FLASH
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Leaders from around the world gathered in Rome for the second time in less than a month on Sunday with a spectacular Vatican display to celebrate the appointment of Pope Leo XIV as the new leader of the Catholic Church.
Leo, who was elected after the death of Pope Francis on Easter Monday, last week offered the Vatican as a location for possible peace talks in Ukraine, urging both sides: “let us meet, let us talk, let us negotiate.” Even before he officially took office, Rome on Sunday again became the backdrop for informal bilateral meetings, with the ceremony in St. Peter’s Square providing the opportunity for meetings and handshakes between leaders.
US Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shook hands at the ceremony, in stark contrast to their public clash in February at the White House.
Zelensky also had an audience with Leo at the Vatican on Sunday morning, the Holy See said. The Ukrainian president is the first leader to meet the new pope since his election. The two had already spoken by phone, and Leo has expressed support for Ukraine.
Before his election, Leo repeatedly criticized the Trump administration's mass deportation policy on social media and clashed with Vance.
Leo rode through St. Peter's Square in the white popemobile for the first time on Sunday, greeting a crowd of about a hundred thousand Catholics, tourists, members of the royal family, diplomats and delegations, as well as clergy and cardinals.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio were among those present, as well as Canadian and Italian leaders Mark Carney and Giorgia Meloni.
A notable absence was US President Donald Trump, whose iconic meeting with Zelensky inside St. Peter's Basilica eclipsed Pope Francis' funeral last month.
Crowds filled St. Peter's Square and surrounding streets on Sunday with pilgrims chanting "Viva il Papa" (Long Live the Pope) and waving American and Peruvian flags to pay homage to the first pope from the United States, who also holds Peruvian citizenship, after many years as a missionary in the South American country.
Cardinal Robert Prevost, a former missionary and teacher, was elected by cardinals in a secret meeting this month that lasted barely 24 hours.
The first American pope, his papacy begins at a time of crisis in American leadership, as the Trump administration seeks to reduce Washington's center in multinational organizations.
In his first week in office, Leo has signaled that he intends to place peace at the center of his papacy, saying that "it is peacemakers who make history."
His first words in St. Peter's Square on the night of his election were "Peace be with you all" and he has offered the Vatican as a mediator in global conflicts, saying war is "never inevitable."
On Sunday, he arrived an hour before the ceremony was due to begin to tour the square in his open-topped popemobile. Surrounded by 12 security guards, with helicopters flying overhead and snipers on terraces overlooking the square, he greeted crowds in and around St. Peter's, greeting well-wishers and lifting babies into the air for a blessing.
In his homily, Leo outlined his priorities, calling for “a reconciled world at a time when “we still see many disagreements, many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, fear of change and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth’s resources and marginalizes the poorest.”
He called on Christians to unite with other religions and "all people of good will, in order to build a new world where peace reigns."
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