First days may yield clues to leadership style

Not long after greeting crowds from the balcony overlooking St Peter’s Square on Thursday evening, Pope Leo XIV returned to the Sant’Uffizio Palace, where he had been living for the last two months.

He was met by a jubilant group of staff and former colleagues, all eager to shake his hand and congratulate him.

A young girl handed him a Bible to bless and sign. “Of course, though I have to try out my new signature,” Pope Leo said with a smile. “The old one is of no use anymore.”

He had only stopped being Robert Francis Prevost a few hours before, when he was elected pope. As he took on the name Leo XIV, a new life began for the 69-year-old Chicago-born cardinal.

But details on how Pope Leo will be looking to run the Catholic Church are still scarce, and so over the next few days and weeks every small clue – from his attire to his choice of accommodation – will be examined.

Scrutiny began as soon as he stepped on to the balcony, giving the crowd a glimpse of the vestments he chose for his first appearance.

The gold cross around his neck that caught the evening light was seen as a first sign he was departing from the simplicity of his predecessor’s simple silver pendant; the embroidered stole and red mozzetta cemented that impression.

Then, the fact that the homily he delivered to cardinals in the Sistine Chapel on Friday morning was scripted – rather than improvised – also sent a signal that “Leo will be more closely aligned to tradition than Francis was,” said Austen Ivereigh, a Catholic writer and commentator.

But several events over the next few days and weeks will give Pope Leo a further chance to sketch out the priorities of his pontificate.

On Monday he is due to hold an audience with the media and on 18 May he will celebrate a solemn inaugural mass in St Peter’s Square.

As part of that mass he will deliver a homily in the presence of numerous heads of state and dignitaries.

In his 2013 inaugural homily, Pope Francis asked “all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life” to be “protectors of creation, of God’s plan… of one another and of the environment”.

So that moment might also provide clues about the matters dearest to Pope Leo’s heart.

The new Pope’s choice of accommodation too will be significant.

Francis made the choice of choosing to live in the simple Casa Santa Marta guesthouse, which was seen as revolutionary, but Leo may well decide to follow in the footsteps of virtually all his predecessors and reside in the grand Apostolic Palace.

“He was elected less than a day ago; let’s give him time to decide,” Vatican sources quoted by Italian media said.

“These are all important choices,” Ivereigh added.

“Over the next few days we’ll be learning more and more about it – the first week of the pontificate is a constant revelation.”

Meanwhile, in the absence of details about his future as Leo XIV, fragments of the Pope’s old life as Robert Prevost are emerging from around the world.

This is the case especially in his native Chicago and his adopted homeland of Peru, of which he became a citizen in 2015.

In one photo, he is presented with a large handmade birthday card written in Spanish and surrounded by cakes and balloons.

A video recorded when he left Peru for Rome, in which he says he would miss the “joy” of Peru and staples of local cuisine like ceviche, has been met with triumph by South American social media users.

“The pope is Peruvian; God loves Peru,” Peruvian President Dina Boluarte said.

American tourists ambling in St Peter’s Square on the day after the election were more restrained, and a bit frazzled by the news that the new Pope is from the US.

“I’m still surprised they chose an American, to be honest,” said Chicagoan Kerry, who is in Rome on her honeymoon.

She admitted she didn’t yet know much about the new Pope but was pleased by rumours that he is a fan of the White Sox baseball team.

Asked how she thought Pope Leo felt today, she laughed: “He must be really overwhelmed; I bet he didn’t sleep a wink!”

Her husband Joseph agreed: “When you’re elected Pope you come here as a cardinal for the conclave but then things never go back to the way they were,” he said.

But he felt like the new Pope seemed to be “a man of confidence, prayer and humility”.

“I just pray that he shows the world what being a man of God can do.”

The newly-weds posed for a picture with the day’s newspapers, then wandered off into St Peter’s Square, resplendent in the spring sunshine.