VATICAN CITY, May  10, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Leo XIV visited an Augustinian
sanctuary near Rome Saturday in his first outing since being made pope, after
telling cardinals he intended to follow his predecessor's path as pontiff,
praising Francis's "complete dedication to service".

The Chicago-born pontiff paid a "private visit" Saturday afternoon to the
Mother of Good Counsel Sanctuary in Genazzano, about 50 kilometres (31 miles)
southeast of Rome, the Vatican said.

Earlier, addressing a meeting of cardinals at the Vatican just two days
after being elected the 267th pope, he provided some early clues as to what his
priorities and style would be.

Leo explained his new choice of name reflected a commitment to social
causes while describing himself as St Peter's "unworthy Successor".

 Born Robert Francis Prevost, the pope told assembled cardinals a pontiff
was "a humble servant of God and of his brothers and sisters, and nothing more
than this".

 He praised Francis's "complete dedication to service and to sober
simplicity of life", according to a transcript of the gathering published by
the Vatican.

 "Let us take up this precious legacy and continue on the journey, inspired
by the same hope that is born of faith," he told the College of Cardinals.

 The new pope was given a standing ovation as he entered the conference hall
wearing a white papal robe, video released by the Vatican showed.

 Among the Church priorities championed by Francis, Leo said he intended to
uphold "loving care for the least and the rejected" and his "courageous and
trusting dialogue with the contemporary world in its various components and
realities".

 He also mentioned "the missionary conversion of the entire Christian
community" and growth in "synodality," a top priority of Francis's that sought
to open the Church to welcome more voices.

Francis, an Argentine Jesuit and the first pope from the Americas, died on
April 21 aged 88.

       
       - Justice, labour -

       
 The first leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics to come from the
United States, Leo told cardinals he chose his papal name as a homage to Leo
XIII, a 19th-century pontiff who defended workers' rights.

 That choice, he said, was because his namesake "addressed the social
question in the context of the first great Industrial Revolution".

Today, the Church's social teaching is needed "in response to another
Industrial Revolution and to developments in the field of artificial
intelligence that pose new challenges for the defence of human dignity, justice
and labour," Leo added.

 He later headed to Genazzano. Italian television channel TV2000 broadcast
footage of him exiting a black SUV and entering the basilica, which dates from
the 11th century.

 The sanctuary preserves an ancient image of the Virgin Mary, which is dear
to the Augustinian order and "to the memory of Leo XIII", the Vatican said.

 Leo is the first pope from the Augustinian order, a religious group with a
strong focus on missionary outreach and community, which experts say encourages
collaboration and discussion before decision-making.

 In his first homily to cardinals on Friday, Leo urged the Church to restore
the faith of millions around the world.

 He warned that lack of faith often went hand-in-hand with "the loss of
meaning in life, the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity,
the crisis of the family and so many other wounds that afflict our society."

  The Augustinian, who was made cardinal by Francis in 2023, is not a
globally recognised figure although he had been on many Vatican watchers' lists
of potential popes ahead of the conclave.

 Over the coming days his actions and words will be closely scrutinised.

       
       - 'Deep faith' -

       
 On Sunday, he returns to the balcony of St Peter's Basilica to give the
Regina Coeli prayer to assembled faithful in the square beneath him.

 Leo plans to meet with foreign diplomats to the Vatican next week and the
following Sunday, May 18, he will preside over his inauguration mass at St
Peter's Square, expected to draw world leaders and thousands of pilgrims.

 Cardinals have described Leo as cast in the mold of Francis, with a
commitment to the poor and disadvantaged, as well a focus on those hailing from
further-flung areas of the Church.

  But they say his approach may be less direct than the sometimes impulsive
Francis, a progressive who shook up the Church during his 12-year papacy.

 In an interview with Italian daily La Stampa published Saturday, US
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, a conservative archbishop of New York, called the new
pope "a man of deep faith, rooted in prayer and capable of listening".

 "This is what gives us hope; not a political programme or a communicative
strategy but the concrete testimony of the Gospel," said Dolan.