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Pope Uses English in 1st Mass 05/09 07:00
Pope Leo XIV, history's first North American pope, celebrated his first Mass
as pontiff on Friday, presiding in the Sistine Chapel with the cardinals who
elected him to succeed Pope Francis and follow in his social justice-minded
footsteps.
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Leo XIV, history's first North American pope,
celebrated his first Mass as pontiff on Friday, presiding in the Sistine Chapel
with the cardinals who elected him to succeed Pope Francis and follow in his
social justice-minded footsteps.
Wearing white vestments, Leo processed into the Sistine Chapel and blessed
the cardinals as he approached the altar and Michelangelo's "The Last Judgment"
behind it. He delivered the opening prayers and hymns in Latin, and women read
the initial Scripture readings.
Addressing the cardinals in English, he said "you have called me to carry
the cross and to be blessed" and asked for their help to spread the Catholic
faith. It was the first time Leo made public remarks in English, after he spoke
in Italian and Spanish only in his first comments from the loggia of St.
Peter's Basilica on Thursday.
Leo, the Chicago-born Augustinian missionary Robert Prevost, was elected
Thursday afternoon as the 267th pope, overcoming the traditional prohibition
against a pope from the United States.
In his first appearance to the world Thursday evening, the 69-year-old wore
the traditional red cape of the papacy -- which Francis had eschewed on his
election in 2013 -- suggesting a return to some degree of rule-following after
Francis' unorthodox pontificate.
But in naming himself Leo, after the 19th century social justice reformer
pope and referring to some of Francis' priorities, the new pope could also have
wanted to signal a strong line of continuity: Another Leo in church history was
Brother Leo, the 13th-century friar who was a great companion to St. Francis of
Assisi, the late pope's namesake.
"Together, we must try to find out how to be a missionary church, a church
that builds bridges, establishes dialogue, that's always open to receive --
like on this piazza with open arms -- to be able to receive everybody that
needs our charity, our presence, dialogue and love," Leo said in near-perfect
Italian in his first comments to the world.
Francis had his eye on the new pope
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, who had spent years
as a missionary in Peru, to take over a complicated diocese there in 2014.
Francis then brought Prevost to the Vatican in 2023 to head of the Vatican's
powerful Dicastery for Bishops, which vets bishop nominations around the world
and is one of the most important jobs in church governance.
Earlier this year, Francis elevated Prevost into the senior ranks of
cardinals, giving him prominence going into the conclave that few other
cardinals had.
There had long been a taboo on a U.S. 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 two decades in Peru, first as a missionary
and then as bishop.
Since arriving in Rome, Prevost had kept a low public profile but was
well-known to the men who count, and respected by those who worked with him.
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.
In a 2023 interview with Vatican News, the then-cardinal said the women had
enriched the process and reaffirmed the need for the laity to have a greater
role in the church.
"Even the bishops of Peru called him the saint, the Saint of the North, and
he had time for everyone," said the Rev. Alexander Lam, an Augustinian friar
from Peru who knows the new pope.
Reactions to a North American
The crowd in St. Peter's Square erupted in cheers Thursday when white smoke
poured out of the Sistine Chapel shortly after 6 p.m. on the second day of the
conclave. Waving flags from around the world, tens of thousands of people were
surprised an hour later when the senior cardinal deacon announced the winner
was Prevost.
U.S. President Donald Trump said it was "such an honor for our country" for
the new pope to be American. The president added that "we're a little bit
surprised and we're happy."
Prevost has shared criticism of the Trump administration 's migration
policies: In past social media posts, Prevost shared articles criticizing Vice
President JD Vance's justification of the administration's mass deportation
plans.
An Augustinian pope
The last pope to take the name Leo was Leo XIII, an Italian who led the
church from 1878 to 1903. That Leo softened the church's confrontational stance
toward modernity, especially science and politics, and laid the foundation for
modern Catholic social thought. His most famous encyclical, Rerum Novarum of
1891, addressed workers' rights and capitalism at the beginning of the
industrial revolution and was highlighted by the Vatican in explaining the new
pope's choice of name.
That Leo also had close ties to the Augustinian order: He rebuilt an ancient
Augustinian church and convent near his hometown of Carpineto, outside Rome,
which is still in use by the new pope's order today.
Vatican watchers said Prevost's decision to name himself Leo was
particularly significant given the previous Leo's legacy of social justice and
reform, suggesting continuity with some of Francis' chief concerns.
Specifically, Leo cited one of Francis' key priorities of making the Catholic
Church more attentive to lay people and inclusive, a process known as
synodality.
"He is continuing a lot of Francis' ministry,'' said Natalia Imperatori-Lee,
the chair of religious studies at Manhattan University in the Bronx. But she
also said his election could send a message to the U.S. church, which has been
badly divided between conservatives and progressives, with much of the
right-wing opposition to Francis coming from there.
"I think it is going to be exciting to see a different kind of American
Catholicism in Rome," Imperatori-Lee said.
Leo said in a 2023 interview with Vatican News that the polarization in the
church was a wound that needed to be healed.
"Divisions and polemics in the church do not help anything. We bishops
especially must accelerate this movement towards unity, towards communion in
the church," he said.
Archbishop Bernard Hebda, of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis,
told reporters he never thought he would see an American pope, given the
questions of how he would navigate dealing with a U.S. president, especially
someone like Trump.
"And so I just never imagined that we would have an American pope, and I
have great confidence that Pope Leo will do a wonderful job of navigating
that," he said.
Leo's brother, John Prevost, was so shocked that his brother had been
elected pope that he missed several phone calls from Leo during an interview
Thursday with The Associated Press. He called the pope back and Leo told him he
wasn't interested in being part of the interview.
John Prevost described his brother, a fan of Wordle, as being very concerned
for the poor and those who don't have a voice. He said he expects him 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," he added. "Kind of right down the middle."
Looking ahead
In his first hours as pope, Leo went back to his old apartment in the
Sant'Uffizio Palace to see colleagues, according to selfies posted to social
media. Vatican Media also showed him in the moments after his election praying
at a kneeler in the Pauline Chapel before emerging on the loggia.
On Sunday, he is to deliver his first noon blessing from the loggia of St.
Peter's and attend an audience with the media on Monday in the Vatican
auditorium, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said.
Beyond that, he has a possible first foreign trip at the end of May: Francis
had been invited to travel to Turkey to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of
the First Council of Nicaea, a landmark event in Christian history and an
important moment in Catholic-Orthodox relations.
The new pope was formerly the prior general, or leader, of the Order of St.
Augustine, which was formed in the 13th century as a community of "mendicant"
friars -- dedicated to poverty, service and evangelization. Vatican News said
Leo is the first Augustinian pope.
In Peru, he is known as the saintly missionary who waded through mud after
torrential rains flooded the region, bringing help to needy people, and as the
bishop who spearheaded the lifesaving purchase of oxygen production plants
during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"He has no problem fixing a broken-down truck until it runs," said Janinna
Sesa, who met Prevost while she worked for the church's Caritas charity.
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