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 ceremony to honor Pope Leo XIV in the Peruvian city where he served as bishop for roughly eight years began on Saturday night with a procession of altar boys and priests. It ended long past dark with dancers in devil costumes swirling on the steps of his former church. In between, there was a…
Pope Leo XIV used his first audience with the press on Monday to appeal to journalists to help cool the heated language of today’s media landscape, as he renewed his calls for a more peaceful world. Echoing some thoughts from his predecessor, Pope Francis, Leo called for the use of moderate language in presenting facts…
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…
In retrospect, Pope Leo XIV had it all going for him. The new pope, whose election on the second day of the conclave stunned the Roman Catholic world, seemed to be from two places at once. He was born and educated in the United States, a country vital to the church’s finances. But he was…
Robert Francis Prevost was elected on Thursday by 133 cardinals to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Roman Catholics. The first pope from the United States, he chose the name Leo XIV. Here’s what to know about the new pope, how he was chosen and the issues he will face as the successor to Pope Francis,…
Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline of France cooed at babies on Sunday at a church in the Monti neighborhood of Rome. Cardinal Peter Erdo of Hungary asked for prayers for fellow cardinals at a church near the Colosseum. Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo of Congo joined priests from across the globe behind the altar of a church in western…
There are so many unfamiliar faces, cardinals are wearing name tags. The Vatican guesthouse for out-of-towners coming to choose the next pope is overbooked. Daily Vatican meetings have taken on the feel of theological speed-dating sessions. “The cardinals don’t know each other so well,” said Cardinal Anders Arborelius of Sweden, who has spent recent days…
In a solemn and majestic funeral on the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica, the Roman Catholic Church on Saturday laid to rest Pope Francis, the first South American pope, whose simple style, pastoral vision and outsize footprint on the world stage both reinvigorated and divided the institution that he led for a dozen years. Heads…
By plane and boat, on foot and in an electric popemobile, Pope Francis traveled year after year of his papacy, reaching dozens of countries on five continents. His first official trip outside Rome was in 2013 to Lampedusa, a tiny Mediterranean island that had became a gateway for migrants. Not long afterward, he flew into…