Full text: Pope Leo XIV’s first ‘urbi et orbi’ blessing

This Thursday, the Holy Father Leo XIV, preceded by the Cross, joined the exterior Lodge of the Blessing of the Vatican Basilica to greet the people and impart the Apostolic Blessing “Urbi et Orbi”. Cardinal Robert Prevost, an Augustinian priest from the United States, is the successor of Pope Francis. Before the Blessing, the new Pope addressed to the faithful the following words to the faithful there and throughout the world who followed the C…

Full text: Pope Leo XIV’s first ‘urbi et orbi’ blessing

The “urbi et orbi” blessing given by Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, after his election May 8, 2025.

STEP BY STEP: The hour before Pope Leo XIV appeared in St. Peter’s Square

Pope Leo XIV greets the world for the first time to grant his Urbi et Orbi blessing. Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected as the 267th Successor of Peter by the 133 Cardinal electors on Thursday, May 8. PHOTO VATICAN NEWS Vatican, Italy | THE INDEPENDENT | At exactly 7:10 p.m., white smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney, signalling to the world that a new Pope had been elected. A wave of applause erupted among the thousands gather…

Vatican City, 8 May (askanews) - Before farewell with the crowd of St. Peter's Square, at the end of his first address as Pope, Leo XIV gave his first Apostolic Blessing "Urbi et Orbi" which, in addition to the election, the Pontiff imparts only on Christmas and Easter days. The blessing was accompanied also by the plenary indulgence for all the faithful who followed his proclamation.

The Catholic world witnessed a historic moment with the first speech of the new Pope, Leo XIV, after his election during the Conclave 2025, which lasted only two days. The expected white smoke finally rose from the Sistine Chapel and announced to the world that there is a new Pope, who in his first public appearance, Pope Leo XIV, formerly known as Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, went out to the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to offer …

Newly elected pope by his conclave companions, the first blessing urbi et orbi of Robert Francis Prevost, Leo XIV, successor of Francis as bishop of Rome, has had much in common with that pronounced by his predecessor in 2013. The coincidence in the messages of fraternity, of pastoral humility, of unity of "a Church that walks" define the same essential basis and a doctrinal continuity. "We begin this path: Bishop and people," Francis said then.…