Pope Leo: ‘desperate’ world needs missionary Church

Places ‘where believers are mocked, opposed, despised or at best tolerated and pitied’ are also ‘the places where our missionary outreach is desperately needed’.

Pope Leo XIV called for “missionary outreach” to preach Christianity to a world indifferent to its message, in his first homily since his election.

Preaching at a Mass pro Ecllesia in the Sistine Chapel with the cardinal electors on Friday, the day after they had elected him pope on the fourth ballot of the conclave, Pope Leo said that Peter’s words in the gospel – “You are the Christ, the son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16) – expressed “the patrimony that the Church, through the apostolic succession, has preserved, deepened and handed on for two thousand years”.

All Christians, he said, must proclaim this, and by his election the Pope was entrusted to administer the Church as “an ark of salvation sailing through the waters of history”. It became this “not so much through the magnificence of her structures and the grandeur of her buildings”, he said, “but rather through the holiness of her members”.

Pope Leo said most responses in the gospels to Jesus’ question, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”, reflected either the world’s indifference to him as “a completely insignificant person”, or the popular idea that he was “an upright man, who has courage, who speaks well and says the right things” but only a man, to be abandoned in moments of inconvenience or danger.

“What is striking about these two attitudes is their relevance today,” he said. “Even today, there are many settings in which the Christian faith is considered absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent. Settings where other securities are preferred, like technology, money, success, power, or pleasure.”

Such places, he said, “where believers are mocked, opposed, despised or at best tolerated and pitied”, are also “the places where our missionary outreach is desperately needed”.

“A lack of faith is often tragically accompanied by the loss of meaning in life, the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the crisis of the family and so many other wounds that afflict our society.”

Many Christians also consider Jesus “a kind of charismatic leader or superman”, he said, and face the same loss. “This is the world that has been entrusted to us, a world in which, as Pope Francis taught us so many times, we are called to bear witness to our joyful faith in Jesus the Saviour.”

For the Church to do this demands “an indispensable commitment for all those in the Church who exercise a ministry of authority”, Leo said.

“It is to move aside so that Christ may remain, to make oneself small so that he may be known and glorified, to spend oneself to the utmost so that all may have the opportunity to know and love him.”

The Vatican later published the text from Mgr Diego Giovanni Ravelli, the master of ceremonies of the papal household, confirming the accession of Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost OSA under the name Leo XIV.

In a separate statement, the Vatican said the Pope had asked all heads of departments and institutions, as well as their members and secretaries, to continue in post until other provisions are made. It said the Pope wanted “to reserve a certain time for reflection, prayer and dialogue, before making any final appointment or confirmation”.

First Urbi et Orbi Blessing of Pope Leo XIV

Cardinal Robert Prevost OSA from United States is Pope Leo XIV

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