1) Carney meets Pope Leo XIV following inaugural mass at the Vatican

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Nick Murray, May 18, 2025

Prime Minister Mark Carney had a brief audience with Pope Leo XIV Sunday afternoon at the Vatican following the pontiff’s inaugural mass in St. Peter’s Square.

Carney was seated in the second row with his wife Diana for the mass, in a section amongst other world leaders and heads of state.

The prime minister, who is a devout Catholic, was one of the few world leaders to kneel during the blessing of the Eucharist, and was spotted at two instances taking a picture of the Pope on his phone to mark the occasion — before the mass started and after it had concluded. 

After the mass, he briefly met the Pope inside St. Peter’s Basilica, alongside his wife and their daughter Cleo.

Carney also met other world leaders at the same time, adding to his growing list of official introductions over the weekend. He held spoke with the prime ministers of Australia, Croatia and Ireland, as well as the presidents of Israel and Nigeria.

Carney had a bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz earlier Sunday before driving to the Vatican. He had similar meetings with leaders of Italy, Ukraine and the European Union Saturday.

Thirteen Canadian MPs also attended the mass, including Jaime Battiste, who was part of a reception with Canadian Catholic Cardinals on Saturday evening in Rome alongside the prime minister.

The Nova Scotia MP said he was looking forward to hearing how the Pope “sets the tone” for how he will lead.

“It’s kind of like our version of the speech from the throne as members of Parliament,” Battiste told reporters outside Canada’s Official Residence.

Pope Leo — the first American to hold the title — called for unity in his homily.

“In this time, we still see too much discord, too many wars caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference, and an economy that exploits the Earth’s resources,” he said.

Indigenous leaders have long called on the Vatican to repatriate thousands of Indigenous artifacts taken from communities in Canada. The late Pope Francis had expressed a willingness to return colonial-era artifacts in the Vatican Museum.

Battiste said the return of the artifacts came up in his meeting with the Cardinals, and their return is an important step toward reconciliation.

“I’ve always said that reconciliation is a journey, not a destination, and we all have steps to take on that journey,” Battiste said.

“I was proud to see our prime minister was talking about reconciliation between Indigenous communities and the Catholic church.”

Quebec MP Jean-Yves Duclos is also part of the Canadian delegation to the Vatican.

He said the church plays an important role in fostering peace between countries. Last week Leo offered to host peace talks at the Vatican between Russia and Ukraine.

“We need more peace in this world, and I think we will be hearing more of that on the part of the Pope,” Duclos told reporters.

“I think (hosting peace talks) is a very important thing that the church can do. The church is not an armed country, it’s a small state … with a lot of influence. To try to bring people together, as opposed to divide our humanity, is the right thing to do.”

2) Pope Leo XIV vows to work for unity so Catholic Church becomes a sign of peace in the world

Courtesy Barrie360.com and The Associated Press

By Nicole Winfield, May 18, 2025

Pope Leo XIV, history’s first American pope, vowed Sunday to work for unity so that the Catholic Church becomes a sign of peace in the world, offering a message of communion during an inaugural Mass in St. Peter’s Square before tens of thousands of people, presidents, patriarchs and princes.

Leo officially opened his pontificate by taking his first popemobile tour through the piazza, a rite of passage that has become synonymous with the papacy’s global reach and mediatic draw. The 69-year-old Augustinian missionary smiled and waved from the back of the truck, but didn’t appear to stop to kiss babies and the crowd.

During the Mass, Leo appeared to choke up when the two potent symbols of the papacy were placed on him — the pallium woolen stole over his shoulders and the fisherman’s ring on his finger — as if the weight of responsibility of leading the 1.4-billion strong church had just sunk in.

He turned his hand to look at the ring and seal and then clasped his hands in front of him in prayer.

Security was tight as civil protection crews in neon uniforms funneled pilgrims into quadrants in the piazza and up and down the boulevard that leads to it for the ceremony blending ancient ritual, evocative symbols and a dose of modern-day celebrity.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance, one of the last foreign officials to see Pope Francis before he died, led the U.S. delegation honoring the Chicago-born Leo after paying his respects at the Argentine pope’s tomb upon arriving in Rome late Saturday.

The theme of Leo’s papacy

In his homily, Leo said he wanted to be a servant to the faithful through the two dimensions of the papacy, love and unity, so that the church could be a force for peace in the world.

“I would like that our first great desire be for a united church, a sign of unity and communion, which becomes a leaven for a reconciled world,” he said. “In this our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference, and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth’s resources and marginalises the poorest.”

His call for unity was significant, given the polarization in the Catholic Church in the United States and beyond.

Francis’ radical 12-year pontificate, which emphasized care for the poor and marginalized and disdain for the capitalist economic system, often alienated conservatives and traditionalists. Leo’s May 8 election, after a remarkably quick 24-hour conclave, has appeared at the outset to have pleased conservative Catholics who seem to appreciate his more disciplined, traditional style and Augustinian background, emphasizing core truths of Catholic doctrine.

“Let us build a church founded on God’s love, a sign of unity, a missionary church that opens its arms to the world, proclaims the word, allows itself to be made restless by history, and becomes a leaven of harmony for humanity,” he said, referencing some of the themes of Francis’ pontificate as well.

Tight security and protocol

Strict diplomatic protocol dictated the seating arrangements at his inaugural Mass, with both the United States and Peru getting front-row seats thanks to Leo’s dual citizenship. Vance, a Catholic convert who tangled with Francis over the Trump administration’s mass migrant deportation plans, is being joined by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who arrived in Rome ahead of time to try to advance Russia-Ukraine peace talks.

Peruvian President Dina Boluarte is one of around a dozen heads of state attending, as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Russia is being represented by the culture minister, Olga Liubimova.

Diplomatic protocol also dictated the dress code: While most wore black, the handful of Catholic queens and princesses — Charlene of Monaco and Letizia of Spain among others — wore white in a special privilege allowed them. Three dozen of the world’s other Christian churches sent their own delegations, the Jewish community had a 13-member delegation, half of them rabbis. Other representatives headed Buddhist, Muslim, Zoroastrian, Hindu, Sikh and Jain delegations.

Security was tight, as it was for Francis’ funeral on April 26, which drew an estimated 250,000 people. Rome authorities are planning for another 250,000 on Sunday. The piazza and main boulevard leading to it, and two nearby piazzas were set up with giant television screens, and dozens of portable toilets have been erected in a nearby park.

Americans are rejoicing

U.S. seminarian Ethan Menning, 21, from Omaha, Nebraska, wrapped himself in an American flag, purchased at a truck stop in Iowa, to celebrate.

“Rome always felt like home for a Catholic, but now coming here and seeing one of our own on the throne of Peter … it almost makes Jesus himself more accessible,” he said.

Kalen Hill, a pilgrim from the U.S., got to St. Peter’s soon after the gates opened at dawn Sunday morning and said he never expected an American would lead the 1.4-billion strong church.

“I would say all the Americans are emotional about it,” he said. “It is really powerful for American Catholics who sometimes feel separated from the world church to be brought in and included in this community through Pope Leo.”

Signs of Leo’s priorities

The two symbols of the papacy handed to Leo were the pallium, and the fisherman’s ring. The pallium, draped across his shoulders, symbolizes the pastor carrying his flock as the pope carries the faithful. The ring, which becomes Leo’s official seal, harks back to Jesus’ call to the apostle Peter to cast his fishing nets.

The other symbolically important moment of the Mass was the representational rite of obedience to Leo: Whereas in the past all cardinals would vow obedience to the new pope, more recent papal installations involve representatives of cardinals, bishops, priests, deacons, nuns, married couples and young people participating in the rite.

Gregory and Susan Hudak, who lived for 40 years in the Chicago area, found themselves in Rome after booking a trip in February, with just a faint hope of perhaps glimpsing the pope. Seeing the popemobile pass by in front of them, with the Chicago-born Leo on board, was even better than watching Michael Jordan play, said Gary Hudak, a former altar boy wearing a Chicago Bears hat.

“Originally, the only hope I had coming here was to see the inside of the Sistine Chapel,” he said. “Seeing the pope was not scheduled, it was a long shot hope. And this was a treasure, simple as that.”