The inaugural Mass for the pontificate of the new Pope Leo XIV will be held on Sunday, May 18, in St. Peter's Square, the Vatican announced on Friday.
Numerous guests from around the world are expected to attend the event, ten days after an American, Robert Francis Prevost, was elected as the spiritual leader of some 1,4 billion Catholics for the first time.
The Vatican also outlined all of Leo XIV's planned commitments for the coming period.
The Pope is scheduled to lead the Queen of Heaven Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on Sunday, receive media representatives on Monday, representatives of the diplomatic corps on Friday, and then hold his first general audience on Wednesday, May 21st.
Earlier on Friday, Leo XIV celebrated his first Mass, during which, in line with his predecessor Francis, he pointed to the decline of faith in favor of "other certainties such as technology, money, success, power and pleasure."
He prayed that his pontificate would help the Catholic Church be a beacon that would illuminate the "dark nights of this world."
The 69-year-old Leo was elected at the end of a quick two-day conclave that ended Thursday afternoon when white smoke rose from the chapel's chimney.
Photo: EPA/VATICAN MEDIA HANDOUT
