Pope Leo XIV calls for unity of divided Church after popemobile tour; inauguration mass; see pics

Pope Leo XIV, history's first American pope, vowed to work for unity so that the Catholic Church becomes a sign of peace in the world. The 69-year-old Augustinian missionary offered a message of communion during an inaugural Mass in St. Peter's Square before tens of thousands of people, presidents, patriarchs and princes.

In his homily, Leo said he wanted to be a servant to the faithful through the two dimensions of the papacy, love and unity, so that the church could be a force for peace in the world.

“I would like that our first great desire be for a united church, a sign of unity and communion, which becomes a leaven for a reconciled world,” he said. “In our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference, and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth's resources and marginalises the poorest.” His call for unity was significant, given the polarisation in the Catholic Church in the United States and beyond.

Leo launched the celebration by taking his first popemobile tour through the piazza, a rite of passage that has become synonymous with the papacy's global reach and mediatic draw, used at home and abroad to bring popes close to their flock. The 69-year-old Augustinian missionary smiled and waved from the back of the truck.

After the public tour in the square, Leo went into the basilica to pray at the tomb of St. Peter, considered to be the first pope, under the basilica's main altar and then processed out into the piazza for the Mass.

Strict diplomatic protocol dictated the seating arrangements, with both the United States and Peru getting front-row seats thanks to Leo's dual citizenship. US Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert who tangled with Francis over the Trump administration's mass migrant deportation plans, was joined by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Peruvian President Dina Boluarte is one of around a dozen heads of state attending, as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Russia is being represented by the culture minister, Olga Liubimova.

Diplomatic protocol also dictated the dress code: While most wore black, the handful of Catholic queens and princesses — Charlene of Monaco and Letizia of Spain among others — wore white in a special privilege allowed to them.

Three dozen of the world's other Christian churches sent their own delegations, headed by patriarchs, reverends, ministers and metropolitans, while the Jewish community had a 13-member delegation, half of them rabbis.

During the Mass, Leo received the two potent symbols of the papacy: the lambswool stole, known as a pallium, and the fisherman's ring. The pallium, draped across his shoulders, symbolises the pastor carrying his flock as the pope carries the faithful. The ring, which becomes Leo's official seal, harks back to Jesus' call to the apostle Peter to cast his fishing nets.

The other symbolically important moment of the Mass is the representational rite of obedience to Leo: Whereas in the past all cardinals would vow obedience to the new pope, more recent papal installations involve representatives of cardinals, bishops, priests, deacons, nuns, married couples and young people participating in the rite.

Another change from the past is that Sunday's Mass isn't a coronation ceremony, which used to involve the pope receiving a tiara, but is merely known as a Mass to start the pope's ministry as the bishop of Rome.