Pope Leo has said he hopes his papacy can help the Catholic Church be a beacon illuminating the “the dark nights of this world” – as he led his first mass since being elected pontiff.
Robert Prevost, 69 and from the US, was elected during the second day of a conclave aimed at electing a successor to the late Pope Francis, who died in April, aged 88.
The election of Pope Leo XIV, who spent many years in Peru as a missionary, was a historic moment as he became the first American to take on the Holy See.
On Friday morning, he led his first mass as the 267th pontiff and bishop of Rome in the Sistine Chapel, the same location where he was elected by the eligible 133 cardinals just a day before.
Dressed in white and gold vestments, Pope Leo said a few words in English before continuing his homily in fluent Italian.
“God has called me by your election to succeed the prince of the apostles, and has entrusted this treasure to me,” he told cardinals in the chapel.
“For we are the people whom God has chosen as his own, so that we may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called us out of darkness into his marvellous light,” he added.
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Leo also said there are settings “where it is not easy to preach the Gospel and bear witness to its truth” and contexts where “believers are mocked, opposed, despised or at best tolerated and pitied”.
Following his election on Thursday, which was signalled by white smoke pouring out of the chimney above the Sistine Chapel following four rounds of voting over two days, Leo appeared on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
He looked emotional as he greeted the tens of thousands who had gathered in the famous piazza to see who the new leader of the 1.4 billion-strong Catholic Church would be.
In addition to his US citizenship, Pope Leo also holds Peruvian citizenship.
As the mass unfolded on Friday, Buckingham Palace announced the King had sent a private message to the Pope and congratulated him on his election as the 267th pontiff.
