key dates in the life and ministry of Pope Leo XIV, elected May 8, 2025, as the 266th successor to St. Peter.

— 1955: Born Sept. 14 in the Chicago area.

— 1977: Graduated from Villanova University near Philadelphia and entered the novitiate for the Order of St. Augustine in St. Louis.

— 1978: Professed first vows as a member of the Order of St. Augustine.

— 1981: Professed solemn vows as a member of the Order of St. Augustine.

— 1982: Ordained a priest of the Order of St. Augustine.

— 1984: Earned a licentiate in canon law from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome.

— 1985: Sent to work in the mission of Chulucanas, in Piura, Peru, until 1986.

— 1987: Elected the vocations director and missions director for his order’s Midwest province, Our Mother of Good Counsel.

— 1988: Moved to Trujillo, Peru, to direct a joint formation project for the region’s Augustinian aspirants. Over the course of a decade in Trujillo, he served as the community’s prior (1988-1992), formation director (1988-1998) and as an instructor (1992-1998).

— 1989: Began serving the Archdiocese of Trujillo for nine years as its judicial vicar; was also a professor of canon, patristic and moral law in the San Carlos e San Marcelo Major Seminary.

— 1999: Elected prior provincial for the Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel in Chicago.

— 2001: Promoted to his order’s prior general, considered its supreme authority that oversees its administration and governance. He was reelected to that role in 2007, holding it for a total of 12 years until 2013.

— 2013: Served for a year as a “teacher of the professed” and provincial vicar.

— 2014: Appointed by Pope Francis to be apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru. He was simultaneously named a bishop, but of the titular diocese Sufar, under which title he was ordained a month later on Dec. 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

— 2015: Appointed bishop of Chiclayo on Sept. 26.

— 2018: Served as second vice president of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference until 2023.

— 2019: Appointed a member of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy.

— 2020: While still bishop of Chiclayo, appointed apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Callao, Peru, a role he held until May 2021. He was also appointed to the Congregation for Bishops.

— 2023: Appointed prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, named president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and granted the title archbishop Jan. 30; installed in those roles April 12. On Sept. 30, elevated to the College of Cardinals.

— 2025: Elected pope May 8, taking the name Leo XIV.

(OSV News) – The following are key dates in the life and ministry of Pope Leo XIV, elected May 8, 2025, as the 266th successor to St. Peter.

— 1955: Born Sept. 14 in the Chicago area.

— 1977: Graduated from Villanova University near Philadelphia and entered the novitiate for the Order of St. Augustine in St. Louis.

— 1978: Professed first vows as a member of the Order of St. Augustine.

— 1981: Professed solemn vows as a member of the Order of St. Augustine.

— 1982: Ordained a priest of the Order of St. Augustine.

— 1984: Earned a licentiate in canon law from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome.

— 1985: Sent to work in the mission of Chulucanas, in Piura, Peru, until 1986.

— 1987: Elected the vocations director and missions director for his order’s Midwest province, Our Mother of Good Counsel.

— 1988: Moved to Trujillo, Peru, to direct a joint formation project for the region’s Augustinian aspirants. Over the course of a decade in Trujillo, he served as the community’s prior (1988-1992), formation director (1988-1998) and as an instructor (1992-1998).

— 1989: Began serving the Archdiocese of Trujillo for nine years as its judicial vicar; was also a professor of canon, patristic and moral law in the San Carlos e San Marcelo Major Seminary.

— 1999: Elected prior provincial for the Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel in Chicago.

— 2001: Promoted to his order’s prior general, considered its supreme authority that oversees its administration and governance. He was reelected to that role in 2007, holding it for a total of 12 years until 2013.

— 2013: Served for a year as a “teacher of the professed” and provincial vicar.

— 2014: Appointed by Pope Francis to be apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru. He was simultaneously named a bishop, but of the titular diocese Sufar, under which title he was ordained a month later on Dec. 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

— 2015: Appointed bishop of Chiclayo on Sept. 26.

— 2018: Served as second vice president of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference until 2023.

— 2019: Appointed a member of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy.

— 2020: While still bishop of Chiclayo, appointed apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Callao, Peru, a role he held until May 2021. He was also appointed to the Congregation for Bishops.

— 2023: Appointed prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, named president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and granted the title archbishop Jan. 30; installed in those roles April 12. On Sept. 30, elevated to the College of Cardinals.

— 2025: Elected pope May 8, taking the name Leo XIV.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Where Christians are “mocked, opposed, despised or at best tolerated and pitied” is where the Catholic Church’s “missionary outreach is most desperately needed,” Pope Leo XIV said in his first homily as leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

Today, “there are many settings in which the Christian faith is considered absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent, settings where other securities are preferred, like technology, money, success, power or pleasure,” the new pope told cardinals May 9 during Mass in the Sistine Chapel. 

“This is the world that has been entrusted to us, a world in which, as Pope Francis taught us so many times, we are called to bear witness to our joyful faith in Jesus the savior,” he said.

The day after his election, the new pope returned to the chapel where his fellow 132 cardinals elected him pope — the first U.S. citizen, first Peruvian citizen, first Augustinian friar and likely the first Chicago White Sox fan to become pope — to celebrate his first Mass with the College of Cardinals.

Wearing black shoes instead of the traditional red associated with the papacy and walking into the Sistine Chapel carrying Pope Benedict XIV’s papal ferula, or staff, the pope processed into the chapel.

After two women read the Mass readings in English and Spanish – a possible nod to the new pope’s U.S. and Peruvian background – he greeted the cardinals in English, marking his first public use of the language.

“Through the ministry of Peter, you have called me to carry that cross and to be blessed with that mission,” he said, “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 of friends of Jesus, as believers, to announce the good news, to announce the Gospel.”

The Mass, largely in Latin, was celebrated at a portable altar brought into the Sistine Chapel, as opposed to the fixed altar which requires the celebrant to face East, away from the congregation.

In his homily, spoken in Italian, Pope Leo said God had called him to be a “faithful administrator” of the church so that she may be “a beacon that illumines the dark nights of this world.”

“And this, not so much through the magnificence of her structures or the grandeur of her buildings, like the monuments among which we find ourselves, but rather through the holiness of her members,” he said, standing before Michelangelo’s “The Last Judgment” in the Sistine Chapel.

Reflecting on Jesus’ question to the apostle Peter in St. Matthew’s Gospel — “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” — Pope Leo said one might find two possible responses: the world’s, which considers Jesus “a completely insignificant person” who becomes “irksome because of his demands for honesty and his stern moral requirements,” and that of ordinary people, who see him as an “upright man, one who has courage, who speaks well and says the right things.”

“Even today, there are many settings in which the Christian faith is considered absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent,” he said. In these settings, “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 pope said.

And in many settings in which Jesus is appreciated, the pope said, he can be “reduced to a kind of charismatic leader or superman.”

“This is true not only among nonbelievers but also among many baptized Christians, who thus end up living, at this level, in a state of practical atheism,” he said. “Therefore, it is essential that we too repeat, with Peter: ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'”

“I say this first of all to myself, as the successor of Peter, as I begin my mission as bishop of Rome,” he said. Referencing St. Ignatius of Antioch, he said the commitment for all who exercise authority in the church is “to move aside so that Christ may remain, to make oneself small so that he may be known and glorified, to spend oneself to the utmost so that all may have the opportunity to know and love him.”

Before the Mass, video footage of the pope’s first hours in office circulated online. A video released by the Vatican showed him greeting the cardinals who elected him, praying alone in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace and wearing black, not red, shoes.

After his election and presentation to the faithful May 8, a video posted online showed Pope Leo returning to the Vatican residence where he had briefly lived as a cardinal before entering the conclave that elected him pope.

Greeting people who lived in the building, he posed for selfies and gave his blessing.

A girl asked the new pope to bless and sign a book; with a smile he replied: “I need to practice the signature! That old one is no good anymore.” And while signing, he asked, “Today is?” to a roar of laughs to those around him.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – President Donald Trump on May 8 congratulated Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, the Chicago-born prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops under Pope Francis, who was elected the 267th pope the same day, taking the name Pope Leo XIV.

In a post on his social media website Truth Social, Trump noted Pope Leo will be the first American pontiff in the church’s history.

“Congratulations to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was just named Pope,” Trump wrote. “It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country.”

Trump added, “I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!”

Trump, who attended the funeral Mass for the late Pope Francis on April 26, had also stirred some controversy during the official days of mourning for the late pontiff by posting an image depicting himself as pope. The image, apparently generated by artificial intelligence, was also posted to the White House’s social media account.

In comments to reporters at the White House, Trump said, “It’s such a great honor for our country, an American pope, and what greater honor can there be.”

Trump called himself “a little bit surprised” at Pope Leo’s election, but repeated it was an “absolutely great honor.”

Former President Joe Biden, the second Catholic to hold that office, wrote on X, “Habemus papam – May God bless Pope Leo XIV of Illinois.”

“Jill and I congratulate him and wish him success,” Biden said.

Former President Barack Obama said on X that he and former first lady Michelle Obama “send our congratulations to a fellow Chicagoan, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV.”

“This is a historic day for the United States, and we will pray for him as he begins the sacred work of leading the Catholic Church and setting an example for so many, regardless of faith,” Obama said.

Former President George W. Bush said in a statement that he and former first lady Laura Bush “are delighted to congratulate former Cardinal Robert Prevost on his election to the papacy.”

“This an historic and hopeful moment for Catholics in America and for the faithful around the world,” Bush said. “We join those praying for the success of Pope Leo XIV as he prepares to lead the Catholic church, serve the neediest, and share God’s love.”

Vice President JD Vance, the second Catholic to hold that office, wrote on X, “Congratulations to Leo XIV, the first American Pope, on his election!”

“I’m sure millions of American Catholics and other Christians will pray for his successful work leading the Church. May God bless him!” said Vance, who met with Pope Francis on Easter, the day before the late pontiff’s death April 21.

The U.S.-born Pope Leo comes into the papacy at a time when the U.S. church has faced significant challenges with respect to the Trump administration’s policies on migration and refugees. However, Catholic Relief Services’ president and CEO Sean Callahan described Pope Leo as a leader who is “voice for the voiceless and a fierce supporter of human dignity for all people.”

In social media posts prior to becoming pontiff, then-Cardinal Prevost shared posts on X critical of the Trump administration’s immigration policy. In February, he shared an opinion piece from the National Catholic Reporter titled “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others,” a reference to the vice president’s comments about the Catholic theological concept of the “ordo amoris” (the order of love or charity) — a subject that Pope Francis decided to address directly, without naming Vance, in a public address to the U.S. bishops.

Catholic lawmakers from both parties also congratulated the new Pope Leo.

House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., wrote on X, “Joyfully, people around the world have learned of a new Pope elected by one of the largest and most diverse conclaves ever – and the first American pope in history.”

“For many of us, the name Leo XIV happily brings to mind Leo XIII’s Rerum novarum which was a blessing for working people,” Pelosi added. “And it is heartening that His Holiness continued the blessing that Pope Francis gave on Easter Sunday: “God loves everyone. Evil will not prevail.”

“Rerum Novarum” (on capital and labor) is an 1891 encyclical by Pope Leo XIII. It is considered the starting point of modern social teaching by the popes.

Pelosi also quoted previous comments from the new pope: “We can be a missionary church, a church that builds bridges, that is always open to receive everyone.”

“Let us thank God for His Holiness Pope Leo XIV and for this vision of unity,” she said. “All of us hope and pray for the success of His Holiness and his vision for the Church.”

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, wrote on X, “Blessings to Pope Leo XIV, our first American Pope, on his selection to serve as the Bishop of Rome.”

“May he receive guidance from Jesus Christ our Lord and inspire the global community of Catholics and all people by sharing the message of God’s unconditional love,” she said.

Lawmakers of other faith traditions also congratulated the new pope.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., wrote on X, “May God bless the first American papacy in these historic days.”

Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., wrote on X that Pope Leo grew up in Dolton, Illinois, within the district she represents.

“I wish Pope Leo XIV wisdom and integrity as he leads the Church toward greater inclusion, stronger faith, and love for all,” she wrote.

Gov. JB Pritzker, D-Ill., also noted Pope Leo’s ties to the Prairie State in a post on X.

“A historic moment as we witness the first American leading the Catholic Church,” he wrote. “Hailing from Chicago, Pope Leo XIV ushers in a new chapter that I join those in our state welcoming in at a time when we need compassion, unity, and peace.”

Former House Speaker John Boehner, a Catholic Republican who was in office when the late Pope Francis delivered his historic 2015 address to a joint session of Congress, wrote on X that while that moment “was a big deal,” he said, “This is seismic.”

“May God Bless Pope Leo XIV, and through him, bring His light to the world,” Boehner said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Even before he stepped out on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica and spoke May 8, Pope Leo XIV’s choice of a name was a powerful statement.

Following Pope Francis, who chose a completely new name in church history, Pope Leo opted for a name steeped in tradition that also conveys an openness to engaging with the modern world.

The pope’s choice of name is a “direct recall of the social doctrine of the church and of the pope that initiated the modern social doctrine of the church,” Matteo Bruni, director Vatican press office told reporters after the election of the new pope.

Pope Leo XIII, who was pope from 1878-1903, is known for publishing the encyclical “Rerum Novarum” on worker’s rights – considered the foundational document for the church’s social teaching. The document emphasized the dignity of workers and condemned the dangers of unchecked capitalism and socialism.

The name Leo is a “direct” reference to “men and women and their work, also in the time of artificial intelligence,” Bruni said.

Pope Leo XIII also opened the Vatican secret archives to scholars, founded the Vatican observatory to demonstrate the church’s openness to science and was the first pope to be filmed on a motion picture camera.

Tied to the new pope’s first words to the faithful: “May peace be with you all,” his namesake Pope Leo XIII was also a peacemaker who reconciled the church with the governments of France, Russia, Germany and Great Britain during his pontificate.

Pope Leo’s name also has a Marian significance, since Pope Leo XIII wrote 11 encyclicals on the rosary and was also the first pope to embrace the concept of Mary as mediatrix, which holds that Mary helps distribute Christ’s grace through her intercession.

The first pope who took the name Leo became pope in 440. Known as “Leo the Great,” he promoted the doctrine of papal primacy based on succession from St. Peter and was a peacemaker who convinced Atilla the Hun to turn back from invading Italy in 452.

Pope Leo X, pope from 1513-1521, was the last pope to not have been a priest at the time of his election to the papacy.

The new pope’s predecessor, Pope Francis, was the first pontiff since Pope Lando in 913 to choose an entirely new papal name. Before him, Pope John Paul I, elected in 1978, also broke with tradition by forgoing a numeral, though his name was a blend of his two immediate predecessors’ names.

By contrast, Leo is among the most frequently taken names by a pope, with only Benedict, Gregory and John having been chosen more often. Of the 13 previous popes named Leo, five are canonized as saints.

(OSV News) – The following is the full text of the “urbi et orbi” blessing given by Pope Leo XIV after his election May 8, 2025. 

“Peace be with you all!”

Beloved brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting of the Risen Christ, the Good Shepherd who has given his life for the flock of God. I, too, would like this greeting of peace to enter your hearts, reach your families, to all people, wherever they may be, to all peoples, to all the earth.

“Peace be with you!”

This is the peace of the Risen Christ, a disarmed peace and a disarming peace, humble and persevering. It comes from God, God who loves us all unconditionally. We still retain in our ears that weak but always courageous voice of Pope Francis blessing Rome!

The pope blessing Rome gave his blessing to the world, to the whole world, that morning of Easter Day. Let me follow up on that same blessing: God loves us, God loves you all, and evil will not prevail! We are all in God’s hands. Therefore, without fear, united hand in hand with God and each other — let us go forward. We are disciples of Christ. Christ goes before us.

The world needs His light. Humanity needs Him as the bridge to be reached by God and his love. Help us also, and then help each other to build bridges, with dialogue, with encounter, uniting us all to be one people always at peace. Thank you Pope Francis!

I also want to thank all my brother cardinals who have chosen me to be Successor of Peter and walk together with you, as a united Church always seeking peace, justice, always seeking to work as men and women faithful to Jesus Christ, without fear, to proclaim the Gospel, to be missionaries.

I am a son of St. Augustine, an Augustinian, who said, “For you I am a bishop, with you, I am a Christian.” In this sense we can all walk together toward that homeland that God has prepared.

To the Church of Rome, a special greeting! We must seek together how to be a missionary Church, a Church that builds bridges, dialogue, always open to receive, like this square, with open arms. Everyone, everyone who needs our charity, our presence, dialogue and love.

[In Spanish] And if you allow me a word, a greeting to everyone and especially to my dear Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, where a faithful people have accompanied their bishop, shared their faith and has given so much, so much to continue to be a faithful Church of Jesus Christ.

To all of you, brothers and sisters from Rome, from Italy, from all over the world, we want to be a synodal Church, a church that walks, a church that always seeks peace, that always seeks charity, that always seeks to be close especially to those who suffer.

Today is the day of Supplication to Our Lady of Pompeii. Our Mother Mary always wants to walk with us, be close, help us with her intercession and love.

So I would like to pray together with you. Let us pray together for this new mission, for the whole church, for peace in the world, and let us ask Mary, our Mother, for this special grace.

Ave Maria…