Pope Leo XIV leads first holy mass in Sistine Chapel as Catholics around the world celebrate

The newly elected Pope Leo XIV lead the first holy mass from the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican City at around 9:00 GMT.

The Pope celebrated the private mass alongside cardinals, delivering his first homily as leader of the Catholic church. It will be broadcast live.

American-born Robert Prevost, 69, yesterday became the 267th pope, and the first North American to fill the role.

He was chosen after only four rounds of voting during a papal conclave that lasted 25 hours.

Prevost, who was born in Chicago in 1955 but spent many years as a missionary in Peru, was not a frontrunner, but secured the necessary two-thirds majority of votes.

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A US pope has previously been considered taboo due to the country's international influence, but Leo's years in Peru are believed to have given him a wider appeal, especially to cardinals from Central and South America.

He holds dual US and Peruvian citizenship.

White smoke emerged from the Sistine Chapel chimney just after 18:00 local time in the Vatican City on May 8, signalling that a new pope had been elected.

Pope Leo emerged on the balcony to greet crowds in St Peter's Square around an hour later.

His first words as Pope were "may peace be with all of you."

His balcony speech also paid tribute to his predecessor, the late Pope Francis.

Pope Leo said: "The pope that blessed Rome gave his blessing to the whole world on that Easter morning. So let us follow up that blessing."

He called for a "church that builds bridges" and is "able to receive everybody that needs our charity, our presence, dialogue and love".

President Donald Trump has said that having a US citizen as pope is a "great honour" and that the two men had already spoken on the phone.

However, Pope Leo's social media reveals that he has previously opposed some of the Trump's administration's views.

In February, an X account under the Pope's name shared a link to an article titled "JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others."

In April, after the president met with the leader of El Salvador to discuss using one of the country's notorious prisons to hold suspected US gang members, the new pope reposted a comment that included: "Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed?"

The Pope's brothers have spoken of their shock at seeing him emerge on the balcony, with his eldest brother, Louis Prevost, calling the moment "mindblowing."

"When the cardinal came out and started to read his name, as soon as he went "raw" I knew he was gonna say 'Roberto' - and he did - and I just freaked out."

Louis Prevost added: "We've kind of known he was special, and we used to tease him about being pope when he was six years old and stuff."

The Pope's other brother, John Prevost, said he had told the Pope to watch the Oscar-winning 2024 film Conclave for tips.

"I said did you watch the movie Conclave so you know how to behave."

"And he had just finished watching the movie so knew how to behave; so it's that kind of stuff because I wanted to take his mind off of it - because this is now an awesome responsibility."

John Prevost added that the brothers had played popular online games Wordle and Words with Friends to distract the Pope in the run-up to the conclave.