Pope Leo outlines his vision for papacy to the cardinals

Pope Leo XIV has laid out the vision of his papacy, identifying artificial intelligence as one of the most critical matters facing humanity and vowing to continue with some of the core priorities of Pope Francis.

- NICOLE WINFIELD

But in a sign he was making the papacy very much his own, Leo made his first outing since his election to a sanctuary south of Rome that is dedicated to the Madonna and is of particular significance to his Augustinian order.

The townspeople of Genazzano gathered in the square outside the main church housing the Madre del Buon Consiglio (Mother of Good Counsel) sanctuary as Leo arrived in a car, flanked by Vatican security.

The sanctuary, which is managed by Augustinian friars, has been a place of pilgrimage since the 15th century and Leo visited it last year. After praying in the church, Leo greeted the townspeople and told them they had both a gift and a responsibility in having the Madonna in their midst.

En route back to the Vatican, he stopped to pray at Francis’s tomb at St Mary Major Basilica.

The after-lunch outing came after Leo presided over his first formal audience with the cardinals who elected him Pope.

In it Leo repeatedly cited Francis and the Argentine Pope’s own 2013 mission statement, making clear a commitment to making the Catholic Church more inclusive and attentive to the faithful and a church that looks out for the “least and rejected”.