Pope Leo breaks major nine decades-long rule during inaugural Mass

Dur­ing his inau­gur­al Mass on May 18, 2025, new­ly elect­ed Pope Leo XIV, for­mer­ly Car­di­nal Robert Pre­vost, made a strik­ing impres­sion by break­ing with a tra­di­tion that has last­ed near­ly 90 years: he chose not to use the bul­let­proof enclo­sure on the Pope­mo­bile. While this mea­sure was adopt­ed after the attempt­ed assas­si­na­tion of Pope John Paul II in 1981, it has nev­er been a for­mal requirement—rather, a deeply entrenched prac­tice for the pope’s secu­ri­ty. Pope Leo’s deci­sion to ride in an open vehi­cle was wide­ly seen as a pow­er­ful ges­ture of humil­i­ty, courage, and acces­si­bil­i­ty, echo­ing the pas­toral style of Pope Fran­cis but tak­ing it a step fur­ther.

The inau­gur­al Mass took place in St. Peter’s Square and was attend­ed by over 200,000 peo­ple from around the world, includ­ing high-pro­file dig­ni­taries such as U.S. Vice Pres­i­dent JD Vance, Ukrain­ian Pres­i­dent Volodymyr Zelen­skyy, and Prince Edward of the Unit­ed King­dom. Dur­ing the cer­e­mo­ny, Pope Leo received the tra­di­tion­al sym­bols of his office—the Fisherman’s Ring and the pallium—underscoring his com­mit­ment to con­ti­nu­ity with­in the Church even as he intro­duces his own approach to the papa­cy.

In his homi­ly, Pope Leo XIV focused on themes of uni­ty, peace, and com­pas­sion. He spoke mov­ing­ly about the need for the Church to be a bridge in times of glob­al divi­sion and suf­fer­ing. His words struck a chord with many Catholics and non-Catholics alike, who praised the new pon­tiff for his down-to-earth style and hope­ful mes­sage.

Sig­nif­i­cant­ly, Pope Leo is the first Amer­i­can pope and the first mem­ber of the Order of Saint Augus­tine to ascend to the papa­cy. He holds dual U.S.-Peruvian cit­i­zen­ship and is known for his decades of mis­sion­ary work and pas­toral lead­er­ship in Peru, where he built a rep­u­ta­tion for social jus­tice, lis­ten­ing to the mar­gin­al­ized, and fos­ter­ing inter­cul­tur­al dia­logue.

His deci­sion to for­go the bul­let­proof Pope­mo­bile enclo­sure sym­bol­izes his vision for a papa­cy that is not insu­lat­ed from the peo­ple but walks among them. As his pon­tif­i­cate begins, Pope Leo XIV is already being rec­og­nized for chart­ing a path root­ed in humil­i­ty, inclu­sive­ness, and a firm com­mit­ment to service—qualities many in the glob­al Catholic com­mu­ni­ty hope will define this new chap­ter for the Church.