Pope Leo XIV gave his first address from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, shortly after being elected on Thursday as the new head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
Pope Leo XIV made his first public appearance as Supreme Pontiff Thursday evening, delivering a bilingual address from the iconic balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica just hours after his election. The 267th successor to St. Peter addressed the global Catholic community in Italian, with a special message in Spanish acknowledging Latin America’s growing role in the Church.
Below is the official Vatican translation of the historic address, which outlined the new Pope’s vision for his papacy while paying tribute to his predecessor. The multilingual approach signals Leo XIV’s commitment to a more inclusive Church, as crowds of pilgrims cheered below in St. Peter’s Square.
“May peace be with you all.
Beloved brothers and sisters. This is the first greeting of the risen Christ, the Good Shepherd, who gave his life for God.
I, too, would like this greeting of peace to enter your hearts, to reach your families, to all people, wherever they may be, to all peoples, to all the earth.
May peace be with you.
May peace be with you all, brothers and sisters.
May peace be with you all, reach out to all your families, to all peoples, to all. This is the peace of the risen Christ, a disarmed and disarming peace, humble and persevering.
It comes from God, God who loves us all, unconditionally.
We still have in our ears that faint but always courageous voice of Pope Francis blessing Rome.
We have that voice fresh in our ears, in our hearts, hearing the voice of the pope blessing Rome, the people, giving his blessing to the world, to the whole world, that Easter morning.
Allow me follow up that same blessing.
God loves us, God loves you all, and evil will not prevail. We are all in God’s hands.
Therefore, without fear, united, hand in hand with God and with each other, let us go forward.
