In his first homily, delivered on May 9, 2025 in the Sistine Chapel for the concluding mass of the conclave, in the presence of the 132 cardinals who elected him, Pope Leo XIV insisted on a personal encounter with Christ.

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16). With these words, Peter, questioned by the Master along with the other disciples about their faith in Him, sums up the heritage that the Church, through apostolic succession, has guarded, deepened and passed on for two thousand years. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the only Saviour and the revealer of the Father’s face. In Him, God, to make Himself close and accessible to mankind, revealed Himself to us in the trusting eyes of a child, in the awakened spirit of an adolescent, in the mature features of a man, until He appeared to His own people, after His resurrection, in His glorious body. He has thus shown us a model of holy humanity that we can all imitate, with the promise of an eternal destiny that surpasses all our limits and abilities.

Even today, there are contexts in which Jesus, though appreciated as a man, is reduced to a kind of charismatic leader or super-man, not only among non-believers, but also among many baptized people who end up living, at this level, in a de facto atheism.

Such is the world entrusted to us, in which, as Pope Francis has repeatedly taught us, we are called to bear witness to joyful faith in Jesus the Savior. It is essential to do this first and foremost in our personal relationship with Him, in the commitment to a daily journey of conversion. But also, as Church, by living together our belonging to the Lord and bringing the Good News to all.”