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Leo XIV elected as new pope
Pontiff laments ‘technology, money, success, power or pleasure’ valued over religion
In his first words as Pope Francis’ successor, uttered from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, Leo, 69, said, “Peace be with you,” and emphasized a message of peace, dialogue and missionary evangelization.
He wore the traditional red cape of the papacy — a cape that Francis had eschewed on his election in 2013. He spoke to the crowd in Italian and Spanish, but not English, AP reported.
During the Italian language section of his homily, Pope Leo XIV has lamented that there are many places where “technology, money, success, power or pleasure” are valued over Christian faith, which he warned, in many places, was “considered absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent.”
The new pope said “believers are mocked, opposed, despised or at best tolerated and pitied”.
He said that often the figure of Jesus is “reduced only to a kind of charismatic leader or superman,” and warned that this was not just among non-believers, but even among the baptised, who he said ended up living their lives in “de facto atheism”.
Pope Leo XIV’s formal inauguration Mass to mark his appointment will take place in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday May 18, the Vatican said in a statement on Friday.
The new pope, elected on Thursday, will hold his first general audience on May 21.