Thousands cram into St Peter's Square to hear Pope Leo XIV's first Sunday Mass
Tens of thousands of people crammed into St Peter's Square to listen to the new Pope speak this morning. When he stepped on to the balcony he was greeted with a huge roar. As he waved there was a massive round of applause.
Police officers, paramedics and firefighters rushed forward to take their own personal photos. The streets around the Vatican City were all blocked by a huge throng. It was a much bigger crowd than when Pope Leo XIV was elected on Thursday. At one stage a teeming mass started to head for one of the entrances and had to be held back by the police.
There were hundreds of children with their parents who wanted them to watch a piece of history. During his speech he mentioned several countries and there were cheers when he said "Dallas, Texas"
He recited the Regina Caeli prayer, in honour of the Virgin Mary, in his first public address since his election.
"Let us take up the invitation that Pope Francis left us in his Message for today: the invitation to welcome and accompany young people," Leo said from the balcony, speaking in fluent Italian. "And let us ask our heavenly Father to assist us in living in service to one another."
Pope Leo called for peace in Ukraine, as well as a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages. A woman who said she had flown in from New York was standing next to me had tears in her eyes.
There was a joyful atmosphere with hundreds of flags from many countries being waved. There were several Stars and Stripes to mark the country of the Pope's birth - the United States.
Others included Cuba, Greece, Poland, Costa Rica, the Philippines and France. There was one Union Jack fluttering near the back. Several bands played around the square.
Yesterday the Pope visited the grave of his predecessor Pope Francis and laid a flower. He went on to visit and pray at a Marian shrine outside of Rome, greeting the community there and urging them to "be faithful to the Mother."
The Holy Father visited the Shrine of the Mother of Good Counsel in Genazzano . The sanctuary, located an hour east of Rome, is run by the religious of the Order of St. Augustine and a Vatican spokesman said: "houses an ancient image of the Virgin, dear to the Order and to the memory of Leo XIII".
The Pope greeted pilgrims at the shrine before praying at the altar. Pope Leo will be formally inaugurated at a mass in St Peter's Square next week on 18 May.
The 69-year-old is the 267th occupant of the throne of St Peter, and the first American to become a pontiff. He will lead members of the Catholic Church's global community of 1.4bn people.
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Irish Examiner
2 days ago
- Irish Examiner
Pope meets child protection advisory board amid call for zero tolerance on abuse
Pope Leo XIV met with members of the Vatican's child protection advisory commission on Thursday for the first time amid questions about his past handling of clergy sex abuse cases. There are also demands from survivors that he enacts a true policy of zero tolerance for abuse across the Catholic Church. The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which is made up of religious and lay experts in fighting abuse as well as survivors, called the hour-ong audience a 'significant moment of reflection, dialogue, and renewal of the church's unwavering commitment to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable people'. The group said it updated history's first American pope on its activities, including an initiative to help church communities in poorer parts of the world prevent abuse and care for victims. The Vatican did not provide the text of Leo's remarks or make the audio of the audience available to reporters. Pope Francis created the commission early on in his pontificate to advise the church on best practices and placed a trusted official, Boston's then-archbishop, Cardinal Sean O'Malley, in charge. But as the abuse scandal spread globally during Francis' 12-year pontificate, the commission lost its influence its crowning recommendation — the creation of a tribunal to judge bishops who covered up for predator priests — went nowhere. After many years of reform and new members, it has become a place where victims can go to be heard and bishops can get advice on crafting guidelines to fight abuse. Cardinal O'Malley turned 80 last year and retired as archbishop of Boston, but he remains president of the commission and headed the delegation meeting with Leo in the Apostolic Palace. It has often fallen to Cardinal O'Malley to speak out on cases that have arrived at the Vatican, including one that remains on Leo's desk: The fate of the ex-Jesuit artist, the Rev Marko Rupnik, who has been accused by two dozen women of sexual, psychological and spiritual abuse over decades. After coming under criticism that a fellow Jesuit had apparently received preferential treatment, Francis in 2023 ordered the Vatican to waive the statute of limitations on the case and prosecute him canonically. But as recently as March, the Vatican still had not found judges to open the trial. Meanwhile, the victims are still waiting for justice and Rev Rupnik continues to minister, with his supporters defending him and denouncing a 'media lynching' campaign against him. Leo, the Chicago-born former Cardinal Robert Prevost, has been credited by victims of helping to dismantle an abusive Catholic movement in Peru, where he served as bishop for many years. But other survivors have asked him to account for other cases while he was a superior in the Augustinian religious order, bishop in Peru and head of the Vatican's bishops' office. The main US survivor group, Snap, has also called for Leo to adopt the US policy calling for any priest who has been credibly accused of abuse to be permanently removed from ministry.
RTÉ News
3 days ago
- RTÉ News
Pope Leo, in first month, makes a break in style from Francis
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Bartholomew told an Italian television station that he and Leo discussed the possibility of the new pope travelling to Turkey in late November. Francis, who often spoke off the cuff, was known for giving freewheeling news conferences on flights home from his trips abroad and frequently responded to queries with an unexpected quip. Asked during his first flight home about a Vatican official said to be gay, Francis famously responded: "If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge him?" Rev Francis said Leo, who in his first month has largely read from prepared texts, is likely to be more careful with his responses during news conferences. "He won't be shooting from the hip like Francis did while speaking with journalists," he said.
Irish Times
4 days ago
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Unbecoming Catholic. Being Religious in Contemporary Ireland: A sweet kind of freedom
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