Pope Leo XVI celebrates first mass in Sistine Chapel; Election excites former employers, students

Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, on Friday  presided over the first large mass following his election.

The new pontiff was joined by cardinals in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, a day after he was chosen on Thursday as the successor to Pope Francis.

The U.S.-born cleric, who also has a Peruvian citizenship, entered the ornate chapel in the Apostolic Palace, accompanied by singing, dressed in a long white robe and wearing a traditional mitre.

He wore dark shoes, not the red shoes worn by many previous popes, which his predecessor Francis had also eschewed.

The cardinals likewise wore white robes with gold embellishments, the chapel is the same location where the cardinals elected Prevost as Pope during the conclave.

The Pope is the leader of 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide.

The faithful are eager to see how Leo will shape the Catholic Church.

The new pontiff has a packed schedule for the coming days, including an expected appearance at around midday on Sunday on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica for the traditional Regina Coeli prayer.

Around 100,000 people cheered him in St Peter’s Square on Thursday after white smoke emerged from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, signaling that a new pontiff had been chosen.

Meanwhile, the election of Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost of Chicago, has ignited pride and celebration at St. Rita of Cascia High School, where he once served as a teacher.

The 69-year-old Augustinian cardinal’s historic rise as the first American Pope was met with elation across his former school community.

Students and faculty remembered him not just as a religious leader but as a humble and compassionate mentor.

Leo was born in Chicago and graduated with a degree in mathematics from the University of Villanova in Pennsylvania in 1977.

He also studied religion at the Catholic Theological Union of Chicago.

In 1982, he received a doctorate in church law from the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas in Rome before being sent to serve in a Catholic mission in Peru.

In 2023, he became prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, a key Catholic administrative body, based in Rome

He succeeds Pope Francis who died on April 21. The late pontiff made Prevost a cardinal in September 2023.