Acerca de
Inauguration of the Pontificate of Pope Leo XIV
Father Edmund
25th May 2025
Our Cardinal, Archbishop Vincent Nichols, paid a moving visit to the Tomb of the late Holy Father, Pope Francis, in the Basilica of St Mary Major in Rome, prior to the Mass for the Inauguration of the Pontificate of
Pope Leo XIV.
You may be able to just make out the name of the Holy Father: FRANCISCVS in Latin text on the marble top
of the Tomb, with flowers and tributes remaining from pilgrims and the faithful who have prayed at Pope
Francis’ final resting place and for the happy repose of his soul.
It has been an historic few weeks; the Holy Father died on Easter Monday, 21 April, and by 8 May we had a new pope. Even more, within a month of Pope Francis’ death we witnessed the Inaugural Mass of our new Holy Father, Pope Leo. The death of a pope and the election of a new Successor of St Peter can renew our
sense of belonging to the Universal Church and to the Church that Christ established, by His deliberate Will,
on St Peter and the Bishops of Rome until He returns.
Two beautiful photographs showing the Holy Father greeting and blessing the huge crowds in the Vatican for his Inaugural Mass and showing the Holy Father receiving the ‘Ring of the Fisherman’, the Ring he will wear as the 266th Successor of St Peter during his reign. These photographs reproduced by kind permission of Mazur for the CBCEW © Mazur/cbcew.org.uk
You may remember that in December I had plastered the two tympaneums either side of the former Baptistry at Our Lady Star of the Sea Church. The first, I painted an image of the crossed keys and tiara of the Papacy and beneath the legend Anno Santo MMXXV Holy Year 2025.
With the death of Pope Francis and the election on 8 May of Pope Leo XIV, I thought it would be fitting to record this historic year - especially during the Holy Year - as a complement to the Anno Sancto inscription. The text of this new memorial reads: In Memoriam Francisci MMXIII-MMXXV et in commemorationis electionis Leonis PP XIV, nvnc gloriosVs regnans. Anno Iubilæo MMXXV which, translated, reads: In Memory of Francis 2013-2025 and in commemoration of the election of Leo XIV, now gloriously reigning, the Year of Jubilee 2025.
In the centre, above the entrance to the former Baptistry, now utilised as a Chapel Memorial for those killed in War, I have painted a simply Maltese Cross to complete this triptych.