Love and Unity: A Jubilee Year Experience with Pope Leo XIV

Pilgrims walk towards St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome to pass through the Holy Door, 2025.

May 18, 2025 was the Inauguration Mass of Pope Leo XIV, and we had the incredible coincidence of being in Rome that day, as well as for a few days prior. 2025 is the Jubilee Year of Hope for our Church, and we began our pilgrimage in Rome walking through the Holy Doors of the papal basilicas of St. Peters, St. John Lateran, and St. Paul Outside the Wall. While the other papal basilicas involved a simple, but reverent, passage through the Holy Doors, the experience at St. Peters was more ceremonious. It began with a pilgrimage originating in Piazza Pia near St. Peter’s. We were placed with a group of Arabic-speaking Catholics who had come from all over the world. The group prayed and sang in Arabic as we walked slowly towards St. Peter’s with the cross held high. As we passed through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s, we were filled with nostalgia for Pope Francis, recognizing that he was the one who had opened this same Holy Door that we were passing through. We were a little bit like lost sheep awaiting the inauguration of our new holy father as we were herded towards the tomb of St. Peter. We gathered around the beautiful altar over the tomb, joined together in fellowship, prayer, and reflection.

Passing through the Holy Door 2025

It was at this same tomb of St. Peter that our new Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, began his official ministry two days later at his inauguration Mass. By the grace of God, we were able to make it into St. Peter’s Square to be present for the Mass. We were two of approximately 200,000 people from all over the world. Looking around us that morning in the square, we were standing amidst young and old, people of all ethnicities, many wrapped in flags from their homelands. All of us pilgrims of hope.

As Pope Leo XIV and the cardinals emerged from the basilica that morning, they were met with cheers of joy. He wore traditional white and gold vestments including the chasuble-relic of St. John Paul II whose 105th birthday was that day. When Pope Leo received the fisherman’s ring from Cardinal Tagle, he became visibly emotional. During the homily, he spoke about how our hearts were filled with sadness upon the death of Pope Francis, and we have been “like a sheep without a shepherd”. Then, “on Easter Sunday, we received his final blessing and, in the light of the resurrection, we experienced the days that followed in the certainty that the Lord never abandons his people.”

Pope Leo’s homily message was about love and unity, remarking that those are “the two dimensions of the mission entrusted by Peter to Jesus”. He went on to quote the words of Saint Augustine: “The Church consists of all those who are in harmony with their brothers and sisters and who love their neighbor”. And he stated that he “would like that our first great desire be for a united Church, a sign of unity and communion, which becomes leaven for a reconciled world.”

Linnea and Bob Baudhuin in St. Peter’s Square after the Installation Mass of Pope Leo XIV

Due to the huge crowd of faithful present that morning, we wondered how the Eucharist could possibly be distributed to all 200,000 of us. But we didn’t need to worry, since there were 400 priests and deacons to distribute communion and we were all able to receive the precious body of Christ. It was an experience that was quite moving, and we were filled with gratitude to be in that moment. We thought of our family and friends as well as our faith community at the Co-Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. We prayed for all of you, and especially for our faithful shepherd for so many decades, Father Mahon, whom we will deeply miss when he retires soon. How blessed are we to have one another and to be united in our faith. As Pope Leo XIV said, “in the One Christ, we are one”.

As Mass came to a conclusion, everyone cheered and others around us waved their homeland flags. “Viva il Papa!” “Long live the Pope!” An American Pope for all the world. A Pope of unity and love.

Linnea and Bob Baudhuin