LEO XIV, THE FIRST 'BLACK' POPE

 

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Protestants please just DON'T try the 'Predator Pope' line

On the face of it, Pope Leo XIV feels like a bright sunny morning to the world's 1.5 billion Catholics emerging from the 12-year nightmare of Bergoglian tyranny. But we're wiser now, and war-weary, so we have to look the facts in the face: he champions immigration, is on board the runaway train of 'Synodality' and abhors the death penalty - none of which is the Catholic doctrine of two millennia. He's canonised Bergoglio - he said he's in heaven. Sounds like a classic deceit of the devil. 

But multiple sources say he's celebrated the Latin Mass privately for years, even inside the Vatican, and so far he hasn't put a foot wrong with the rad trads. On the other hand he's no traditionalist (which will endear him to the Novus Ordo crowd). There are doubts about the legitimacy of his election by a majority of cardinals appointed by the arch-heretic Antipope Bergoglio: Pope Pius V and Pope Paul IV decreed that all cardinal appointments by an heretical pope are null and void.  

We can only watch and pray. If he's a true pope he'll receive the "grace of state", and the Petrine promise which Christ bestowed on all the faithful. Since his election, enquiries into the Catholic faith have gone up 30% and with grandparents who officially identified as black, in these times of woke Pope Leo XIV's popular appeal can only increase. 

Reassurance for the anti-woke

From The Pillar:

 

Pope Leo XIV said that St. Peter was tasked with “loving more,” and “giving his life for his flock,” as he celebrated his inauguration Mass Sunday in St. Peter’s Square.

 

The Petrine ministry is “always and only a question of loving as Jesus did,” the pontiff said.

 

The first U.S.-born pope reflected at the May 18 Mass on the presence of Jesus among his apostles after the Resurrection — and briefly on the conclave which elected him.

 

He said that at the papal conclave, “the Holy Spirit was able to bring us into harmony,” the pope said. “I was chosen without any merit of my own. And now, with fear and trembling, I come to you as a brother, who desires to be a servant of your faith and your joy.”

Not to be picky, the Church is more in need of a father, a spiritual father, than a brother. We're all brothers and sisters, but there can be only one father - and please, Proddies, don't tell us that Father is in heaven. He is. But God wills that the Church must, in addition, have a father on earth who is in persona Christi (in the person of Christ).

 

He went on to stress that “love and unity” were the two dimensions of St. Peter’s ministry, as Jesus “called Peter and the other first disciples to be like him: Fishers of men.”

Ah. Thank God. Fishers of "men" - not 'people', as woke Vatican II translations have it. 

“It is up to them to carry on this mission — to cast out their nets again and again. To bring the hope of the Gospel into the world."

 

“How can Peter carry out this task?” the pope asked. “The Gospel tells us that it’s only possible because his own life was touched by the infinite and unconditional love of God, even in the hour of his failure and denial.”

 

Robert Francis Prevost

 

The Mass for the Beginning of the Petrine Ministry of the Bishop of Rome, as it is formally known, started at 10 a.m. local time with Leo XIV descending to the tomb of St. Peter the Apostle, the first pope, beneath the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica, accompanied by the Patriarchs of the Eastern Catholic Churches as a choir sang the Latin hymn “Tu es Petrus” (“You are Peter.)

 

After pausing for prayer, the pope took a thurible and censed the trophaeum, a memorial marking the burial place of the apostle martyred in Rome around 64 AD. As he did so, two deacons took the pope’s pallium, fisherman’s ring, and Book of the Gospels and carried them together in procession.

 

The pallium — a strip of pure wool, embroidered with six black crosses and held in place by three pins — is worn by Bishops of Rome as a symbol of their pastoral responsibility for Catholics worldwide.

 

The fisherman’s ring, a gold signet (seal) ring depicting St. Peter on the outside with Leo XIV’s name and coat of arms inside, is the second symbol used to express the inauguration of a pope’s ministry.

 

After ascending to St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Leo joined the procession leading into a sunlit St. Peter’s Square, which included cardinals wearing white damask miters, as well as scores of bishops with simple white miters. Rows of priests sat in a reserved area of the square wearing white stoles, along with a large number of deacons.

 

A tapestry portraying the miraculous catch of fish hung from the central gate of St. Peter’s Basilica. Near the altar stood the image of Our Lady of Good Counsel from the Italian Marian shrine of Genazzano, which Pope Leo visited May 10, on his first trip outside of Rome.

 

The inauguration Mass was attended by more than 150 official delegations, including dozens of world leaders, amid tight security. The U.S. was represented by Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

 

Given Pope Leo’s dual US and Peruvian citizenship, the US.delegation was seated in the front row along with the Peruvian delegation, led by President Dina Boluarte. Other delegations were seated in alphabetic order according to their country's name in French, the traditional language of diplomacy.

 

Britain’s King Charles III was represented by his youngest brother, Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh. Representing Spain were King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, who was dressed in white, a privilege granted to a handful of female royals.

 

 

Queen Letizia of Spain. A papally approved privilege allows certain Catholic queens and princesses to wear white, not black, in the presence of the Pope.

Heads of state present included Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, Poland’s President Andrzej Duda, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, Argentina’s President Javier Milei, and Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu. Russia was represented by its culture minister Olga Lyubimova. Other government representatives included Canada’s recently elected Prime Minister Mark Carney, Germany’s new Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Australia’s re-elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

 Not New Zealand's PM Christopher Luxon. Perhaps as one seemingly more invested in pagan religions,he wasn't invited. 

With John Paul II, on whose birthday Leo XIV was elected pope

 

Christian leaders attending included Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, the spiritual leader of the world’s Eastern Orthodox Christians. Representatives of the Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain faiths were also present.

 

The long entrance procession into St. Peter’s Square was accompanied by the singing of the “Laudes Regiae,” an ancient Latin hymn celebrating Christ’s triumph and invoking an extensive litany of saints.

 

When Pope Leo reached the altar on the parvis in front of St. Peter’s Basilica, he made the Sign of the Cross before blessing and sprinkling water, as is customary on Sundays in the Easter season.

 

After the Gloria and Collect, the first reading was in Spanish, reflecting Pope Leo’s missionary work and episcopal ministry in Peru’s Chiclayo diocese. The reading, from Acts 4:8-12, described St. Peter’s proclamation of faith in Jesus before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish supreme council and tribunal under Roman rule.

 

The responsorial psalm was sung in Italian, followed by a second reading, 1 Peter 5:1-5, 10-11, in Leo XIV’s mother tongue of English, proclaimed by an Indiana former parishioner of the new pope. The reading outlined the qualities needed in the shepherds of God’s flock.

Pope Leo XIV said that St. Peter was tasked with “loving more,” and “giving his life for his flock,” as he celebrated his inauguration Mass Sunday in St. Peter’s Square.

 

The Gospel reading, in Latin, was John 21:15-19, in which the Risen Christ asks Peter to “tend my sheep.” It was chanted in both Latin and Greek, with the Latin chanted by Deacon Nicholas Monnin from the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana.The readings were followed by the imposition of the pallium on the pope’s shoulders by the senior cardinal-deacon, Frenchman Cardinal Dominique Mamberti. Congolese Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, from the order of cardinal-priests, recited a prayer asking for God’s blessing on the new pope.

 

Pope Leo's gold ring

 

This was followed by the bestowal of the fisherman’s ring by Filipino cardinal-bishop Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization’s Section for the First Evangelization and New Particular Churches.The pope silently blessed the assembly with the Book of the Gospels while the words “Many years to you, Lord” (“Ad multos annos, Domine”) were proclaimed in Greek.

 

The pope looked visibly moved nearly to tears as the choir sang, and spontaneous applause broke out in St. Peter’s Square.

Bergoglio's silver ring (so 'umble)

 

Leo XIV then received 12 representatives of the Church from around the world, including clerics, religious, a married couple, and young people — a symbolic gesture of filial obedience.

After the choir sang “Tu es Petrus,” Pope Leo began his homily. “The ministry of Peter is distinguished precisely” by “self-sacrificing love, because the Church of Rome presides in charity and its true authority is the charity of Christ,” the pope said.

 

Indicating his own intended leadership style, the pontiff said that, “St. Peter must shepherd the flock without ever yielding to the temptation of being an autocrat, lording it over those entrusted to him.” “On the contrary, he is called to serve the faith of his brothers and sisters, and to walk alongside them, for all of us are ‘living stones,’ called through our baptism to build God’s house in fraternal communion, in the harmony of the Spirit, in the coexistence of diversity.” The pope called the Church to be a sign of “unity and communion,” as a leaven in a world in need of the Gospel. “We want to say to the world with humility and joy: Look to Christ! Come closer to Jesus,” the pope said. Welcome his word that enlightens and consoles! Listen to his offer of love and become his one family: in the one Christ, we are one.”

 

“This is the missionary spirit that must animate us,” the pope continued. “The heart of the Gospel is the love of God that makes us brothers and sisters.”

 

“This is the hour for love!”

Citing Pope Leo XIII, the pope asked: “If this love were to prevail in the world, would not every conflict cease and never return?”

 

Standing in the square where his predecessor’s funeral Mass took place April 26, Pope Leo recalled Pope Francis’s ministry.

 

He recalled that “on Easter Sunday, we received[Francis’] final blessing and, in the light of the resurrection, we experienced the days that followed in the certainty that the Lord never abandons his people, but gathers them when they are scattered and guards them ‘as a shepherd guards his flock.’”

“Together, as one people, as brothers and sisters, let us walk towards God and love one another,” the pontiff concluded his homily, as he spoke against the backdrop of St. Peter’s Basilica.

 

The 69-year-old pope ended his homily with a prolonged moment of silence, after which the assembly recited the Creed in Latin, which was followed by the Prayers of the Faithful in Portuguese, French, Arabic, Polish, and Chinese, reflecting the Church’s universality.

 

Pope Leo XIV then prayed the First Eucharistic Prayer (Roman Canon), the longest of the four Eucharistic Prayers.

 

A good sign for traditional Catholics: the Roman Canon is the only Eucharistic Prayer ever used in the Tridentine Mass (Traditional Latin Mass).  

Pope Leo then called for the intercession of Our Lady of Good Counsel, especially that “we might be witnesses of Jesus Christ, risen from the dead.” The pope’s remarks were followed by the singing of the Regina Caeli, the Marian prayer recited during the Easter Season. Leo then offered a solemn blessing, praying that God would bless his Church. After the blessing, he went into the basilica to greet the members of the College of Cardinals, and the heads of the 150 official delegations. (The Pillar).

 

St. John the Baptist in Prison (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)

 

"Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen"

 

(Luke 7:22)