From AI to the White Sox: Pope Leo XIV’s first 100 days break new ground

 

Rome Newsroom, Aug 16, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

Saturday, Aug. 16, marks Pope Leo XIV’s 100th day as pope. Since his May 8 election as the first pope born and raised in the United States, the 69-year-old Chicago native has already left his mark on a jubilee year filled with papal liturgies and a surge in pilgrim enthusiasm.

Here are some of the highlights of the first 100 days of the new Holy Father:

Papal jubilee: Pope Leo offers 16 public Masses in 14 weeks

Pope Leo XIV began his papacy in the heart of the Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, and he made the most of this opportunity to interact with Catholic pilgrims from across the globe by offering many Masses with the public.

Leo XIV offered 16 large public Masses in just 14 weeks — an average of more than one per week — including seven Masses in June alone. The pace marks a significant shift from the final years of Pope Francis’ pontificate when the aging pope was unable to offer Mass himself at the altar. Francis was present at only four Masses with the public in the same time period last year.

The papal Masses have drawn large crowds and significant attention, beginning with his first inaugural Mass, which brought 200 foreign delegations — including heads of state and royalty — to the Vatican. Since then, Leo has celebrated liturgies for the jubilees of Families, Priests, and Youth as well as on major solemnities and feasts including Pentecost, Corpus Christi, the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Holy Trinity, Sts. Peter and Paul, and Mary, Mother of the Church.

Leo XIV is the first pope elected during a jubilee year since 1700.

A singing pope

One of Pope Leo’s most unexpected moments came during his first Regina Caeli address, when he stunned a crowd of 200,000 in St. Peter’s Square by singing the Marian hymn rather than reciting it in Latin like his recent predecessors. Since then, he has continued chanting during liturgies and leading crowds in sung versions of the Our Father in Latin.

The move inspired the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music to launch “Let’s Sing with the Pope,” an online series aimed at making Gregorian chant more accessible.

First American pope on White Sox stadium jumbotron

In June, the first pope born and raised in the United States appeared on the jumbotron at a gathering of American Catholics at Chicago’s Rate Field — home of his beloved White Sox. In a video message delivered entirely in English, Pope Leo urged young people to be “beacons of hope” and invited all to see that “God is reaching out to you, calling you, inviting you to know his son, Jesus Christ.”

It was the pope’s first direct address to his hometown since his election and one of the earliest papal speeches given entirely in English.

The new pope’s love of sports has led to some memorable moments. He blessed 159 cyclists as they passed through Vatican City in the final leg of the Giro d’Italia.

A self-described “amateur tennis player,” Pope Leo XIV joked with tennis star Jannik Sinner, ranked the world’s No. 1, whether his white cassock would meet Wimbledon’s requirement for all white attire.

The pope has also been gifted White Sox and Bears jerseys and has signed baseballs for enthusiastic pilgrims.

A voice for peace in Gaza and Ukraine

Pope Leo XIV’s first words were “Peace be with you all,” recalling the first greeting of the risen Christ recorded in Scripture. As wars continued and at times intensified during Pope Leo’s first months, the pope has continued to be a voice for peace.

In June, after U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, Pope Leo urged world leaders “to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss.” Following an Israeli strike that killed three people at Gaza’s only Catholic church in July, he appealed for “a ceasefire, the release of hostages, and full respect for humanitarian law.”

“Today more than ever, humanity cries out and pleads for peace,” the pope said during an Angelus from the window of the Apostolic Palace.

Leo also met with bishops and pilgrims from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Castel Gandolfo in July, where the two discussed the urgency of “just and lasting paths of peace,” according to the Vatican.

Leo carries the Eucharist through the streets of Rome

Pope Leo personally carried the Blessed Sacrament through the streets of Rome during a Corpus Christi procession from the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran to the Basilica of St. Mary Major.

“Together, as shepherds and flock, we will feed on the Blessed Sacrament, adore him, and carry him through the streets,” he said. “In doing so, we will present him before the eyes, the consciences, and the hearts of the people.”

More than 20,000 people turned out for Leo XIV’s first Eucharistic procession as pope.

Return to Castel Gandolfo

Pope Leo revived the papal tradition of spending summer days at the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo. During his two-week stay in July, he led public Masses in local parishes, greeted pilgrims as he led the Angelus prayer in Liberty Square, and received visiting dignitaries. His stay marks the first papal summer retreat in the lakeside town since the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI.

Pope Leo introduces the world to great quotes by St. Augustine

A member of the Augustinian order, Pope Leo has quoted St. Augustine in nearly every one of his homilies as pope. In his first public words on May 8, he said: “I am an Augustinian, a son of St. Augustine, who once said, ‘With you I am a Christian, and for you I am a bishop.’”

Addressing 1 million young people at the Jubilee of Youth in August, he quoted Augustine’s “Confessions”: “You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness… I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more.”

A focus on artificial intelligence

Pope Leo has frequently spoken about artificial intelligence (AI), which is already shaping up to be a topic of interest in his pontificate with many hoping that he will address it in an encyclical.

Early on in his pontificate, Leo drew parallels between his namesake Pope Leo XIII, who responded to the industrial revolution with Rerum Novarum, and today’s digital revolution, explaining that the rise of AI poses “new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice, and labor.”

“Humanity is at a crossroads, facing the immense potential generated by the digital revolution driven by artificial intelligence,” he warned in a message to the Geneva-based AI for Good Summit. “The impact of this revolution is far-reaching, transforming areas such as education, work, art, health care, governance, the military, and communication.”

The Vatican website received a revamp shortly after Leo’s election, and insiders noted Leo’s relatively tech-savvy background, including a personal Twitter account prior to his papacy.

The pope also expressed concern in a speech to another AI conference about the negative effects that AI can have on the “intellectual and neurological development” of rising generations and the “loss of the sense of the human” that societies are experiencing.

Leo declares a new doctor of the Church

In one of his most significant theological gestures, Pope Leo named St. John Henry Newman, a 19th-century English convert from Anglicanism, a doctor of the Church — a rare title given to just 37 other saints. The title is granted in recognition of an already canonized saint’s significant contribution to advancing the Church’s knowledge of doctrine, theology, or spirituality.

Leo also approved the upcoming canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati in September as the first saints of his pontificate. He greenlit seven additional causes for canonization, including that of Blessed Bartolo Longo, a former satanist turned founder of the Marian shrine in Pompeii.

Carrying the cross before a million young people at the Jubilee of Youth

Pope Leo addressed the largest crowd of his papacy to date at the Jubilee of Youth, where an estimated 1 million young adults camped out in fields in Tor Vergata, southeast of Rome.

He surprised them by walking through the crowd to the stage, personally carrying the jubilee cross. During the evening vigil, he answered youth questions in English, Italian, and Spanish, offering reflections on loneliness, discernment, and friendship with Christ.

After Eucharistic adoration, chants of “Papa Leone!” echoed long into the night. Leo stayed past 10 p.m. — well beyond the scheduled end.

Earlier in the week, he made a surprise appearance at the opening Mass, joyfully proclaiming in English: “Jesus tells us: You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world!” and the crowd erupted in cheers.