First mass for Pope Prevost in the Sistine Chapel, the day after his election (the mass for the beginning of his Pontificate will be held on Sunday, May 18 at 10 a.m. in St. Peter's Square). All the cardinals, electors and non-electors, concelebrated with Leo XIV, including the Sardinian Angelo Becciu who had renounced participating in the conclave . The first and second readings of the mass pro ecclesia, the first for the Holy Father, are in English and Spanish: they are the two languages most used in international masses in the Vatican, but also the main languages spoken by the polyglot Pontiff, born in the United States and a missionary in Peru for a long time . The language of the celebration, as in all solemn masses, is Latin. At the end of the mass, the Pope left the Sistine Chapel to the applause of the cardinals.
The Gospel of Matthew was chosen for Pope Prevost's first mass in the Sistine Chapel. It is the one that narrates Christ's choice of the first Pontiff: "You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it", one of the passages of the Gospel sung in Italian. " Even today there are many contexts in which the Christian faith is considered something absurd, for weak and unintelligent people . Contexts in which other securities are preferred to it, such as technology, money, success, power, pleasure", added Leo XIV commenting on the Gospel in his first mass. "These are environments in which it is not easy to witness and announce the Gospel and where those who believe are mocked, opposed, despised, or at most tolerated and pitied".
"And yet, precisely for this reason they are places where the mission is urgently needed," continued Leo XIV. "Because the lack of faith often brings with it tragedies such as the loss of the meaning of life, the forgetting of mercy, the violation of the dignity of the person in its most dramatic forms, the crisis of the family and many other wounds from which our society suffers and not a little. Even today there is no lack of contexts in which Jesus, although appreciated as a man, is reduced only to a kind of charismatic leader or superman, and this not only among non-believers, but also among many baptized, who thus end up living, at this level, in a de facto atheism ."
In conclusion of the homily, Leo XIV indicated "an indispensable commitment for anyone in the Church who exercises a ministry of authority: to disappear so that Christ remains, to make oneself small so that He may be known and glorified, to spend oneself completely so that no one lacks the opportunity to know and love Him. May God give me this grace, today and always, with the help of the most tender intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church ."
For the time being, the new Pontiff has decided to confirm all the Curia positions: "His Holiness Leo XIV has expressed the will that the Heads and Members of the Institutions of the Roman Curia, as well as the Secretaries, and the President of the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State, continue, provisionally, in their respective positions donec aliter provideatur", that is, until otherwise provided, as stated in a statement from the Vatican Press Office. "The Holy Father wishes, in fact, to reserve a certain time for reflection, prayer and dialogue, before any definitive appointment or confirmation".
The next appointments on the agenda: tomorrow the Pope will meet the cardinals while on Sunday 11 May the first Regina Coeli from the central Loggia of St. Peter's. On Monday 12 May the meeting with the world press, on 18 May as mentioned the mass of the beginning of the Pontificate in St. Peter's Square. On 20 May the taking possession of the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls while on 21 May the first general audience. And again: on 24 May the meeting with the Roman Curia and Vatican employees. On Sunday 25 May the Regina Coeli and the taking possession of the Papal Basilica of St. John Lateran and that of the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major.
(Online Union)