Pope Leo XIV holds his first mass as pontiff as Catholics around the world celebrate – live
Key events
Leo XIV has been leading the cardinals in the introductory rites of the mass.
Pope Leo XIV has arrived at the Sistine Chapel, and the service has begun. After the mass, the pope is then expected to have a lunch with the cardinals who elected him from their number yesterday.
Pope Leo XIV to begin his first mass in Sistine Chapel
The cardinals are seated in the Sistine Chapel now, and the first mass led by new Pope Leo XIV is about to be celebrated. You can watch it live here.
Here are some images from the news wires of cardinals arriving at the Vatican this morning.
Early statements from a new pope are viewed as setting the tone for how they intend to govern the Catholic church, and the issues that they will press forward on. A few days after he was elected pope in 2013, Pope Francis delivered a message about defending the weak, the poor and the environment.
At that time, Pope Francis said his role was to open his arms and protect all of humanity: “Especially the poorest, the weakest, the least important, those whom Matthew lists in the final judgment on love: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison.
“Today amid so much darkness we need to see the light of hope and to be men and women who bring hope to others,” Pope Francis said in 2013. “To protect creation, to protect every man and every woman, to look upon them with tenderness and love, is to open up a horizon of hope, it is to let a shaft of light break through the heavy clouds.”
There is a live video feed from St Peter’s Square at the top of the blog now. You may need to refresh the page to get the pay button to appear.
The election of Leo XIV has dominated the front pages of newspapers in the UK today.
Unearthed comments from new pope alarm LGBTQ+ Catholics
Robert Mackey
After years of sympathetic and inclusive comments from Pope Francis, LGBTQ+ Catholics expressed concern on Thursday about hostile remarks made more than a decade ago by Father Robert Prevost, the new Pope Leo XIV, in which he condemned what he called the “homosexual lifestyle” and “the redefinition of marriage” as “at odds with the Gospel”.
In a 2012 address to the world synod of bishops, the man who now leads the church said that “Western mass media is extraordinarily effective in fostering within the general public enormous sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the Gospel – for example abortion, homosexual lifestyle, euthanasia”.
In the remarks the cleric blamed mass media for fostering so much “sympathy for anti-Christian lifestyles choices” that “when people hear the Christian message it often inevitably seems ideological and emotionally cruel”.
“Catholic pastors who preach against the legalization of abortion or the redefinition of marriage are portrayed as being ideologically driven, severe and uncaring,” Prevost added.
He went on to complain that “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children are so benignly and sympathetically portrayed in television programs and cinema today”.
The video illustrated his criticism of the “homosexual lifestyle” and “same-sex partners and their adopted children” with clips from two US sitcoms featuring same-sex couples, The New Normal and Modern Family.
Read more of Robert Mackey’s report here: Unearthed comments from new pope alarm LGBTQ+ Catholics
Here are some of the scenes around the Vatican and Rome this morning.
China has sent congratulations to newly elected Pope Leo XIV and hopes the Vatican under the new pontiff will continue dialogue with China “in a constructive spirit”, Reuters reports a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Friday at a regular press conference.
Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, strained relations between the Vatican and China in 2020 when he described China’s Muslim Uyghurs as a “persecuted” people, listing them alongside the Rohingya, the Yazidi, and persecuted Christians in Islamic countries.
Here is the video from yesterday, when Pope Leo XIV was applauded by cardinals in the Sistine Chapel and prayed alone after being elected as the new leader of the Catholic church. He will hold a mass there later this morning.
US media has reacted to the news that there is to be an American pope for the first time. The New York Times said the decision defied “a longstanding belief that church leaders would never select a pope from a global superpower that already has considerable influence in world affairs.”
The Washington Post spoke to Rev Gregory Sakowicz, the rector at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. He told their reporter as he was told Robert Prevost had been elected to be pope he looked out the window and at that moment the sun came out.
“It’s a great day for Chicago, the country and the world,” Sakowicz said, adding that upon hearing the news his congregation “erupted” and acted like “the Chicago Bears won the Super Bowl.”
Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the president of the Philippines, where 80% of the population is Catholic, has congratulated Pope Leo on his election and said he prayed that he would “continue to bring the Church closer to the poor and disadvantaged”. In a statement carried by local media, he said:
On behalf of the Philippines, I congratulate Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost of the United States on his election as the successor of Pope Francis and leader of the 1.4 billion-strong Catholic Church
“As the new pontiff, who took the papal name Leo XIV, ascends the Chair of St. Peter and assumes the mantle of Bishop of Rome, I pray that he will continue to bring the Church closer to the poor and disadvantaged.
The Filipino people are also praying for the new pope’s strength and good health as he leads the faithful with grace, wisdom and compassion. May his life and ministry inspire us to persevere in our daily walk with our Lord Jesus Christ.
Pope Francis “clearly had his eye on Prevost” as his successor, the Associated Press writes. Here’s a bit more analysis from the agency on how and why Pope Leo may have been selected from among his peers:
Prevost had been a leading candidate for the papacy since Francis tapped him to be head of the Vatican’s powerful Dicastery for Bishops, which vets bishop nominations around the world.
There had long been a taboo on a US pope, given America’s superpower status in the secular world, but Prevost prevailed, perhaps because he’s also a Peruvian citizen and had lived for years in Peru, first as a missionary and then as bishop.
Francis, the first Latin American pope, clearly had his eye on Prevost and in many ways saw him as his heir apparent. He sent Prevost to take over a complicated diocese in Peru in 2014, then brought him to the Vatican in 2023.
Earlier this year, Francis elevated Prevost into the senior ranks of cardinals, giving him prominence going into the conclave that few other cardinals had.
Since arriving in Rome, Prevost had kept a low public profile but was well-known to the men who count.
Significantly, he presided over one of the most revolutionary reforms Francis made, when he added three women to the voting bloc that decides which bishop nominations to forward to the pope.
Dan Collyns
The election of Pope Leo XIV has been celebrated across Latin America, where many hailed him as the second pontiff from the region, after his Argentinian predecessor, Francis.
The news prompted particular elation in Peru, where he lived and worked for more than 20 years and was granted citizenship in 2015. In the capital, Lima, the bells of the cathedral rang in celebration.
In his first appearance from the Vatican balcony, Leo XIV briefly switched from Italian to Spanish to address the faithful “from my beloved diocese of Chiclayo, in Peru”, where he served as bishop for more than a decade.
Peru’s president, Dina Boluarte, hailed the “historic” election of Leo XIV, whom she described as a Peruvian “by choice and conviction” who had devoted more than 20 years of service to the country.
Even so, Prevost has spoken out against Boluarte’s government in the past. In early 2023, he described his “sadness and pain” over the deaths of 49 protesters in anti-government demonstrations that erupted when President Boluarte took office in December 2022, replacing Pedro Castillo who was forced out for attempting to suspend congress.
At the time Prevost said the unrest reflected the historic neglect of Peru’s poor, saying: “This conflict does not represent the best of the country.”
The wires have been digging out pictures of the new pope with his predecessors, Pope John Paul II, who led the Church from 1978 to 2005, as well as Pope Benedict XVI (2005-13), and his late friend Pope Francis (2013-2025):
Pope’s brother realises he has missed pontiff’s calls during interview
John Prevost, Pope Leo’s brother, has given an interview to the Associated Press in which at one point he realised he had missed several calls from the pontiff. The news agency writes:
He [John] gave the new pope a call back.
Leo told him he wasn’t interested in being part of the interview and after a brief message of congratulations and discussion in which they talked like any two brothers about travel arrangements, they hung up.
Continuing the interview, John told the AP that he expected his brother to be a “second Pope Francis”.
He’s not going to be real far left and he’s not going to be real far right … Kind of right down the middle.
Why choose the name Leo?
Catherine Pepinster
What’s in a name? When it comes to a pope – everything. The white smoke from the Sistine Chapel earlier this evening told the world that a new pope to succeed Francis had been elected – and for the first time the pontiff is from the US.
But if Donald Trump and his Catholic convert Veep, JD Vance, are ready to cheer, then they should think again. Cardinal Robert Prevost has chosen the name Leo XIV – and if you’re a papal Leo, you tend to be a reformer at the progressive end of Catholicism.
That Prevost has decided to become Leo XIV will make Catholics think immediately of the last Leo – Leo XIII – and his 1891 encyclical or teaching document, Rerum Novarum, which outlined workers’ rights to a fair wage, safe working conditions and the rights of workers to belong to trade unions.
If Pope Francis was the People’s Pope, then Leo XIV is all set to be the Workers’ Pope.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of Pope Leo XIV’s first full day in office, during which he is expected to hold his first mass as leader of the Catholic church.
Robert Francis Prevost, the first US-born pope, will celebrate a private mass with cardinals at the Sistine Chapel on Friday at 11am (0900 GMT), during which he will deliver his much anticipated first homily as pope. It will be broadcast live.
The 69-year-old, who has spent much of his life in Peru, was elected by his fellow cardinals on Thursday during a secret conclave after the death of his predecessor, Pope Francis.
With the choice of Prevost, experts say, the cardinals opted for continuity with the late Francis, a progressive from Argentina who shook up the Church in his 12-year papacy.
“He is a moderate consensus candidate who fits into a soft continuity, a gentle continuity with Pope Francis, who will not alienate conservatives,” said Francois Mabille, a researcher at the Paris-based think tank IRIS and author of a book on Vatican strategy.
Here’s what you should know about the new pope:
-
Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said the choice of the name Leo was a “clear and deliberate” reference to the last pope named Leo. Leo XIII was elected in 1878 and was best known for his 1891 encyclical, Rerum Novarum, which outlined workers’ rights.
-
In his first comments after his election, Pope Leo XIV preached a message of “unity” and of “moving forward”. He said he wants this message of peace to “enter your hearts, to reach your families and all people, wherever they are.”
-
Many shared their excitement at having an American pope, and specifically a pope born in Chicago. City mayor Brandon Johnson tweeted “Everything dope, including the Pope, comes from Chicago” and former US president Barack Obama congratulated the “fellow Chicagoan” on social media.
-
The election of Prevost was also celebrated in Peru, where he has spent much of his life. Peru’s president, Dina Boluarte described him as a Peruvian “by choice and conviction”.
-
US president Donald Trump said he was “surprised” but that it is a “great honour” to have an American pope. Leaders from countries around the world also offered their congratulations.
-
An account on X widely believed to belong to the new pope shows him to be somewhat critical of the Trump administration. The account posted two articles that took issue with the stance by JD Vance, also a Catholic, on immigration. One article was headlined “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”
-
Leo’s brother, John Prevost, told US media that Leo, was not afraid to speak his mind and that he was currently very unhappy with “what’s going on with immigration”. He told the New York Times: “I don’t think he’ll stay quiet for too long if he has something to say … I know he’s not happy with what’s going on with immigration. I know that for a fact.”
-
In a 2012 address to the world Synod of Bishops, the then Father Robert Francis Prevost appeared to criticise homosexuality. He said “Western mass media is extraordinarily effective in fostering within the general public enormous sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the Gospel – for example abortion, homosexual lifestyle, euthanasia”.
-
Like his predecessor, Pope Francis, Leo is also on the record as opposing the ordination of women. He told a 2023 synod that “clericalizing women” would not solve problems in the Catholic Church and might create new ones, according to the Catholic news agency.
