Before the prayer of Regina CoeliPope Leo XIV quoted with love his predecessor Pope Francis when pointing, just after the mass with which his pontificate began, who felt his “spiritual presence” and knows that “from heaven accompanies us.”
“During the Mass I have felt strong the spiritual presence of Pope Francis that accompanies us from heaven,” said the pontiff, which started an ovation between the more than 150,000 people present.
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He also evoked yesterday’s beatification of the priest Camille Costa de Beauregard – the first blessed of his pontificate – who lived between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who described as a “witness of great pastoral charity.”
Once again Pope Leo XIV preferred to sing and not recite the Regina Coelithe Sunday prayer that replaces the Angelus during the Easter time.
In his words pronounced before the leaders of more than 150 countries in the world, the Pontiff also launched a call for peace in the world. “In Gaza, children, families, surviving elders have been reduced to hunger,” he exclaimed.
He also pointed out that the “martyred Ukraine finally expects negotiations for just and lasting peace.”
“In the joy of faith and communion we cannot forget the brothers and sisters who suffer from war,” he added.
He also regretted that in Myanmar there are “new hostilities” that “have broken young innocent lives.”
He then invoked the mother of the good advice, whose icon arrived from the Mariano de Genazzano sanctuary. To this sanctuary the Pope moved two days after being chosen, “as a sign of hope.”
“Let us implore by its intercession the gift of peace, help and comfort for those who suffer and, for all of us, the grace of being witnesses of the risen Lord,” he said.
In his final greetings, Pope Leo XIV thanked the presence of international delegations, as well as other Christian confessions and religions. He also greeted “the thousands of pilgrims who have come from all continents on the occasion of the retirement of the brotherhoods”
“Dear, I thank you because they keep alive the great heritage of popular piety,” he said.
Victoria Cardiel
Victoria Cardiel is a journalist specialized in social and religious information issues. Since 2013, he has covered all the news of the Vatican for various media, such as the Spanish news agency Europa Press, or the weekly of the Archdiocese of Madrid, Alfa and Omega.