Pope Leo XIV said he wanted the Catholic church to be a “small leaven of unity” in a time of “too much discord and too many wounds” during his inaugural papal mass attended by world leaders including the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the US vice-president, JD Vance.
Calling for more love and unity, Leo said the church’s “true authority” was the charity of Christ. “It is never a question of capturing others by force, by religious propaganda or by means of power. Instead, it is always and only a question of loving as Jesus did.”
The Vatican confirmed that Leo would meet Zelenskyy, whose country is under invasion by Russia, later on Sunday.
Leo arrived in St Peter’s Square onboard a popemobile, to the delight of the estimated 150,000 pilgrims who had gathered there.
The mass, which marks the official start of the papacy of the Chicago-born cardinal Robert Prevost, is the biggest event to take place at the Vatican since the funeral of his predecessor, Pope Francis, in late April. Leo is the first US pope in the history of the Roman Catholic church.
Before arriving at the altar in St Peter’s Square, alongside a procession of cardinals and bishops, Leo received two gifts that symbolised the papacy.
The first was a gold signet fisherman’s ring, which is named in honour of St Peter, a fisher who was the first pope. The ring represents the beginning and end of a papacy, and when a pontiff dies, it is destroyed by a senior cardinal.
The second gift was a lamb’s wool pallium, which symbolises the pope’s role as a shepherd, and is draped over his shoulders before the mass begins.
Other world leaders present included the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, and his Australian counterpart, Anthony Albanese, as well as the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, and the Argentinian president, Javier Milei. Prince Edward represented the British royal family.
Leo, after greeting the crowd with “a heart full of gratitude”, began his homily by recalling the “intense emotions” felt in recent weeks as a result of the death of Francis and the subsequent conclave.
Speaking in Italian, he said: “I was chosen, without any merit of my own, and now, with fear and trembling, I come to you as a brother, who desires to be the servant of your faith and your joy, walking with you on the path of God’s love, for he wants us all to be united in one family.”
In a later passage, Leo said he wanted to preserve the church’s rich heritage while confronting modern challenges. “In this our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference, and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth’s resources and marginalises the poorest.
“For our part, we want to be a small leaven of unity, communion and fraternity within the world. We want to say to the world, with humility and joy: look to Christ. Come closer to him.”
Vance, who briefly met Francis in the Vatican the day before he died, and the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, represented the US on Sunday.
According to La Repubblica, Leo could also hold a meeting with Vance. Rubio said on Saturday that the Vatican could be a future venue for peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, echoing the Vatican’s secretary of state, Pietro Parolin, who said on Friday that the Holy See could be a “bridge” for dialogue between the two countries.
Zelenskyy spoke to the US president, Donald Trump inside St Peter’s Basilica in a brief meeting minutes before the start of Francis’ funeral mass.
Before being elected as pope, Prevost criticised Trump’s administration in several posts on his X account, mainly targeting the government over its policies on immigration.
In February he also shared on X an op-ed published in the National Catholic Reporter titled: “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others,” after comments that Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, made in an interview on Fox News.
The Vatican has not confirmed or denied whether the social media posts were authentic. Vance and Trump also clashed with Pope Francis over immigration.
Prevost’s criticisms led to a backlash from Trump’s hardline conservative supporters after he became pope. The activist Laura Loomer, who wrote on X: “He is anti-Trump, anti-MAGA, pro-open Borders, and a total Marxist like Pope Francis.”
Pope Leo XIV will remain active on social media through the official papal accounts on X and Instagram, the Vatican said last week. On X, the platform owned by Elon Musk, the billionaire tasked by Trump to reduce government spending and cut jobs, @Pontifex communicates in nine languages to a total of 52m followers.
In one of his first posts on X, Leo wrote: “The Holy See is willing to help enemies meet, so they may look each other in the eye and so people may be given back the dignity they deserve: the dignity of peace. With heart in hand, I say to the leaders of nations: let us meet; let us dialogue; let us negotiate!”
