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Leo XIV celebrates his first Mass as Pope

Politiko 2025-05-09 11:42:34

Leo XIV celebrates his first Mass as Pope

Pope Leo XIV will celebrate his first Mass as pope on Friday as he takes over leadership of 1.4 billion Roman Catholics. He will soon face urgent questions about the direction of the church.

Returning to the Sistine Chapel, where he was elected on Thursday on the second day of the papal conclave, Leo XIV presided over Mass with dozens of cardinals dressed in white robes and long bishops' mitres.

The stove that produced the white smoke that announced Leo XIV's election is still in place, surrounded by scaffolding, at the back of the Sistine Chapel as he begins to celebrate his first Mass as pope. It is a reminder that these spaces, which are tourist and cultural destinations, are also, on rare occasions, working spaces for the church.

Dozens of cardinals in white robes and high mitres sit beneath a vaulted ceiling painted by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel as they wait for Mass to begin. Two days earlier, Leo XIV entered the chapel as a cardinal to participate in the conclave. Now he will celebrate Mass there as pope.

The new pope, whose election on the second day of the conclave shocked the Roman Catholic world, seemed to come from two places at once. He was born and raised in the United States, a vital source of church finances. But he was also a missionary, pastor and bishop in Peru, who headed the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, a part of the world where the church is alive.

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