Pope Leo XIV Celebrates First Mass

May 9, 2025 4:59 am

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV will celebrate his first Mass after his historic election as the first North American pope. He will meet on Friday with the cardinals who chose him to lead the Catholic Church and follow in Pope Francis’ reform-minded footsteps. Leo, the Chicago-born Augustinian missionary Robert Prevost, surprised the world on Thursday when he emerged on the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, since there had long been a taboo against a pope from the United States. He spoke to the crowd in Italian and Spanish, but not English, and honored Pope Francis for his final salute to the crowd on Easter Sunday.