Pope Leo XIV has warned of a “desperate” crisis of faith in his first Mass as head of the Catholic Church, urging the global institution to respond to rising secularism and to serve as a moral beacon amid growing reliance on materialism and technology.
Speaking in the Sistine Chapel on Friday morning, less than 24 hours after being elected as the 267th pontiff, Leo said the Catholic Church must renew its missionary outreach and confront what he described as a cultural shift away from God and towards “technology, money, success, power, or pleasure”.
Pope Leo XIV concelebrates Mass with the College of Cardinals inside the Sistine Chapel.Credit: AP
“A lack of faith is often tragically accompanied by the loss of meaning in life, the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the crisis of the family and so many other wounds that afflict our society,” he said, delivering his sermon in Italian to the College of Cardinals.
Having addressed the crowd in St Peter’s Square in Italian and Spanish he turned to his native English to address the cardinals who elected him: “I know I can rely on each and everyone of you to walk with me as we continue as a church, as a community of friends of Jesus, as believers to announce the good news, to announce the gospel.”
He also warned against reducing Jesus to “a kind of charismatic leader or superman”, in an apparent message to evangelical Christians.
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The 69-year-old, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, is the first American ever elected pope and the latest non-European to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. His selection was confirmed on Thursday evening after four rounds of conclave voting following the death of Pope Francis.
In his first remarks from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, Leo said he envisioned a “missionary” church that “builds bridges” through dialogue and openness. “Help us, and each other, to build bridges through dialogue, through encounter, to come together as one people, always in peace,” he said to cheering crowds in St Peter’s Square.
During Friday’s Mass, the new pontiff wore a white papal robe trimmed in gold and addressed his fellow cardinals – dressed in red caps and white robes – under Michelangelo’s ceiling in a ceremony broadcast live by the Vatican. In an unscripted preface to his homily, he urged unity within the church hierarchy: “I know I can rely on each and every one of you to walk with me,” he said in English.
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