Key events
Much has been made of Leo XIV’s multi-lingual abilities, and the fact that even though he was born in the US, he spent considerable time in Peru. So far during his first mass the new pope has opted to reflect that multi-lingual heritage. He has been conducting the service in Italian, the first reading was in English, and the second reading has just been in Spanish.
Arwa Mahdawi
As the mass proceeds, with a reading from the Book of Revelations 21:9-14, our columnist Arwa Mahdawi has turned her attention to the papacy, asking if Leo XIV will be “the moral leader we desperately need”?
She writes:
I am not an American Catholic. Nor am I Protestant, Episcopalian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist or anything else. I am an atheist, although not a terribly devout one. But I am certainly praying as hard as I can that Pope Leo will be the moral leader that the world so desperately needs at this moment.
During a time when international law has been dealt a deadly blow, when might is right and decades of progress seem to be unravelling, the late Pope Francis made an impression on non-Catholics like me for his moral clarity towards many marginalized groups and his advocacy for peace everywhere.
We do not yet know how Pope Leo will undertake his duties but he is widely considered a centrist who was aligned with Francis on a number of social issues. Whether Pope Leo will remain outspoken, whether he will continue Francis’s demands for a ceasefire in Gaza, remains to be seen. But the world desperately needs strong moral leadership at the moment. May Leo be the light we need in the current darkness.
You can read Arwa Mahdawi’s column in full here: An American has become pope. Will he be the moral leader we desperately need?
Leo XIV has been leading the cardinals in the introductory rites of the mass.
Pope Leo XIV has arrived at the Sistine Chapel, and the service has begun. After the mass, the pope is then expected to have a lunch with the cardinals who elected him from their number yesterday.
Pope Leo XIV to begin his first mass in Sistine Chapel
The cardinals are seated in the Sistine Chapel now, and the first mass led by new Pope Leo XIV is about to be celebrated. You can watch it live here.
Here are some images from the news wires of cardinals arriving at the Vatican this morning.
Early statements from a new pope are viewed as setting the tone for how they intend to govern the Catholic church, and the issues that they will press forward on. A few days after he was elected pope in 2013, Pope Francis delivered a message about defending the weak, the poor and the environment.
At that time, Pope Francis said his role was to open his arms and protect all of humanity: “Especially the poorest, the weakest, the least important, those whom Matthew lists in the final judgment on love: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison.
“Today amid so much darkness we need to see the light of hope and to be men and women who bring hope to others,” Pope Francis said in 2013. “To protect creation, to protect every man and every woman, to look upon them with tenderness and love, is to open up a horizon of hope, it is to let a shaft of light break through the heavy clouds.”
There is a live video feed from St Peter’s Square at the top of the blog now. You may need to refresh the page to get the pay button to appear.
The election of Leo XIV has dominated the front pages of newspapers in the UK today.
Unearthed comments from new pope alarm LGBTQ+ Catholics
Robert Mackey
After years of sympathetic and inclusive comments from Pope Francis, LGBTQ+ Catholics expressed concern on Thursday about hostile remarks made more than a decade ago by Father Robert Prevost, the new Pope Leo XIV, in which he condemned what he called the “homosexual lifestyle” and “the redefinition of marriage” as “at odds with the Gospel”.
In a 2012 address to the world synod of bishops, the man who now leads the church said that “Western mass media is extraordinarily effective in fostering within the general public enormous sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the Gospel – for example abortion, homosexual lifestyle, euthanasia”.
In the remarks the cleric blamed mass media for fostering so much “sympathy for anti-Christian lifestyles choices” that “when people hear the Christian message it often inevitably seems ideological and emotionally cruel”.
“Catholic pastors who preach against the legalization of abortion or the redefinition of marriage are portrayed as being ideologically driven, severe and uncaring,” Prevost added.
He went on to complain that “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children are so benignly and sympathetically portrayed in television programs and cinema today”.
The video illustrated his criticism of the “homosexual lifestyle” and “same-sex partners and their adopted children” with clips from two US sitcoms featuring same-sex couples, The New Normal and Modern Family.
Read more of Robert Mackey’s report here: Unearthed comments from new pope alarm LGBTQ+ Catholics
Here are some of the scenes around the Vatican and Rome this morning.
