One day after the Habemus papam!, every little detail about Leo XIV is being scrutinized to try to see clues that indicate what the new Pontificate will be like after the groundbreaking ministry of Francis. Especially to guess how Prevost will resemble Bergoglio and if he will resemble more classic Roman bishops, such as the German Ratzinger.
One of the doubts was whether Leo XIV will occupy the papal apartments or opt for something simpler like the Santa Marta Guesthouse where Francis entered as a cardinal and left for his wake and funeral at St. Peter's Basilica.
The new Pontiff will follow tradition and make the Apostolic Palace his residence, as confirmed by RAI, the Italian public television. But he will have to wait for the works being carried out in these Vatican dependencies to finish and begin his new stage at the seat of the Holy Office, where he spent his first night as the successor of the apostle Peter.
When is the Pontifical Mass?
This Sunday, May 11 at 12:00, he will pray the Regina Coeli prayer from the central Loggia of St. Peter's Basilica. But the Inaugural Mass of his Pontificate will be on the next Sunday, May 18. Leaders from around the world will attend this ceremony where he will receive the Fisherman's Ring and begin his ministry. The celebration is governed by the 'Ordo rituum pro ministerii petrini initio Romae episcopi' ('Ritual for the beginning of the Petrine ministry of the bishop of Rome').
After this ceremony, the pope will visit the pontifical basilicas, as reported by Afp. On May 20, he will visit St. Paul Outside the Walls; and on the 25th, St. Mary Major, where Francis is buried, and St. John Lateran, the cathedral of the Eternal City, where he will symbolically take possession of the diocese of Rome.
The general audience has been announced for Wednesday, the 21st, as reported by Carlos Fresneda, special envoy of this newspaper to Rome.
This morning, the frescoes of Michelangelo witnessed the first mass of the American as Supreme Pontiff before the cardinals who elected him to occupy Francis' place in the same Sistine Chapel.
The next Monday will be the turn of the journalists who traveled to Rome for the funeral of the former Pope and the election of the new one. Prevost will receive them in an audience.
It is yet to be known where his first official trip will be and if he will travel to Turkey at the end of May for the commemoration of the Council of Nicaea, the first of Christianity, which marks its 1,700 years in 2025. The choice of the destination for the first trip offers an additional indication of the direction he intends to give to his Pontificate.
In 2013, Francis surprised by choosing the small Italian island of Lampedusa as his first destination, the gateway for African migrants to Europe, where he denounced "the globalization of indifference." The defense of migrants later became one of the pillars of his pontificate.