At his inaugural Mass, Pope Leo XIV urged the “rejection of hatred and division.” He called for a rejection of economic policies that “exploit Earth’s resources and marginalize the poorest.”
NBC News reported there were more than “200,000 people in and around St. Peter’s Square, including over 150 international delegations, headed by monarchs, presidents and prime ministers.”
Pope Leo personally invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his wife to his inaugural Mass. Catholic Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio attended the service.
Pope Leo’s Contrast to Trump
The American-born leader of the Catholic Church is a big contrast to President Trump. The Daily Beast reported on one portion of Pope Leo’s first official Mass:
“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 marginalizes the poorest.”
