The Vatican said some 200,000 people attended the Mass at St. Peter’s Square, which marked the start of the pontificate of the first American to lead the Roman Catholic Church. Vice President JD Vance was among the dignitaries.

Jewish leaders got front seats at Pope Leo XIV’s inauguration Mass. An American rabbi there, and other Jewish representatives, saw that and other gestures from Leo as hopeful signs for upswing of Catholic-Jewish relations under the first U.

Pope Leo XIV has taken the reins as leader of the Catholic Church, and on Friday, May 9, started his first full day as Pontiff with a mass at the Sistine Chapel, during which he called his election both a cross and a blessing.