Father Leo XIVThis morning at 11 a.m. the Sistine Chapel was once again the magnificent setting where all the cardinals gathered. On this occasion, not to elect the new Pope, but to inaugurate his pontificate with him, with the celebration of Holy Mass. by the Churchpresided over by Leo XIV, until yesterday Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost.
The faces of the purpurates look much more relaxed than three days ago, when the Mass for the beginning of the conclave took place in St. Peter's Basilica. Minutes before the ceremony, they chat among themselves in high spirits. They no longer wear the red vestments, which symbolize the blood of the sacrifice and the fire of the Spirit, but the white color of Easter, which announces the resurrection.
Between smiling and trembling
At 11:09 a.m. the Pope enters, dressed in a simple white chasuble and with the same smiling gesture as yesterday, blessing his colleagues in the College of Cardinals. The Sistine Chapel choir sings Psalm 46 (47): "Shout to God with voices of joy". The jubilation that dominated the atmosphere in the Piazza in the afternoon is repeated this morning, although more solemn and less enthusiastic.
The voice of the new pontiff is strong, but it still has a trembling quality. In the last few hours, a video of him singing, microphone in hand, José Feliciano's 'Feliz Navidad' when he was bishop in Chiclayo has gone viral on social networks. The Pope swallows saliva and makes efforts not to get carried away by the emotion, while intoning the liturgical songs and prayers.
Timid female presence
Much has been said and written about the absence of women in the Sistine Chapel these days. Perhaps in response to that complaint, the first reading is read by a nun of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist, the same order to which Sister Raffaella Petrini, president of the Vatican Governorate, belongs. The second reading is also read by a laywoman.
Yesterday the most experienced Vaticanists recalled that it was during Prevost's time as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, in 2024, that three women became part of the committee that elects the successors of the apostles in the world, and not in a merely consultative or representative capacity, but with full rights.
To calm tempers and reconcile
Leo XIV began his homily in English. Yesterday, when he appeared in St. Peter's Square, he spoke in Italian, with a few words in Spanish. Perhaps on the recommendation of some advisor and to avoid wounding sensitivities at the beginning of his ministry, today he began in his native language.
Hundreds of pages have already been written about the profile of the new pontiff. There is talk of his conciliatory and moderate character, who will try to calm the tempers of both "progressives" and "conservatives". This was also the tone of his first homily as Pope: an appeal to the patrimony of faith, preserved by the Church, and an open look at the world and its wounds. He quoted both Sacred Scripture and the dogmatic constitutions of the Second Vatican Council.
The Gospel of the Mass was chapter 16 of St. Matthew, in which Peter says to Christ: "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God". A confession of faith that, in the Pope's words, is both a gift and a welcome: "Peter, in his response, assumes both: the gift of God and the path to follow in order to allow oneself to be transformed, inseparable dimensions of salvation, entrusted to the Church to proclaim for the good of humanity".
He then referred to his new ministry: "God, in a particular way, in calling me through your vow to succeed the first of the Apostles, entrusts this treasure to me, so that, with his help, I may be his faithful steward for the whole Mystical Body of the Church".
What do people say?
The homily then revolved around Christ's question: "What do people say," Jesus asked, "about the Son of Man? Who do they say that he is? Yesterday the Pope spoke of dialogue, and today he preaches on the conversation between the Church and the world: "It is not a trivial question, on the contrary, it concerns an important aspect of our ministry: the reality in which we live, with its limits and its potentialities, its questionings and its convictions."
He went on to describe "two possible answers to this question, which delineate as many attitudes". In the first place, the response of "a world that considers Jesus a person who is totally unimportant, at most a curious character, who can arouse astonishment with his unusual way of speaking and acting". Secondly, the response of the common people: "For them the Nazarene is not a charlatan, he is an upright man, a courageous man, who speaks well and says right things, like other great prophets in the history of Israel. That is why they follow him, at least as far as they can do so without too much risk and inconvenience".
"The topicality of these two attitudes is striking," he said. "Both embody ideas that we can easily find - perhaps expressed in different language, but identical in substance - in the mouths of many men and women of our time."
Today's world
With a realistic vision, the Pontiff acknowledged that "even today there are many contexts in which the Christian faith is considered an absurdity, something for weak and unintelligent people, contexts in which other securities are preferred, such as technology, money, success, power or pleasure". He referred to the difficulty of witnessing to and proclaiming the Gospel in an environment "where those who believe are ridiculed, hindered and despised, or, at most, supported and pitied".
The conclusion is surprising: "Yet, precisely because of this, these are places where the mission is more urgent, because the lack of faith often brings with it dramas such as the loss of the meaning of life, the forgetfulness of mercy, the violation of the dignity of the person in its most dramatic forms, the crisis of the family and so many other wounds that bring no small amount of suffering to our society".
This distancing from God occurs not only outside the Church, but also among many who call themselves Christians: "There is also no lack of contexts in which Jesus, although appreciated as a man, is reduced only to a kind of charismatic leader or superman, and this not only among non-believers, but even among many baptized people, who thus end up living, in this area, a de facto atheism".
The papacy as martyrdom
The picture painted by Leo XIV is not very encouraging. His thoughts then turned to his predecessor to give hope: "This is the world that has been entrusted to us, and in which, as Pope Francis has often taught, we are called to bear witness to joyful faith in Jesus the Savior."
The confession: 'You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God' is fundamental, "first of all in our personal relationship with Him, in our commitment to a daily journey of conversion. But also, as Church, living together our belonging to the Lord and bringing the Good News to all".
The Pope applied the preaching first of all to himself: "I say this first of all for myself, as the Successor of Peter, as I begin my mission as Bishop of the Church in Rome, called to preside in charity over the universal Church, according to the famous expression of St. Ignatius of Antioch".
The reference to this martyr is not banal: he was devoured in the capital of the empire by the circus fairs. In his letters he spoke of being wheat of GodHis words evoke in a more general sense an unrenounceable commitment for anyone who exercises a ministry of authority in the Church: to disappear so that Christ may remain, to make himself small so that he may be known and glorified, spending himself to the end so that no one may lack the opportunity to know and love him".
The Holy Mass concluded with the singing of the Regina Coeli and of the Oremus pro Pontifice. The Pope left the Sistine Chapel while giving his blessing. The cardinals have sent him off with a congratulatory applause, of support and surely also of relief.
Father Leo XIV
