Pope warns against exploitation

POPE Leo XIV set the tone for his papacy yesterday with a call to stop exploiting nature and marginalising the poor, before an audience including JD Vance and tens of thousands of pilgrims.

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Ten days after Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevost became the first US head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, he celebrated his inaugural mass in St Peter’s Square.

The 69-year-old began the day by making his debut tour in a popemobile, standing up in the custom-made white vehicle and smiling, waving and blessing the cheering crowds at the Vatican.

In front of dignitaries including US Vice President Vance and Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy, he then gave a homily calling for the Church to be a transformational force in a world of division and hatred.

“In this our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference, and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth's resources and marginalises the poorest,” he said.

The new pontiff, who spent many years as a missionary in Peru, also warned against “closing ourselves off in our small groups”.

“We are called to offer God’s love to everyone, in order to achieve that unity which does not cancel out differences but values the personal history of each person and the social and religious culture of every people,” he said.