Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass on Sunday near the tomb of St. Peter, hours before he was to deliver his first Sunday noon blessing from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica

Pope Leo XIV has celebrated his first Mass, a day after his historic election as the first U.S.-born pope in the church’s 2,000-year history. The election of cardinal Robert Prevost as the new pontiff overcame the traditional prohibition against a pope from the United States.