Pope Leo XIV Inaugural Homily Full Text: A Message of Love and Unity for the Catholic Church
The Pope Leo XIV inaugural homily full text marks a historic moment for Catholics around the world, especially in the United States. Delivered at the Papal Chapel in St. Peter’s Square on May 18, 2025, this homily sets the tone for a pontificate rooted in love, unity, and mission.
In his homily, Pope Leo XIV reflects on the recent passing of Pope Francis and the deep sorrow felt by the Church. Yet, through faith and the light of the Resurrection, he emphasizes that the Lord never abandons His flock. The Pope calls on Catholics to remember that Christ’s love is infinite and unconditional — the foundation for the Church’s mission.
Addressing the faithful, Pope Leo XIV underscores the dual mission entrusted to Saint Peter: to love and unite the Church as one family. He recalls the biblical scene at the Sea of Tiberias where Jesus called Peter to be a “fisher of men,” a mission that now continues under his leadership. The Pope’s message centers on servant leadership, love without calculation, and building a Church united not by power but by charity.
This inaugural homily also acknowledges the challenges facing our world today — divisions, hatred, inequality, and environmental exploitation. Pope Leo XIV urges all Catholics to become a "leaven of unity," promoting peace and reconciliation through the love of Christ.
For the Catholic community in the United States, this homily offers both comfort and a call to action. It invites believers to embrace a Church that values diversity and unity, that reaches out to others in humility and joy, and that strives to build a new world founded on love and peace.
Here is the full text of Pope Leo XIV’s inaugural homily at the Mass marking the beginning of his pontificate.
EUCHARISTIC CELEBRATION
FOR THE BEGINNING OF THE PETRINE MINISTRY OF THE BISHOP OF ROME, LEO XIV
PAPAL CHAPEL
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS LEO XIV
St. Peter’s Square
Sunday, May 18, 2025
Dear Brother Cardinals,
Brothers in the Episcopate and Priesthood,
Distinguished Authorities and Members of the Diplomatic Corps!
Greetings to the pilgrims gathered for the Jubilee of the Confraternities!
Brothers and sisters, I greet you all with a heart full of gratitude at the beginning of the ministry entrusted to me. Saint Augustine wrote: "You have made us for yourself, [Lord,] and our heart is restless until it rests in you" (Confessions, 1, 1.1).
In these past days, we have lived through a particularly intense time. The death of Pope Francis filled our hearts with sorrow and, in those difficult hours, we felt like the crowds described in the Gospel as being “like sheep without a shepherd” (Mt 9:36). On Easter day itself, we received his final blessing and, in the light of the Resurrection, we faced this moment with the certainty that the Lord never abandons his people, that he gathers them when scattered and “keeps them like a shepherd his flock” (Jer 31:10).
In this spirit of faith, the College of Cardinals gathered for the Conclave; coming from different stories and paths, we placed in God’s hands the desire to elect the new successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome, a shepherd capable of guarding the rich heritage of the Christian faith and, at the same time, of looking far ahead to meet today’s questions, anxieties, and challenges. Accompanied by your prayers, we perceived the work of the Holy Spirit, who harmonized the different musical instruments, making the strings of our hearts vibrate in a single melody.
I was chosen without any merit and, with fear and trembling, I come to you as a brother who wishes to be a servant of your faith and your joy, walking with you on the path of God’s love, who wants us all united in one family.
Love and unity: these are the two dimensions of the mission entrusted to Peter by Jesus.
This is narrated to us by the Gospel passage that brings us to the Sea of Tiberias, the very place where Jesus began the mission entrusted to him by the Father: to “fish” for humanity to save it from the waters of evil and death. Passing by the shore of that lake, He called Peter and the other first disciples to be, like Him, “fishers of men”; and now, after the Resurrection, it is up to them to carry forward this mission, to cast the net again and again to immerse in the waters of the world the hope of the Gospel, to sail on the sea of life so that all may find themselves in the embrace of God.
How can Peter carry out this task? The Gospel tells us that it is possible only because he has experienced in his own life the infinite and unconditional love of God, even in moments of failure and denial. That is why, when Jesus addresses Peter, the Gospel uses the Greek verb agapao, referring to the love God has for us—His offering Himself without reservation or calculation—different from the verb used for Peter’s response, which describes the love of friendship we exchange among ourselves.
When Jesus asks Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” (Jn 21:16), He refers to the love of the Father. It is as if Jesus says to him: only if you have known and experienced this love of God, which never fails, will you be able to shepherd my lambs; only in the love of God the Father will you be able to love your brothers with a “more,” that is, by offering your life for your brothers.
To Peter, then, is entrusted the task to “love more” and to give his life for the flock. Peter’s ministry is marked precisely by this self-giving love, because the Church of Rome presides in charity and its true authority is the charity of Christ. It is never about capturing others by domination, religious propaganda, or power, but always and only about loving as Jesus did.
He—Peter the Apostle himself affirms—is “the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, and which has become the cornerstone” (Acts 4:11). And if the stone is Christ, Peter must shepherd the flock without ever yielding to the temptation to be a solitary leader or a chief above others, making himself master of the people entrusted to him (cf. 1 Pt 5:3); rather, he is called to serve the faith of his brothers, walking together with them: for all of us are indeed constituted “living stones” (1 Pt 2:5), called by our Baptism to build God’s building in fraternal communion, in the harmony of the Spirit, in the coexistence of diversity. As Saint Augustine states: “The Church consists of all those who are in harmony with their brothers and who love their neighbor” (Sermon 359, 9).
This, brothers and sisters, is what I would like to be our first great desire: a united Church, a sign of unity and communion, that becomes yeast for a reconciled world.
In our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, fear of the other, by an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth’s resources and marginalizes the poorest. And we want to be, within this dough, a small yeast of unity, communion, fraternity. We want to say to the world, with humility and joy: look to Christ! Come closer to Him! Receive His Word that enlightens and consoles! Hear His proposal of love to become His one family: in the one Christ we are one. And this is the path to walk together, among ourselves but also with sister Christian Churches, with those who follow other religious paths, with those who nurture the restlessness of seeking God, with all women and men of good will, to build a new world where peace reigns.
This is the missionary spirit that must animate us, without closing ourselves within our small group or feeling superior to the world; we are called to offer God’s love to all, so that that unity may be realized which does not abolish differences but values each person’s personal history and the social and religious culture of every people.
Brothers, sisters, this is the hour of love! The charity of God that makes us brothers among ourselves is the heart of the Gospel and, with my predecessor Leo XIII, today we can ask ourselves: if this criterion “prevailed in the world, would not every discord cease immediately and perhaps peace return?” (Encyclical Letter Rerum novarum, 21).
With the light and strength of the Holy Spirit, let us build a Church founded on the love of God and a sign of unity, a missionary Church that opens its arms to the world, that proclaims the Word, that allows itself to be unsettled by history, and that becomes yeast of concord for humanity.
Together, as one people, as all brothers, let us walk toward God and love one another among ourselves.
