ROME, ITALY – People gather in the streets of Rome and St Peter’s Square ahead of and during the inaugural mass held for Pope Leo XI
Pope Leo XIV presides over the Eucharistic Celebration for the Beginning of the Petrine Ministry of the Bishop of Rome, in St. Peter’s Square. The Regina Caeli is included in the live broadcast, and it will be held in St. Peter’s Square after the Holy Mass for the Beginning of the Pontificate. According to the program, the solemn ceremony on May 18 will begin inside St. Peter’s Basilica, before the Altar of Confession. “Pope Leo XIV will go before the tomb of the Apostle Peter to pray there in silence, moments before the solemn Mass for the initiation of his Petrine ministry as bishop of Rome,” Silvestre explained.
Pope Leo XIV – expected to greet delegations and guests in St. Peter’s Basilica at the end of the Regina Caeli.The Mass for the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate will be celebrated on Sunday, May 18, at 10 a.m. Rome time in St. Peter’s Square. The liturgy will mark the official beginning of his ministry as successor of Peter and bishop of Rome. On May 25, he will take canonical possession of St. John Lateran Basilica, the cathedral of the bishop of Rome.
The Mass on May 18 will be celebrated as established in the “Order of Rites of the Beginning of the Petrine Ministry as Bishop of Rome,” a liturgical book approved by Benedict XVI in 2005 and reformed by him in 2013.