Leo XIV denounces the decline of faith in favor of “money, success or pleasure”

RomeThe Catholic Church woke up this Friday with a new leader. The American Robert Francis Prevost, who also has Peruvian nationality and Spanish ancestry, had become the 267th pontiff in history on Thursday, in the be elected by a two-thirds majority by the 133 "closed" cardinals on the second day of the conclave. Before them all, gathered again in the majestic Sistine Chapel, the new Pope Leo XIV celebrated the first Mass of his pontificate, in which he called for the Church's influence to be restored and denounced the decline of faith in favor of "technology, money, success, power, or pleasure."

In his homily, Leo XIV lamented that currently "there are many contexts in which the Christian faith is considered absurd, something for weak and unintelligent people." In this sense, he invited the cardinals to promote the Church's evangelizing mission and "proclaim the Gospel wherever those who believe are ridiculed, hindered, and scorned."

The new pope, born in Chicago 69 years ago, read his homily in Italian, but before that he spoke briefly, improvised, in English, his native language, which he had not used the day before during his speech from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica. He then appeared before thousands of people wearing the papal stole but without the red shoes of the pontiffs, instead wearing black ones. A tradition that his predecessor, Pope Francis, had already broken.

"You have called me to carry a cross and to be blessed with this mission, and I want you to walk with me because we are the Church, a community that must proclaim the Good News," he said, addressing the cardinals who elected him as their Catholic leader. Leo XIV has highlighted the importance of an indispensable commitment for anyone who exercises a ministry of authority within the Church: to disappear so that Christ may remain, to make oneself small so that He may be known and glorified." And he has said that reducing the figure of Jesus to a "charismatic leader" or a "superman" is "an atheism." de facto". Something that happens "not only among non-believers, but also among many baptized people," in a message apparently directed at evangelical Christians.

Guarantee stability

In this first Mass as pontiff, the opening hymn and prayers were in Latin, and the psalm in Italian, but the first two readings were given in English and Spanish, Prevost's two primary languages. In addition, two women, one religious and one lay, were chosen to read them before the members of the College of Cardinals.

Pope Leo XIV appeared before the cardinals with the pastoral cross forged by order of Benedict XVI and used by Pope Francis in these ceremonies and, upon leaving, they saw him off to loud applause.

It was a first homily focused on the evangelizing mission of the Church, perhaps because it was a private ceremony before the cardinals who the day before decided against all odds that he would be Francis' successor. Prevost has that same pastoral profile and proximity to the most vulnerable after almost Two decades of missionary activity in Peru, where he obtained citizenship. But although his election is analyzed as a sign of continuity with the pontificate of the Argentine Jesuit, the truth is that he is considered more formal in liturgical matters, which for a sector of the Church ensures stability and can help reduce tensions.

This nuance is what would have driven his election, since he would have united the votes of the American cardinals, the curial ones and those of the peripheral countries. A complete surprise in a conclave With 133 cardinal electors from more than seventy countries, the main favorite was the Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin. The head of Vatican diplomacy was the victim of "betrayal" by several Italian prelates, which would have forced him to take "a step back" and allow his support to converge on Prevost, according to the Italian press, which had turned the election of Francis's successor into almost a matter of state, taking the state almost for granted.

The Scola Syndrome

Leo XIV was elected on the fourth ballot, on the second day of the conclave, just like Benedict XVI in 2005. His name had appeared in the lists of candidates as one of the candidates who could unlock the progressive vote, if Parolin failed to surpass the threshold of votes he had before the start of the conclave on the second day. And so it was that Francis' secretary of state ended up falling victim to the Angelo Scola syndrome, the Italian cardinal, protagonist in 2013 of a similar media campaign, who ended up being surpassed on the fifth ballot by an unknown: the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

In theory, everything that happens in the Sistine Chapel, stays in the Sistine Chapel. That's why the cardinals take a solemn oath of confidentiality in Latin before theExtra omnesHowever, the reality is that the name of the future pope is not decided under Michelangelo's frescoes, but in the much more austere Casa Santa Marta, the hotel for religious figures in the heart of the Vatican where the cardinals remain isolated during the conclave. Thus, between coffees, their eminences assess the results after the first ballots, assess the chances of each candidate, and ultimately decide their vote. Apparently, Thursday's lunch proved enlightening.