Pope Leo XIV steps onto world stage with packed debut week

New Straits Times

12-05-2025

VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV launches his first full week as leader of the world's Catholics on Monday, with journalists, diplomats and top Vatican officials all set to meet the newly elected pontiff.
Pomp and prayer marked the initial days of the pontificate of the former Robert Francis Prevost, the US pope first introduced to the world from the balcony of St Peter's Basilica on Thursday. But the former missionary now has a packed calendar.
On Monday at 11am (0900 GMT) he is to be introduced to the international press inside the Vatican's vast audience hall, where pontiffs hold their general audiences. This will be followed on Friday with an audience for foreign diplomats at the Vatican.
The pope's inauguration mass at St Peter's Square on Sunday, May 18 will be a far grander affair – his first public mass as pope, during which he will preside before thousands of worshippers and world leaders.
The following week will see Leo's first general audience on May 21, usually a regularly scheduled event for the pope on Wednesdays. Members of the public are invited inside the Vatican for teachings and readings in different languages, after which the pope gives a blessing.
Days later, on May 24, the pope will meet with the Roman Curia over which he presides, the powerful top officials and department heads running the government of the Holy See.
The world is still getting to know the modest and soft-spoken pontiff born in Chicago, who spent much of his life in the priesthood as a missionary in Peru, where he holds a second citizenship.
Before making him a cardinal in 2023, Francis entrusted Leo with the leadership of the powerful Dicastery of Bishops, which advises the pontiff on bishop appointments.
As pope, Leo will have to heal rifts within the Church, renew faith among the world's 1.4 billion Catholics and address a host of modern-day challenges – including the fallout of the global sex abuse scandal – still weighing on the two-millennia-old institution.
Among the tens of thousands of faithful who came out to see him Sunday, many said they were cheered by signs that Leo would follow in the footsteps of his predecessor, Francis, who died April 21 at age 88, seeking unity in a fractured world with an attention to the world's poor.
"He gives me a lot of hope just trying to bring about the universal language of love and peace for one another, especially in such a divided world that we have today," Christina Morey, a 31-year-old American, said.
"I love that he is both continuing Francis's path while also seeming to create his own and I'm really excited to see where that will go," Morey said.
Italian Leo Mita, 34, said that the world's first pope from the United States actually appeared to be "a citizen of the world for rights and for peace."
Whereas Francis sometimes ruffled feathers among global leaders – and within the Vatican – with his more direct approach, Vatican watchers say Leo will tap his quieter, more collaborative style for best effect on the international stage.
On Sunday, Pope Leo did not shy from the turbulent geopolitical context, calling for an end to war around the globe.
"In today's dramatic scenario of a third world war... as repeatedly stated by Pope Francis, I also address the powerful of the world, repeating the ever-timely appeal: No more war!" Leo urged from the balcony.
Echoing Francis, who repeatedly called for an end to wars and bloodshed across the globe, Leo appealed for a "genuine, just and lasting peace" in Ukraine while also calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
Before addressing the crowds on Sunday, Leo celebrated mass deep beneath the basilica, the site of St Peter's tomb. Giving a homily, the new pope urged open-mindedness among people worldwide.
According to a Vatican transcript of his words, Leo urged people "to know how to listen so as not to judge, not to close doors thinking that we have all the truth and nobody else can tell us anything."--AFP