Two days after being chosen head of the Catholic Church, Pope Peruanostate visited the grave of the Argentine pontiff, who died on April 21, in the Santa María la Mayor Basilica, in Rome, a Vatican source told AFP.
During the day Leo XIV, which belongs to the order of San Agustín, also visited the Basilica of Our Lady of the Good Council of Genazzano, 50 kilometers southeast of Rome, said the Vatican.
Before, at a Cardinal Meeting at the Holy See, the 267 Pontiff of the Catholic Church gave some clues about their priorities and style.
The new Pope was cheered when he entered the conferences room dressed in a white papal robe, according to a video broadcast by the Vatican.
Born in the United States and Peruvian nationalized, the Pontiff explained that The choice of its papal name reflects its commitment to the social causes defended by Leo XIII, that during the nineteenth century he was a determined defender of workers’ rights.
“I thought to take the name of Leo XIV. There are several reasons, but the main one is because Pope Leo XIII, with the historical encyclical Rerum Novarum, faced the social issue in the context of the first major industrial revolution,” said the 69 -year -old pontiff.
This 1891 encyclical, a type of text where the potatoes address important issues, can be translated as “new things” or “innovations” and is the basis of the social doctrine of the Catholic Church that aims to promote the dignity of the person, solidarity and the common good, among other values.
“Today the Church offers all its equity of social doctrine to respond to another industrial revolution and the developments of artificial intelligence, which entail new challenges in the defense of human dignity, justice and work,” he said.
In his pontificate’s first mass on Friday, this former Missionary born in Chicago and who exercised as Bishop in Peru, denounced the decline of faith in favor of “money”, “power or pleasure.”
After his choice as a spiritual leader of 1,400 million Catholics in the world, Robert Francis Prevost has gradually outlined his style.
On Thursday night, in his first appearance in public immediately after his choice he spoke in Italian and Spanish from the balcony of the Basilica of San Pedro before the crowd.
He highlighted Francisco’s style
In his speech on Saturday, the Pope also paid tribute to his predecessor, Francisco, an Argentine Jesuit who died on April 21 at 88 and who was inspired by the saint of the poor during his pontificate.
“The Pope, from San Pedro to me, his unworthy successor, is a humble servant of God and the brothers, and nothing more than this. They have demonstrated well the examples of many of my predecessors, such as Pope Francis,” he said.
Leo XIV highlighted Francisco’s style of “total dedication to service and sober essentiality of life” and called to resume “this valuable inheritance.”
The Vatican is scheduled on May 18 a enthronement Mass for Leo XIV in the Basilica of San Pedro.
The new Pope assumes the leadership of a church that faces numerous challenges, such as the crisis of vocations, the role of women and cases of sexual aggressions.
The victims associations of these abuses, such as Snap and Bishop Accountability, welcomed their appointment, estimating that in the past the secret of the cases it supervised.