Newly elected Pope Leo XIV concelebrates Mass with the Faculty of Cardinals contained in the Sistine Chapel on the Vatican the day after his election as 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, Friday.
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ROME — Pope Leo XIV celebrated his first Mass as pope Friday morning within the Sistine Chapel. In attendance have been the cardinals who elected him on Thursday.
Leo spoke briefly in English earlier than his homily, saying:
“I wish to repeat the phrases from the Responsorial Psalm: ‘I’ll sing a brand new tune to the Lord, as a result of He has achieved marvels,’ and certainly, not simply with me however with all of us.
“My brother Cardinals, as we have fun this morning, I invite you to replicate on the marvels the Lord has achieved, the blessings that the Lord continues to pour out on all of us via the Ministry of Peter.
“You may have referred to as me to hold that cross, and to hold out that mission, and I do know I can depend on every one in every of you to stroll with me, as we proceed as a Church, as a neighborhood of mates of Jesus, as believers, to announce the Good Information, to announce the Gospel.”
Throughout his homily, delivered in Italian, Leo stated that Christians should serve a world that’s typically hostile to their beliefs.
“Even at the moment, there are lots of settings wherein the Christian religion is taken into account absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent. Settings the place different securities are most popular, like expertise, cash, success, energy, or pleasure.
“These are contexts the place it’s not straightforward to evangelise the Gospel and bear witness to its reality, the place believers are mocked, opposed, despised or at finest tolerated and pitied. But, exactly for that reason, they’re the locations the place our missionary outreach is desperately wanted. An absence of religion is usually tragically accompanied by the lack of which means in life, the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the disaster of the household and so many different wounds that afflict our society.”
Right here is the complete homily, as translated from the Italian by the Vatican:
“You’re the Christ, the Son of the residing God” (Mt 16:16). In these phrases, Peter, requested by the Grasp, along with the opposite disciples, about his religion in him, expressed the patrimony that the Church, via the apostolic succession, has preserved, deepened and handed on for 2 thousand years.
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the residing God: the one Saviour, who alone reveals the face of the Father.
In him, God, with a purpose to make himself shut and accessible to women and men, revealed himself to us within the trusting eyes of a kid, within the vigorous thoughts of an adolescent and within the mature options of a person (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 22), lastly showing to his disciples after the resurrection together with his wonderful physique. He thus confirmed us a mannequin of human holiness that we will all imitate, along with the promise of an everlasting future that transcends all our limits and talents.
Peter, in his response, understands each of these items: the present of God and the trail to observe with a purpose to enable himself to be modified by that present. They’re two inseparable features of salvation entrusted to the Church to be proclaimed for the great of the human race. Certainly, they’re entrusted to us, who have been chosen by him earlier than we have been fashioned in our moms’ wombs (cf. Jer 1:5), reborn within the waters of Baptism and, surpassing our limitations and with no benefit of our personal, introduced right here and despatched forth from right here, in order that the Gospel could be proclaimed to each creature (cf. Mk 16:15).
In a selected approach, God has referred to as me by your election to succeed the Prince of the Apostles, and has entrusted this treasure to me in order that, together with his assist, I could also be its devoted administrator (cf. 1 Cor 4:2) for the sake of the complete mystical Physique of the Church. He has achieved so so that she could also be ever extra absolutely a metropolis set on a hill (cf. Rev 21:10), an ark of salvation crusing via the waters of historical past and a beacon that illumines the darkish nights of this world. And this, not a lot via the magnificence of her buildings or the grandeur of her buildings – just like the monuments amongst which we discover ourselves – however fairly via the holiness of her members. For we’re the individuals whom God has chosen as his personal, in order that we might declare the fantastic deeds of him who referred to as us out of darkness into his marvellous mild (cf. 1 Pet 2:9).
Peter, nevertheless, makes his occupation of religion in reply to a selected query: “Who do individuals say that the Son of Man is?” (Mt 16:13). The query isn’t insignificant. It considerations a vital side of our ministry, particularly, the world wherein we reside, with its limitations and its potential, its questions and its convictions.
“Who do individuals say that the Son of Man is?” If we replicate on the scene we’re contemplating, we’d discover two attainable solutions, which characterize two completely different attitudes.
Newly elected Pope Leo XIV, second from left, concelebrates Mass with the Faculty of Cardinals contained in the Sistine Chapel on the Vatican the day after his election as 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, Friday, Might 9, 2025.
AP/Vatican media
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AP/Vatican media
First, there may be the world’s response. Matthew tells us that this dialog between Jesus and his disciples takes place within the stunning city of Caesarea Philippi, crammed with luxurious palaces, set in a powerful pure panorama on the foot of Mount Hermon, but additionally a spot of merciless energy performs and the scene of betrayals and infidelity. This setting speaks to us of a world that considers Jesus a totally insignificant particular person, at finest somebody with an uncommon and putting approach of talking and performing. And so, as soon as his presence turns into irksome due to his calls for for honesty and his stern ethical necessities, this “world” is not going to hesitate to reject and remove him.
Then there may be the opposite attainable response to Jesus’ query: that of odd individuals. For them, the Nazarene isn’t a charlatan, however an upright man, one who has braveness, who speaks properly and says the proper issues, like different nice prophets within the historical past of Israel. That’s the reason they observe him, not less than for so long as they’ll achieve this with out an excessive amount of danger or inconvenience. But to them he’s solely a person, and due to this fact, in occasions of hazard, throughout his ardour, they too abandon him and depart disenchanted.
What’s putting about these two attitudes is their relevance at the moment. They embody notions that we may simply discover on the lips of many women and men in our personal time, even when, whereas primarily similar, they’re expressed in numerous language.
Even at the moment, there are lots of settings wherein the Christian religion is taken into account absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent. Settings the place different securities are most popular, like expertise, cash, success, energy, or pleasure.
These are contexts the place it’s not straightforward to evangelise the Gospel and bear witness to its reality, the place believers are mocked, opposed, despised or at finest tolerated and pitied. But, exactly for that reason, they’re the locations the place our missionary outreach is desperately wanted. An absence of religion is usually tragically accompanied by the lack of which means in life, the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the disaster of the household and so many different wounds that afflict our society.
In the present day, too, there are lots of settings wherein Jesus, though appreciated as a person, is lowered to a sort of charismatic chief or superman. That is true not solely amongst non-believers but additionally amongst many baptized Christians, who thus find yourself residing, at this stage, in a state of sensible atheism.
That is the world that has been entrusted to us, a world wherein, as Pope Francis taught us so many occasions, we’re referred to as to bear witness to our joyful religion in Jesus the Saviour. Due to this fact, it’s important that we too repeat, with Peter: “You’re the Christ, the Son of the residing God” (Mt 16:16).
It’s important to do that, to start with, in our private relationship with the Lord, in our dedication to a each day journey of conversion. Then, to take action as a Church, experiencing collectively our constancy to the Lord and bringing the Good Information to all (cf. Lumen Gentium, 1).
I say this to start with to myself, because the Successor of Peter, as I start my mission as Bishop of Rome and, based on the well-known expression of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, am referred to as to preside in charity over the common Church (cf. Letter to the Romans, Prologue). Saint Ignatius, who was led in chains to this metropolis, the place of his impending sacrifice, wrote to the Christians there: “Then I’ll really be a disciple of Jesus Christ, when the world now not sees my physique” (Letter to the Romans, IV, 1). Ignatius was talking about being devoured by wild beasts within the enviornment – and so it occurred – however his phrases apply extra usually to an indispensable dedication for all these within the Church who train a ministry of authority. It’s to maneuver apart in order that Christ might stay, to make oneself small in order that he could also be identified and glorified (cf. Jn 3:30), to spend oneself to the utmost so that every one might have the chance to know and love him.
Might God grant me this grace, at the moment and all the time, via the loving intercession of Mary, Mom of the Church.
