An estimated 250,000 pilgrims and numerous world leaders and royals, including the US vice president, Johnathan Vance, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, and Britain’s Prince Edward, are expected to attend St Peter’s Square for the inaugural mass of Pope Leo XIV.
The service, beginning on Sunday at 10am local time, marks the official start of the papacy for the first US pontiff in the history of the Roman Catholic church.
Cardinal Robert Prevost, a 69-year-old Chicago native, was elected to succeed the late Pope Francis earlier this month following a conclave that lasted less than 26 hours.
Other world leaders attending include the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, the Argentinian president, Javier Milei, and the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese.
In keeping with tradition for an inaugural papal mass, Leo is expected to arrive in St Peter’s Square in a popemobile and spend time greeting the crowd.
Accompanied by a procession of cardinals, the pope will then enter St Peter’s Basilica where he will receive two gifts symbolizing the papacy.
The first is a gold signet fisherman’s ring, named after St Peter, the first pope who was a fisherman. The ring marks the beginning and end of a papacy; when a pontiff dies, the ring is destroyed by a senior cardinal. Until 1842, the ring was used to seal official documents signed by the pope.
The second gift is a lamb’s wool pallium, symbolizing the pope’s role as a shepherd, and is draped over his shoulders before the mass begins.
JD Vance, who met Pope Francis in the Vatican a day before his death, and the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will represent the US.
Before being elected as pope, Prevost criticized Donald Trump’s administration in several posts on his X account, primarily targeting the government over its immigration policies.
In February, he also shared on X an op-ed published in the National Catholic Reporter titled: “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others,” after comments Vance made in an interview on Fox News following his conversion to Catholicism in 2019.
The Vatican has not confirmed or denied the authenticity of these social media posts. Vance and Trump also disagreed with Pope Francis on immigration.
Prevost’s criticisms led to a backlash from Trump’s conservative supporters after he became pope. Activist Laura Loomer, for example, wrote on X: “He is anti-Trump, anti-MAGA, pro-open Borders, and a total Marxist like Pope Francis.”
Pope Leo XIV will continue to be active on social media through the official papal accounts on X and Instagram, according to the Vatican. On X, @Pontifex communicates in nine languages to around 52 million followers.
In one of his first posts on X, Leo encouraged leaders to meet and dialogue to foster peace and uphold human dignity.
