Pope Leo XIV: A timeline of his first year

The white smoke poured from the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel at 6:07 p.m. Rome time on May 8, 2025, and a few minutes later the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica began to ring.

“Habemus papam!” “We have a pope!”

Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, the Chicago-born missionary, took the name Pope XIV on this historic day.

May 8, 2025

U.S. Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, a Chicago-born Augustinian, is elected as Pope Leo XIV, becoming the first American pope in history. 

“Together we must try to be a missionary Church, a Church that builds bridges and always dialogues, that is always open to receiving everyone like this square with its arms open to everyone, everyone in need,” he told the crowd.

Pope Leo XIV waves to the crowd in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican after his election as pope. LOLA GOMEZ/CNS

June 22, 2025  

Pope Leo leads the Corpus Christi procession from Rome’s Basilica of St. John Lateran to the Basilica of St. Mary Major.

He leads the procession through streets of Rome, saying it presents Jesus “to the hearts of those who believe, so that they may believe more firmly” and “to the hearts of those who do not believe, so that they may reflect on the hunger present within them and the Bread that alone can satisfy it.”

Pope Leo XIV carries the Eucharist in a monstrance during a Corpus Christi procession in Rome. LOLA GOMEZ/CNS

June 29, 2025 

He blessed and imposed the pallium on 54 new metropolitan archbishops – including Archbishop Michael G. McGovern and seven others from the United States – in St. Peter’s Basilica. He said archbishops around the world can provide by their example the fraternity and unity in diversity the entire Catholic Church needs today.

Pope Leo XIV presents the pallium to Archbishop McGovern during Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican on June 29, 2025, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. LOLA GOMEZ/CNS

July 9, 2025

Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass for the Care of Creation on the grounds of the Borgo Laudato Si’ ecology center in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, where he spends time for rest and reflection.

Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass for the Care of Creation on the grounds of the Borgo Laudato Si’ ecology center in Castel Gandolfo, Italy. CRISTIAN GENNARI

August 2, 2025

He leads an evening prayer vigil at Tor Vergata in Rome for the Jubilee of Youth, attended by more than 1 million young people. He urged them to make courageous choices and seek authentic relationships rooted in Christ rather than fleeting online connections.

Pope Leo XIV waves to the crowd from the popemobile as he departs after celebrating Mass closing the Jubilee of Youth in Rome. A South Korean flag is visible among the pilgrims greeting him. LOLA GOMEZ/CNS

Sept. 7, 2025

He canonizes his first saints, Sts. Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati, in St. Peter’s Square, praising their devotion to the Eucharist, prayer and serving the poor. The pope urged the faithful, especially young people, to follow the saints’ examples and live the great adventure of following God’s plan.

Reliquaries containing the relics of St. Carlo Acutis and St. Pier Giorgio Frassati stand at the foot of a statue of Mary during the canonization Mass celebrated by Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. LOLA GOMEZ/CNS

Oct. 4, 2025

He signs his first apostolic exhortation, “Dilexi Te” (“I Have Loved You”), focusing on the Christian obligation to love the poor and decrying the injustice of the global market system.

Pope Leo XIV signs his first apostolic exhortation in the library of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican as Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra looks on. CNS/VATICAN MEDIA

Nov. 27 – Dec. 2, 2025

He makes his first international apostolic journey to Turkey and Lebanon, marking the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. The friendship and respect, especially between Christians and Muslims, he saw in these countries could be a helpful example for people in North America and Europe, too, he said.

Pope Leo XIV and Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople greet people from a balcony following a Divine Liturgy celebrated in the Patriarchal Cathedral of St. George in Istanbul on Nov. 30, 2025. LOLA GOMEZ/CNS

Jan. 6, 2026

Pope Leo closes the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, formally concluding the 2025 Jubilee Year dedicated to hope. During Mass, he criticized the way “a distorted economy” has tried to exploit and profit from everything, including the human desire for joy and true fulfillment – gifts that God offers freely to everyone.

Pope Leo XIV closes the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica, marking the official end of the Jubilee Year. CNS/VATICAN MEDIA

Feb. 18, 2026

Pope Leo begins the season of Lent by highlighting how people, especially younger generations, are looking for an “authentic, honest and attractive” way to take ownership and responsibility in the world, which begins with humble repentance. He made the traditional procession from Rome’s Church of St. Anselm to the Basilica of Santa Sabina.

Pope Leo XIV gives his blessing at the conclusion of Ash Wednesday Mass at the Basilica of Santa Sabina in Rome. LOLA GOMEZ/CNS

March 14, 2026 

He moves into the newly renovated apartments traditionally set aside for the pope in the Apostolic Palace with a small number of his confreres to continue the community-focused style of the Augustinian order.

In this photo, Pope Leo XIV visits the chapel in the papal apartments on May 11, 2025, before the renovations. CNS/VATICAN MEDIA

April 13-23, 2026

He travels to Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea to amplify the voices of the local people and to highlight their faith, dreams and the challenges remaining.

Pope Leo XIV releases a dove with community representatives at the conclusion of a peace meeting at St. Joseph Cathedral in Bamenda, Cameroon, on April 16. LOLA GOMEZ/CNS

May 8, 2026  

Pope Leo marks the first anniversary of his May 8, 2025, election – which fell on the day of the Supplication to Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii – by visiting Naples and Pompeii to visit the Pontifical Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary of Pompeii.

Pope Leo XIV’s interlanced fingers captured in Italy last year. With his first year complete, he continues shepherding his worldwide flock. LOLA GOMEZ/CNS

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