The morning after his election as the 267th Pope of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV celebrated his inaugural Mass with the Cardinal electors in the Sistine Chapel on Friday, 9 May 2025. In a deeply reflective homily, he called on the Church to be unwavering in its joyful testimony to faith in Christ, warning that “where faith is lacking, life loses meaning.”

“We are called to bear witness to our joyful faith in Christ the Saviour,” the new Pope said, addressing the Cardinals who had elected him with at least a two-thirds majority during the fourth ballot held the previous afternoon. Expressing his gratitude, the U.S.-born Pope began in English, saying, “I will sing a new song to the Lord, because He has done marvels,” adding, “not just with me but with all of us.”

He acknowledged the weight of the mission entrusted to him. “You have called me to carry that cross, and to carry out that mission, and I know I can rely on each and every one of you to walk with me, as we continue as a Church, as a community of friends of Jesus, as believers, to announce the Good News, to announce the Gospel.”

In his Italian homily, Pope Leo reflected on Peter’s confession in the Gospel of Matthew: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” calling it the foundation of apostolic faith handed down for 2,000 years. He emphasized the need to deepen a personal relationship with Christ, noting that Christ alone reveals the face of the Father in a human form that all people can relate to: “In Him, God… revealed Himself to us in the trusting eyes of a child, in the lively mind of a young person and in the mature features of a man… appearing to His disciples after the Resurrection with His glorious body.”

“He showed us a model of human holiness that we can all imitate, together with the promise of an eternal destiny that transcends all our limits and abilities,” he said.

The Pope described Peter’s understanding of Christ as both a divine gift and a call to transformation. “They are inseparable aspects of salvation entrusted to the Church to be proclaimed for the good of the human race.” He added, “Indeed, they are entrusted to us, who were chosen by Him before we were formed in our mothers’ wombs… so that the Gospel might be proclaimed to every creature.”

Recalling his election as Pope, he said, “God… has entrusted this treasure to me so that, with his help, I may be its faithful administrator for the sake of the entire mystical Body of the Church.”

He pointed to Jesus’ question—“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”—as deeply relevant to today’s world. One attitude, he said, comes from those who reject Christ when His moral demands become uncomfortable. Another comes from those who admire Him as a moral figure, yet ultimately abandon Him. Both, the Pope noted, are echoed in today’s society, where faith is often dismissed as irrational or irrelevant.

“Even today, there are many settings in which the Christian faith is considered absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent… where other securities are preferred, like technology, money, success, power, or pleasure,” Pope Leo said. “These are contexts where it is not easy to preach the Gospel and bear witness to its truth, where believers are mocked, opposed, despised or at best tolerated and pitied.”

He stressed that such places are precisely where missionary outreach is most needed. A lack of faith, he said, is often accompanied by a loss of life’s meaning, disregard for mercy, violations of dignity, and breakdowns in family and social cohesion.

“Jesus, although appreciated as a man, is reduced to a kind of charismatic leader or superman,” he said. This, he warned, happens not just among non-believers but also among many baptized Christians, leading to “practical atheism.”

He reminded the faithful that the world—imperfect as it is—is entrusted to the Church, and that, as Pope Francis often said, Christians are called to bear joyful witness to Christ the Saviour. “It is essential that we too repeat, with Peter: ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’”

He urged both personal and communal renewal in faith, “first of all in our personal relationship with the Lord, in our commitment to a daily journey of conversion,” and “as a Church… bringing the Good News to all.”

Referring to his new role as Bishop of Rome, he quoted Saint Ignatius of Antioch, who described the role of Rome as one that “presides in charity over the universal Church.” He recalled Ignatius’ words to the Roman Christians: “Then I will truly be a disciple of Jesus Christ, when the world no longer sees my body.”

“Ignatius was speaking about being devoured by wild beasts in the arena,” the Pope said, “but his words apply more generally to an indispensable commitment for all those in the Church who exercise a ministry of authority.” That commitment, he continued, is “to move aside so that Christ may remain, to make oneself small so that he may be known and glorified, to spend oneself to the utmost so that all may have the opportunity to know and love Him.”

He ended his homily with a prayer: “May God grant me this grace, today and always, through the loving intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church.”