Leo XIV opened his teaching on Sunday 18 with a Mass in which they were taxes The symbols of papal power, the pallium and the fisherman’s ringand in which he pronounced an ignition of unity in church and peace in a world marked by “too much hatred and prejudices.”
The day began with the first walk of the new Pontiff aboard the Papamóvil, touring the Plaza de San Pedro and the entire conciliation road To greet the nearly 200 thousand people who arrived in the immediate Vatican To access the ceremony.
Then, he agreed to the basilica to pray before the place where, according to tradition, The apostle Peter was buried, under the great Bernini Baldaquino.
Pope’s shock
In that precise place, the two symbols of Pontifical Power were also placed: The canopy, a white wool stole that is placed on the pope’s shoulders, as a sheep on his pastor, and the fisherman’s ring that will lead to his death or resignation.
Leo XIV stated silently in this suggestive place and before the symbols that will represent him. Then he processed with his pastoral staff to the square, accompanied by a long line of clergymen headed by the deacons that raised the gospel.
The starting mass of the Petrino de Leo XVI Ministry was held in the square, at the foot of the Vatican Basilica, before Thousands of faithful and authorities and representatives from 150 countries and organizations.
With all of them as witnesses, the new Pope received the canopy on his shoulders, decorated with six black silk crosses and hooked with three pins that evoke the nails of Christ.
Then, Cardinal Filipino Luis Antonio Tagle He placed the fisherman’s ring in his right hand and that represents San Pedro with the networks, as the fisherman of faith.
The Kings of Spain, before Leo XIV
Leo XIV era had begun and the new pontiff looked at his hand visibly moved, almost retaining tears, While from the square a loud applause rose.
Among the authorities and dignitaries who attended this historical moment were the kings of Spain, Felipe VI and Doña Letizia, dressed in white as the tradition for European Catholic queens is mandated.
The first rows of the Mass were reserved for the two countries of the new Pope: El Natal, United States, with the presence of vice president JD Vance and the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio; and the choice, Peru, where he was a missionary and bishop much of his life and from which President Dina Boluarte arrived.
In the Vatican Square there were also gestures of distension, as a handshake between Vance and the president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, After the encounter that both embodied in February with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.
According to Galicia’s voice, “the kings transmit to the new Pope The desire to see him soon for Spain.
For peace and unity
Leo XIV later pronounced his homily in which he recognized the high weight of the mission entrusted to him on May 8, after the conclave that chosen Francisco’s successor and head of a church with around 1,400 million faithful worldwide.
“I was chosen without having any merit and, with fear and trepidation, I come to you as a brother, “he confessed.
The new Pope raised a united church in which its leader “You should never give in to the temptation to be a lonely leader” and that exercises “ferment for a reconciled world”, Especially when, he warned, the world lives “too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudices, fear of the different, by an economic paradigm that exploits the resources of the earth and margins the poorest.”
Before this context, His idea of ”building a new world where peace reigns” He resonated strongly in the square.
Once the Mass was over, the American pontiff presided over the prayer of Regina Coeli, which replaces the Angelus in the Pascual period, remembering Francisco and thanking the present delegations Already the brotherhoods between the public arrived by the jubilee.
But he also remembered the conflicts of today: Leo XIV denounced that in the Gaza Strip “Children, families and surviving the elderly are hungry “, A few words heard ‘in situ’ by the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog.
As well as the “tormented” Ukraine that, he stressed, “Finally expect negotiations for just and lasting peace”, After the open conversations in Istanbul between Moscow and kyiv.
Then it was the time of Besamanos, inside the basilica, with Premost receiving for almost an hour and twenty minutes one by one to the heads of delegations for greetings, Brief talks and a gesture that broke the rigid Vatican protocol: a hug with his older brother Louis.