Leo XIV urged the Catholic Church to “desperately” counter a lack of faith in his first homily as pope on Friday, May 9th, a day after he became the first U.S. pontiff.
In today’s world, Leo warned in his homily to assembled cardinals, there are places or situations where “it is not easy to preach the Gospel and bear witness to its truth, where believers are mocked, opposed, despised or at best tolerated and pitied.”
“Yet, precisely for this reason, they are the places where our missionary outreach is desperately needed,” said the new pope, 69, standing at the Sistine Chapel altar.
The former missionary deplored “settings in which the Christian faith is considered absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent” and, in an echo of his predecessor Francis, said people were turning to “technology, money, success, power, or pleasure.”
“A lack of faith is often tragically accompanied by the loss of meaning in life, the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the crisis of the family, and so many other wounds that afflict our society,” said Leo in Italian.
Pope Leo XIV said he was elected new head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics so the Church can be a “beacon that illuminates the dark nights of this world.”
