Pope Leo XIV returned to the Sistine Chapel on Friday to preside over his first Mass as pontiff a day after being elected the leader of the Catholic Church there on the second day of the conclave.
The 69-year-old celebrated Mass with the Church's cardinals, both the 133 cardinal electors who chose him as Pope Francis's successor and those aged over 80 who were not eligible to take part in the conclave.
For the Mass Leo chose the Gospel of Matthew, in which Jesus says. "I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it".
In his homily, Leo XIV lamented the fact that having faith in God is seen as "absurd" in many situations.
"Even today there are many situations in which the Christian faith is considered an absurd thing, for weak, unintelligent people," the American-Peruvian pope said. "Situations in which other securities, such as technology, money, success, power, pleasure, are preferred.
"These are environments in which it is not easy to witness and proclaim the Gospel and where believers are mocked, opposed, despised, or, at best, put up with and pitied.
"And yet, precisely for this reason, these are places where mission is urgently needed, because the lack of faith often brings with it tragedies such as the loss of the meaning of life, the oblivion of mercy, the violation of the dignity of the person in its most dramatic forms, the crisis of the family and many other wounds from which our society suffers and not a little".
The cardinals applauded at the mass..
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