{"id":137889,"date":"2025-05-18T11:20:01","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T11:20:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/pope-leo-inauguration-live-pontiff-to-have-private-meeting-with-zelenskyy-after-addressing-tens-of-thousands-at-vatican-sky-news\/"},"modified":"2025-05-18T11:20:01","modified_gmt":"2025-05-18T11:20:01","slug":"pope-leo-inauguration-live-pontiff-to-have-private-meeting-with-zelenskyy-after-addressing-tens-of-thousands-at-vatican-sky-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/pope-leo-inauguration-live-pontiff-to-have-private-meeting-with-zelenskyy-after-addressing-tens-of-thousands-at-vatican-sky-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo inauguration live: Pontiff to have private meeting with Zelenskyy after addressing tens of thousands at Vatican – Sky News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tens of thousands of well-wishers have gathered for Leo XIV’s inaugural mass at the Vatican, which sees him formally take up his role as leader of the global Catholic Church. Follow the latest here.
Sunday 18 May 2025 11:53, UK
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
With the Pope now formally in place as the head of the Catholic Church, attentions now turn to how he will define his papacy.
We’ve just spoken with Sister Liz Dodd, from St Joseph of Peace, who told us she hopes he will continue the “progressive legacy” of Pope Francis, his predecessor.
Asked by our presenter Kamali Melbourne<\/b><\/a> if there were any fears ahead of the new papacy, she said: “There was, I think, as a Catholic sister – as a Catholic – you have a very sort of intense relationship with what’s going on in the papacy.
“And as somebody who really admired, took a lot from Pope Francis’s progressive legacy, I think I hope that that would continue.”
She added as a Catholic you wonder: “Am I going to spend the next 25 years sort of apologising for what the church is saying, or am I going to spend 25 years saying listen to the church, listen to the Pope on the environment, inclusion, migration, peacemaking?”
She said she is starting to think “it’s going to be the latter”, which is a “wonderful feeling”. 
On the role of women in the church, Dodd added Leo supported Francis’s female appointments to very senior leadership roles.
“So, I think that’s an indication that certainly women’s leadership would be something that he will push on,” she added.
The Pope is receiving a series of world leaders who were there for his inaugural mass this morning.
Among them was US vice president JD Vance, who in the past few minutes has greeted the Pope along with his wife, Usha Vance.
Shortly after Leo’s election, a post on social media resurfaced of the Pope criticising Vance.
In early February, he shared an article from a Catholic publication with the headline, ‘JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others’.
That now concludes Pope Leo’s first mass as head of the Catholic Church.
But the day’s not over at the Vatican, where delegations from around 200 countries are said to have gathered.
We already know the Pope is going to meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy in private this afternoon (see the below post), but he’s expected to receive several other delegations over the coming hours too.
We’ll also stay across any other notable developments on the sidelines.
Coming away from the mass briefly, we’ve had this update just in from the Vatican.
They have confirmed the Pope will have a private meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this afternoon.
Leo, the first pope from the US, has previously vowed to personally make “every effort” to help end the war.
He has also suggested the Vatican could be a venue for peace talks.
The Pope is now speaking to the crowds again, thanking all pilgrims and delegations for being there today.
He also mentioned his predecessor, Pope Francis, whose presence he said he could “feel” during mass.
“I could feel the spiritual presence of Pope Francis, who accompanies us from the sky, from the heaven,” he said.
We’ve now reached one of the key moments in any mass – the taking of bread and wine, which represent the body and blood of Christ.
Many from the crowd are queueing in front of nearby priests and deacons for their turn.
Thousands are now shaking hands with their neighbours, after the Pope encouraged all to give a sign of peace to each other.
This is a common practice during mass, and today sees world leaders join in, including US vice president JD Vance.
Thousands are in the streets in Rome to witness the pontiff’s first mass, which sees him formally become the head of the Catholic Church.
A Palestinian flag was also spotted in the crowd, though Pope Leo made no direct mention of the war in Gaza in his homily.
The Pope has concluded his homily, during which he spoke of the need to remain “united” and briefly railed against “religious propaganda”.
“Brothers and sisters, I would like that our first great desire be for a united church, a sign of unity and communion, which becomes a leaven for a reconciled world,” he said, in Italian.
He said the “ministry of Peter” – Jesus’s disciple on whose tomb the Vatican is said to be built – is “distinguished” by “self-sacrificing love”.
“Because the Church of Rome presides in charity, and its true authority is the charity of Christ, it is never a question of capturing others by force, by religious propaganda, or by means of power,” he added.
“Instead, it’s always and only a question of loving, as Jesus did.”
Criticism<\/b>
Echoing priorities of his predecessor, Francis, Leo criticised the global economic system he said “exploits the Earth’s resources and marginalises the poorest”.
He also warned against the centralisation of power within the papacy, adding he would seek to govern “without ever yielding to the temptation to be an autocrat”.
He finished by urging the faithful to stay “together as one people” and to “walk towards God and let us love one another”. 
This is now the Pope’s chance to communicate his intentions as the pontiff.
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