Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy plans to attend the inaugural Mass of newly elected Pope Leo at the Vatican on Sunday, war commitments permitting, a top presidential aide told Reuters on Tuesday.

Leo XIV held his first Mass as pope in the Sistine Chapel on Friday, in what was a private service for the 132 voting cardinals who elected him as the 267th leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics a day earlier.

Although the Pope—formerly known as Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost—has presided over his first service for the cardinals, the formal papal inauguration Mass is still more tha

The pontiff, who was elected in a conclave that ended last Thursday, will be officially installed as the new leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Roman Catholics at a mass in St. Peter's Square on Sunday.

Pope Leo XIV has told the world's Jewish communities he wants to strengthen the Roman Catholic Church’s dialogue with them, in a message coming after a souring of relations between the Vatican and Israel over the war in Gaza.

Pope Leo also celebrated Mother’s Day as jubilee bands and thousands of pilgrims created a festive atmosphere in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday.

They went into last week's conclave vastly outnumbered and smarting after being sidelined by Pope Francis for 12 years.And yet conservatives and traditionalist Catholics are cautiously optimistic over the historic election of Pope Leo XIV,