Pope Leo XIV calls for unity and love in inaugural Mass
Pope Leo XIV takes 1st ride in popemobile
Pope Leo XIV arrived to his inauguration in the popemobile, taking it for his first ride through the crowds waiting to watch him be officially installed as the new pontiff, the first American to hold the position as leader of the Catholic Church.
VATICAN CITY - Pope Leo XIV offered a message of love and unity during an inaugural Mass on Sunday in St. Peter’s Square before an estimated 200,000 pilgrims, presidents, patriarchs and princes.
Leo officially opened his pontificate by taking his first popemobile tour through the piazza, a rite of passage that has become synonymous with the papacy’s global reach and mediatic draw. The 69-year-old Augustinian missionary smiled and waved from the back of the truck, but didn’t appear to stop to kiss babies and the crowd.
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During the Mass, Leo appeared to choke up when the two potent symbols of the papacy were placed on him — the lambswool stole over his shoulders and the fisherman’s ring on his finger — as if the weight of responsibility of leading the 1.4-billion strong church had just sunk in.
He turned his hand to look at the ring and seal and then clasped his hands in front of him in prayer.
Pope Leo XIV arrives, greets the public before the Mass for the inauguration of his pontificate in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, on May 18, 2025. (Photo by Riccardo De Luca/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Pope Leo XIV begins to shape message to the world
What they're saying:
The pope has vowed to take "every effort" to work for peace in the Middle East and Ukraine and to actively promote the spirituality and traditions of the eastern rite churches, those Catholic communities with origins in the Mideast and eastern Europe that have been decimated by years of conflict and persecution.
"The church needs you!" Leo told a Holy Year audience of eastern rite pilgrims.
He has also taken over the Vatican’s official social media handles, with a first Instagram post on Tuesday repeating the first words he said to the world as pope: "Peace be with you all!"
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The @Pontifex – Pope Leo XIV post featured some of the photos that have documented the first days of history’s first American pope.
The Vatican said it was archiving the posts from Pope Francis ’ 12-year papacy. On X, the new account didn’t appear to be active Tuesday.
The Vatican launched the @Pontifex handle in 2012 during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI. It now comes in nine languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Polish, Arabic, and Latin -- and counts a combined 52 million followers.
Past popes didn't actually send the posts, which were curated by the Vatican.
Who is Pope Leo XIV?
The backstory:
Robert Prevost, now known as Pope Leo XIV, is the first pontiff from the United States.
Prevost, 69, is a Chicago native and also a Peruvian citizen and lived for years in Peru, first as a missionary and then as bishop.
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He joined the Order of St. Augustine in 1977. He attended Villanova University near Philadelphia, where he received a Bachelor of Science in 1977, and he got a Master of Divinity degree from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago in 1982.
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Prevost was twice elected prior general, or top leader, of the Augustinians, the 13th century religious order founded by St. Augustine.
After Francis sent him to Chiclayo, he acquired Peruvian citizenship in 2015, until Francis brought him to Rome in 2023 to assume the bishops’ office and presidency of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
The Source: The Associated Press contributed to this report. The information in this story comes primarily from Vatican News and TIME, which provided details about the upcoming inaugural mass and historical context from Pope Francis’s 2013 inauguration. This story was reported from Los Angeles.