Pope Leo XIV to hold inaugural mass at St Peter's Square in front of 250,000
An estimated 250,000 pilgrims and a host of world leaders and royals, including are expected to attend St Peter's Square for the inaugural Mass of
Pope Leo XIV
.
Those attending include US vice-president,
JD Vance
, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney,
The service, which begins on Sunday at 10am local time, marks the official start of the papacy of the first US pontiff in the history of the
Roman Catholic church
.
The Chicago-born cardinal Robert Prevost (69) was elected to succeed the late Pope Francis earlier this month after
a conclave
that lasted less than 26 hours.
READ MORE
Other world leaders attending include the Israeli president, Yitzhak Herzog; the Argentinian president, Javier Milei; and the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese.
As is tradition for an inaugural papal Sunday Mass, Leo is expected to arrive in St Peter's Square aboard a popemobile and spend some time greeting the crowd.
Alongside a procession of cardinals, the pope then enters St Peter's Basilica, where he will receive two gifts that symbolise the papacy.
The first is 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. Until 1842, the ring was used to seal official documents signed by the pope.
The second gift is a lamb's wool pallium, which symbolises the pope's role as a shepherd, and is draped over his shoulders before the Mass begins.
JD Vance, who briefly met Pope Francis in the Vatican the day before he died, and the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will represent the US.
Before being elected as pope, the then-cardinal criticised Donald 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 Mr 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. Mr Vance and Mr Trump also clashed with Pope Francis over immigration. – Guardian
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
14 hours ago
- Irish Times
Young people and AI
Sir, – In one of his first speeches as pope, Leo XIV outlined his priorities for his papacy. Interestingly, one of these is the challenges posed by artificial intelligence (AI). The pope believes that AI is a threat to 'humanity, justice and labour'. He said that this was one of the key reasons for him choosing the name Leo XIV. He had spoken previously about the impact of the industrial revolution on workers' rights. We are now arguably going through another 'industrial revolution' of sorts. Before, it was concerns that machines would replace people and take their jobs. Now it's the same but with AI. We adapted before and we can adapt again; not by trying to beat AI by being robots but by fully embracing our humanity – the qualities that set us apart from AI, qualities like our emotions, our ability to connect and build strong, trusting relationships and our ability to empathise. READ MORE If we are fully human, if we stop trying to beat AI at its own game, AI can never truly replace us, never truly do away with the need for real, human people in the workforce and in society. As a young person, I'm often asked the question, 'what do you want to be when you grow up?' Whatever answer I give, the response is usually: 'Oh, that job will be done away it; AI will be doing it in the future.' But I remain hopeful, faithful that I will be needed in society. And that AI can't replace humans if we are truly human, fully ourselves. – Yours, etc, TESS LIFFEY, Birr, Co Offaly.
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Irish Times
Italians to vote on easing citizenship requirements, reversing labour reform
Italians will start voting on Sunday in a two-day referendum on whether to ease citizenship laws and reverse a decade-old liberalisation of the labour market, but the vote may fail to generate sufficient turnout to be deemed valid. Opposition leftist and centrist parties, civil society groups and a leading trade union have latched on to the issues of labour rights and Italy 's demographic woes as a way of challenging prime minister Giorgia Meloni 's right-wing coalition government. They gathered more than 4.5 million signatures, according to the CGIL labour union – far more than needed to trigger the referendum, which will comprise five questions: four on the labour market and one on citizenship. However, opinion polls suggest they will struggle to persuade the required 50 per cent plus one of the electorate to turn out to make the outcome of the vote binding. Ms Meloni and senior government ministers have indicated they will not vote. READ MORE 'Meloni is afraid of participation and has understood that many Italians, even those who voted for her, will go to vote,' said Elly Schlein , leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (PD), who is spearheading the campaign along with Maurizio Landini, the CGIL labour union chief. A Demopolis institute poll last month estimated turnout would be in the range of 31-39 per cent among Italy's roughly 50 million electors – well short of the required threshold. 'Securing a quorum will be hard. The opposition's minimum aim is to show strength and bring to vote more people than the 12.3 million who backed the centre-right at the 2022 general election,' said Lorenzo Pregliasco, from YouTrend pollsters. The citizenship issue has garnered most public attention in a nation where concerns over the scale of immigration helped propel Ms Meloni's anti-migration coalition to power in late 2022. The question on the ballot paper asks Italians if they back reducing the period of residence required to apply for Italian citizenship by naturalisation to five years from 10. This could affect about 2.5 million foreign nationals, organisers say. [ 'Trump likes this German': Merz Oval Office test gets approval back home Opens in new window ] With Italy's birth rate in sharp decline, economists say the country needs to attract more foreigners to boost its anaemic economy, and migrant workers feel a lot is at stake. 'If you just look at the time frame, five years are a huge gain for us migrants, if compared to 10,' said Mohammed Kamara, a 27-year-old from Sierra Leone who works in a building construction company in Rome. Francesco Galietti, from political risk firm Policy Sonar, said keeping such rules tight was 'an identity issue' for Ms Meloni, but she was also being pushed by business to open up the borders of an ageing country to foreign workers. 'On the one hand there is the cultural identity rhetoric, but on the other there are potential problems paying pensions and an economy that relies on manufacturing, which needs workers,' he said. The questions regarding the labour market aim to make it harder to fire some workers and increase compensation for workers laid off by small businesses, among other things, reversing a law passed by a PD government a decade ago. The leaders of two of the governing coalition parties, Antonio Tajani of Forza Italia and Matteo Salvini of the League, have said they will not vote on Sunday, while Ms Meloni, who heads Brothers of Italy, will show up at the polling station but will not vote. 'She will thereby honour her institutional duty but avoid contributing to the quorum,' said pollster Pregliasco. – Reuters
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Irish Times
Trade tensions simmer under surface of cordial White House meeting between Trump and Merz
US president Donald Trump and German chancellor Friedrich Merz kicked off a White House meeting on Thursday with talks on Ukraine and trade but none of the fireworks that have characterised other Oval Office meetings with foreign leaders. Mr Trump described Mr Merz as a good representative of Germany and also 'difficult,' which he suggested was a compliment. He said US troops would remain in Germany and said it was positive that Berlin was spending more money on defence. Mr Merz said he was pleased to be there and preparing for a deeper relationship with the United States. The two leaders met in the Oval Office, which has been the site of showdowns between Mr Trump and visiting dignitaries including Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy and South African president Cyril Ramaphosa. READ MORE Mr Trump and Mr Merz, both conservatives, appeared to have a warm rapport from the start. Mr Merz started with praise, thanking Mr Trump for putting him up in the Blair House, a presidential guest dwelling across from the White House, and Mr Trump thanked him for doing so. But tensions over trade simmered under the surface of their encounter. The United States and the European Union are in talks to reach a trade deal, which would be critical for Germany's export-heavy economy, but Mr Trump said he would be fine with an agreement or with tariffs. 'We'll end up hopefully with a trade deal,' Mr Trump said. 'I'm okay with the tariffs or we make a deal with the trade.' Mr Merz, who took office last month, told reporters ahead of the meeting that they would discuss Russia's war in Ukraine, US tariffs and Nato in the meeting, but said he was not expecting major breakthroughs. Germany is the second largest military and financial backer of Ukraine in its defence against Russia's invasion, after the United States. Mr Trump has urged Nato countries to spend more on defence, though he suggested there might be some limits on how far Berlin should go given its second World War past. The meeting came amid a broader fraying of ties between the US and many European countries. Mr Trump's administration has intervened in domestic European politics in a break with past practice, aligning with right-wing political movements and challenging European policies on immigration and free speech. Mr Merz (69) and his entourage have sought coaching from other leaders on how to deal with Mr Trump to avoid conflict, according to a source briefed on the matter. The meeting took place just weeks before a critical summit of the Nato western military alliance, which has been strained by Mr Trump's threats that the US will not come to the aid of allies that do not increase their defence spending. Such threats are of particular concern to Germany, which has relied on US nuclear deterrence for its security since the end of the second World War. [ Donald Trump accuses Elon Musk of being 'hostile' to his administration Opens in new window ] [ Xi Jinping urges respectful trade talks in call with Trump Opens in new window ] Mr Merz has already made some bold policy moves that he can highlight to appease Mr Trump, analysts said. He has backed Mr Trump's demand for Nato members to commit to a target of more than doubling defence spending to 5 per cent of economic output in the future, earning praise last weekend from US defence secretary Pete Hegseth. Mr Merz, who has promised a more assertive foreign policy, also co-ordinated a visit by European leaders to Kyiv just days after taking office, two European diplomat sources said. 'This shows that Germany is willing to accept a greater responsibility for Ukraine and the European security order – these are all things that have been wished for in the United States over years and will be welcomed,' said Sudha David-Wilp of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. – Reuters
