Faith, flags and deep-dish pizza: Pope Leo shows Gen Z appeal as a million young people flock to Rome

CNN

a day ago

Rome just wrapped the equivalent of a Catholic Woodstock. Its headline act: The new American Pope.
Hundreds of thousands of young people descended on the Eternal City throughout the week for a festival of faith, music and religious services that saw groups of teens and young adults from across the globe singing songs, waving flags on Rome's ancient streets and camping out in huge warehouses on the city's outskirts.
After descending by helicopter on Saturday evening, Pope Leo XIV greeted the sea of excited pilgrims with waves and blessings – and at one point, catching a tennis ball thrown from the crowd, showing off a skill he may have learned from his own love of the sport.
After a prayer vigil, which took place at a sprawling site in Rome's Tor Vergata district, the crowd slept under the stars before waking up early Sunday as Leo returned to celebrate Mass.
For Leo, who has been in post for less than 100 days, the mega-meeting of youth marks the first test for his pontificate on whether he can connect with the church's younger generations. The Vatican said authorities estimated more than a million young people turned out for the Sunday Mass alone, making it the largest event of his papacy.
Leo's predecessor, Pope Francis, was a hit with many young people, with a style that put aside pre-prepared speeches to engage in a back and forth with big crowds and who took tough questions from them about loss of faith, abortion and sexual abuse.
Leo has a different style to Francis. The Chicago-born pope frequently keeps to his set texts and leans on the Vatican for help in a way that his more disruptive predecessor frequently avoided.
Nevertheless, the pope was able to demonstrate an ability to connect with young people through his quiet charisma and authenticity, communicating less through dramatic actions and salty speeches, but with a gentle leadership.
The youth event in Rome – part of the Catholic Church's jubilee celebrations – saw Leo both embrace the young people's enthusiasm but ensure moments of quiet contemplation. On Saturday evening, the crowd fell silent as Leo, kneeling at the main altar, led them in a period of silent prayer.
It is still early days for Leo's papacy. While he has shown determination to continue with the reforms begun by Francis, he is still growing into the role. Leo is known for his methodical style and those close to him say he is likely to spend several months listening and analyzing before making major personnel appointments or other key decisions.
As an Augustinian friar, his spirituality is contemplative and at the relatively youthful papal age of 69-years-old – on display on Saturday when he carried a large wooden cross up the stairs to the main altar – he doesn't need to rush. A key question is how he manages the church's central administration in the Vatican, the Roman Curia, which Francis often bypassed and sometimes strongly criticized. Leo has shown he wants to work with the institution but needs to avoid being controlled by it.
Some Vatican observers say he still needs to find his voice and make better use of his linguistic advantages.
'I can understand that he wants to make sure he speaks Italian – and he speaks it well – as the pope is the Bishop of Rome,' Robert Mickens, a long time Vatican commentator and columnist for the Union of Catholic Asia News (UCAN) told CNN. 'But he has to speak in English if he wants to reach his target audience.'
During the youth celebration Leo made better use of his languages, switching between Spanish, English and Italian – and on Tuesday evening, he electrified crowds who went wild when Leo made a surprise appearance after the welcome Mass.
'You are the light of the world!' he told them in English to loud cheers.
Long-term trends show a sharp decline in youth engagement and identification in mainstream religions in Western nations.
However, the Catholic Church could be bucking that trend, with some recent studies showing an increased interest among Gen Z. During the youth jamboree, Leo greeted a sea of iPhones in St Peter's Basilica as he met social media influencers described as 'digital missionaries' trying to connect with new audiences.
One of them, José De Urquidi, a former craft beer brewer, told CNN that 'like missionaries' of the past who learned new languages and customs, 'Catholic influencers today translate eternal truths into the visual, immediate language of digital natives, meeting Gen Z within their cultural context.'
'It's such a cool experience to connect with people your age from different places all over the world that are living through the same thing and want to experience the same things,' 17-year-old Milena Solano, who had travelled from the United States, told CNN.
'Some people think it's weird to be religious, and I think meeting people that don't think that is so refreshing, and nice to see that you're not the only one,' Solano said.
While Francis used to skim the newspapers, Leo is the first pope to wear an Apple watch and write his own emails. He is more conscious than his predecessors of online news and the world of social media – including its pitfalls.
'As you know, today there are algorithms that tell us what we should watch, what we should think, and who our friends should be. And so our relationships become confusing, sometimes anxious,' he told young people on Saturday.
At a time of uncertainty – political and otherwise – many young people are also hoping Leo will be a voice for the marginalized.
Victoria Aguirre, 17, from the pope's hometown of Chicago, said: 'I would really love for him to pray for my family and all the immigrants and refugees in our country, just for peace and refuge and safety for them.'
And as Damian Hernandez, an 18-year-old from New Mexico waited for the pope to arrive, he said it was important for Leo to stress welcoming immigrants, 'particularly with what's happening in the United States with the deportations.'
Among the American pilgrims in Rome, there was a special affinity for a pope who speaks their language and culture. Some in the crowd chanted 'Viva il papa' after Leo addressed the crowd in English before Mass on Sunday morning – and the pontiff looked pleased after he was handed a slice of Chicago deep dish pizza from Aurelio's in St. Peter's Square.
Before his election, the pope was a frequent visitor to one of their restaurants in Homewood, Illinois.
As pope, Leo can't go out for a quiet slice anymore.
He went from the relative obscurity of a Rome-based cardinal to one of the most famous people in the world in a matter of hours.
While most political leaders like to make a big impact in their first 100 days, Leo seems happy to listen, analyze and wait.
This strategy could, in the long run, give him more authority inside the church to press ahead with reforms and as a moral voice on the world stage.
'We are with the young people of Gaza, we are with the young people of Ukraine,' Leo said at the end of Sunday's Mass.
As the young people prepared to head home, he told them: 'My young brothers and sisters, you are the sign that a different world is possible.'
Alessandro Gentile, Witek Rzepczak and Clara Schönthaler contributed reporting.