Pope Leo XIV offers message of unity for polarized Church

Pope Leo XIV vowed Sunday to work for unity in a polarized Catholic Church and world, as history's first American pope offered a message of healing during an inaugural Mass in Saint Peter's Square before an estimated 200,000 pilgrims, presidents, patriarchs, and princes.

- (AP)

Leo officially opened his pontificate by taking his first popemobile tour through the piazza, a rite of passage that has become synonymous with the papacy's global reach and mediatic draw.

The 69-year-old Augustinian missionary smiled and waved from the back of the truck to people waving US, Peruvian, and other national flags, and stopped to bless some babies in the crowd.

During the Mass, Leo appeared to choke up when the two potent symbols of the papacy were placed on him — the lambswool stole over his shoulders and the fisherman's ring on his finger — as if the weight of responsibility of leading the 1.4-billion strong church had just sunk in.

He turned his hand to look at the ring and then clasped his hands in front of him in prayer.