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Pope Leo hopes to bring light to "dark nights of this world"
Leo, the first pope from the US, told cardinals in the Sistine Chapel that he hoped to be a "faithful administrator" for the entire Church, and added that the Church should identify itself through the holiness of its members and not "the grandeur of her buildings".
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Newly elected Pope Leo XIV, Robert Prevost addresses the crowd from the main central loggia balcony of the St Peter's Basilica for the first time, after the cardinals ended the conclave, in The Vatican, on May 8, 2025. (AFP/Tiziana Fabi)
P
ope Leo said on Friday he hoped that his election can help the Catholic Church bring light to the "dark nights of this world" as he delivered his first Mass since being elected on Thursday.
Leo, the first pope from the US, told cardinals in the Sistine Chapel that he hoped to be a "faithful administrator" for the entire Church, and added that the Church should identify itself through the holiness of its members and not "the grandeur of her buildings".
Pope Leo XIV also warned against reducing Jesus to "a kind of charismatic leader or superman", in an apparent message to evangelical Christians.
"There are many settings in which Jesus, although appreciated as a man, is reduced to a kind of charismatic leader or superman. This is true not only among non-believers but also among many baptised Christians, who thus end up living, at this level, in a state of practical atheism," he told a mass with cardinals in the Sistine Chapel, according to images broadcast by the Vatican.
On Friday, newly installed Pope Leo XIV will hold a Mass with cardinals in the Sistine Chapel on Friday, a day after he was elected as the surprise choice to be the leader of the Catholic Church.
The choice of Cardinal Robert Prevost, who is originally from Chicago but served for many years as a missionary in Latin America, followed a swift two-day conclave that was wrapped up on Thursday evening when white smoke billowed from the chimney on the chapel.
After the Mass, Leo will have lunch with the cardinals who elected him and they will then be free to leave the Vatican and return to their homes around the world.
The successor to Pope Francis, who died last month at the age of 88, inherits a number of major challenges, ranging from a budget shortfall to divisions over whether the Church should be more welcoming towards the LGBT community and divorcees, and should let women play a greater role in its affairs.
