- Wants the Church to be A Transformational Force
By Kolawole Ojebisi
Pope Leo XIV has urged the Church to be a transformational force in a world at risk of being overwhelmed by division, hatred, prejudice and what he described as the “fear of difference” among other viles.
The Pointiff said this on Sunday while giving his homily at his inauguration
He admonished the mammoth audience present at the historic event to stop exploiting nature and marginalizing the poor and downtrodden.
Speaking in front of array of dignitaries, including U.S Vice President, JD Vance, Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky, and tens of thousands of pilgrims, the Pope maintained that the world is in desperate need of healing from wounds inflicted by bigotry and hatred.
“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,” he said.
The new pontiff, who spent many years as a missionary in Peru, also warned against clannishness describing it as “closing ourselves off in our small groups”.
“We are called to offer God’s love to everyone, to achieve that unity which does not cancel out differences but values the personal history of each person and the social and religious culture of every people,” he said.
Prior to the delivery of homily, the 69-year-old Pointiff had made his debut tour in a popemobile, standing up in the custom-made white vehicle and smiling, waving, and blessing the cheering crowds at the Vatican.
Meanwhile, Leo XIV acknowledged the enormity of the responsibility that fate has thrust on his shoulders on Sunday, saying he accepted his new role with “some trepidation”.
He said, “I was chosen, without any merit of my own, and now, with fear and trembling, I come to you as a brother who desires to be the servant of your faith and your joy,” he said.
Leo has made history as the first Pope from the United States, and his sudden elevation, despite becoming a cardinal just in 2023, has sparked huge enthusiasm in the United States.
It has also caused some consternation in some quarters that a country with an already outsize political and military role in the world now boasts one of its foremost spiritual leaders.
“There is going to be extra weight because he is American, I think there’s going to be a lot of extra eyes, and maybe criticisms,” Sophia Tripp, a 20-year-old student visiting from Leo’s hometown of Chicago told AFP.
But she said she hoped he would “bring people together”, adding: “We are all human, and we should just all be loving to one another.”
Recall that ten days after Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevost became the first US head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, he celebrated his inaugural mass in St Peter’s Square.
Other guests on Sunday included German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Peruvian President Dina Boluarte, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Nigeria’s Bola Tinubu, Colombia’s Gustavo Petro, and a host of European royals also attended.
