The announcement that Vice President JD Vance would attend Pope Leo XIV’s inauguration mass included a simple line. “Pope Leo XIV is the first American Pope. Vice President Vance is the first Catholic convert to serve as Vice President,” the White House notice said. It was neutral, yet telling. The first American pope holds the…
The Rev. Gosbert Rwezahura opened Mass on Sunday morning by saying what everyone in the pews was thinking. “Habemus papam!” he exclaimed at Christ Our Savior Parish in South Holland, Ill. Beaming, he added, “He is one of our own!” It was the first Sunday in American history with an American pope seated on the…
Just days into the papacy of Leo XIV, the new pope has begun to lay out his vision for how he will lead the Catholic church. Like his predecessor, he plans to embrace the poor and the marginalized. He wants to continue Francis’s effort to fling open the doors of the Vatican and listen to…
The Rev. Gosbert Rwezahura opened Mass on Sunday morning by saying what everyone in the pews was thinking. “Habemus papam!” he exclaimed at Christ Our Savior Parish in South Holland, Ill. Beaming, he added, “He is one of our own!” It was the first Sunday in American history with an American pope seated on the…
The cardinals electing a new pope to lead the Roman Catholic Church left the Sistine Chapel exhausted and hungry. A meditation to start the conclave had dragged on and pushed their first vote deep into Wednesday evening. It had resulted in an inconclusive tally, with three main contenders. Keeping their vow of secrecy, they returned…
Pope Leo XIV on Sunday returned to the balcony where he was presented to the world as the new leader of the Roman Catholic church just days ago, using his first Sunday address to the faithful to call for peace. “Never again war,” he said to a roar from the massive crowd that had gathered…
Newspapers around the world on Friday covered the election of a new pope, Robert Francis Prevost, who took the name Leo XIV, with big photos, plays on words and nods to his nationalities. Pope Leo XIV, who was born in Chicago, made history as the first North American pope, and plenty of tabloids and broadsheets…
The surprising election of the first American pope felt fraught and disorienting to Roman Catholics around the world, who had considered such an outcome unlikely and perhaps unwelcome — until Pope Leo XIV stepped onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica and chose to speak a few sentences in Spanish. In an instant, the new…
In his first formal address to Roman Catholic cardinals, Pope Leo XIV on Saturday said he would continue the work of Pope Francis in steering the church in a more missionary direction, with greater cooperation among church leaders and a closeness to the marginalized. Leo said he was committed to following a path of modernization…
When Pope Leo XIV emerged on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica as the new head of the Catholic Church on Thursday, the Rev. Lawrence Ndlovu of Johannesburg could not help but wonder at the shade of his skin. “‘You’re not the classical white sort of person,’” Father Ndlovu said he had been thinking while…