Papacy appears to be coming home to the Apostolic Palace, from whence it should have never have come. Era of performative humility unmatched by reality is coming to an end.

The first steps of Leo XIV

Farewell to Santa Marta: Leo XIV will reside in the Apostolic Palace, and the inaugural Mass of his Pontificate will be on May 18.

On Sunday, Leo XIV will offer his first Angelus prayer and give a blessing to the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square.

One day after the "Habemus papam!" (Habemus papam!), every little detail about Leo XIV is being analyzed with a magnifying glass to try to find clues that indicate what the new Pontificate will be like after Francis's disruptive ministry. Above all, we must guess how Provost will be similar to Bergoglio and whether he will be reminiscent of more traditional bishops of Rome, such as the German Ratzinger.

One of the questions 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 in 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 network. However, he will have to wait for the completion of the ongoing renovations to these Vatican buildings and begin his new phase at the headquarters of the Holy Office, where he spent his first night as successor to the Apostle Peter.

When is the Mass of the Pontificate?

This Sunday, May 11, at 12:00, he will pray the Regina Caeli prayer from the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, offer his first Angelus, and give a blessing to the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square. However, the Mass to inaugurate his Pontificate will be next Sunday, May 18. At this ceremony, he will receive the Fisherman's Ring and begin his ministry. Political and religious leaders from around the world will attend. The celebration is governed by the "Ordo rituum pro ministerii petrini initio Romae episcopi" (Ritual for the Initiation of the Petrine Ministry of the Bishop of Rome).

After this ceremony, the Pope will visit the pontifical basilicas, AFP reports. 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, according to Carlos Fresneda, this newspaper's special correspondent in Rome.

This morning, Michelangelo's frescoes witnessed the American's first Mass as Supreme Pontiff before the cardinals who elected him to take Francis's place in the same Sistine Chapel.

Next Monday, it 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 audience.

It remains to be seen where his first official trip will take place and whether he will travel to Turkey at the end of May for the commemoration of the Council of Nicaea, the first in Christianity, which will mark the 1,700th anniversary of this year, 2025. The choice of the destination for his first trip offers an additional indication of the direction he intends to give his Pontificate.

In 2013, Francis surprised everyone by choosing the small Italian island of Lampedusa, the gateway for African migrants to Europe, as his first destination, where he denounced "the globalization of indifference." The defense of migrants later became one of the pillars of his Pontificate.

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