Pope Leo XIV’s favourite parts of Australia ahead of his next public appearance at St. Peter’s Basilica

A close friend of Pope Leo XIV has revealed what he loves about Australia, as he also faces questions over the handling of sexual abuse cases prior to becoming pontiff.

The world’s newly-appointed pontiff, Pope Leo XIV, loved Australia’s beach lifestyle and driving between cities when he spent time Down Under.

Father Tony Banks, who hails from the pope’s Augustinian order and is a close friend of the world’s newest religious leader, said Leo XIV has visited Australia many times and “loved the beaches”.

“He felt very much at home in Australia, as a second home,” said Father Banks, who grew up in Melbourne and has called Rome home for the past 12 years.

Pope Leo XIV when he visited St Augustine's College in Brookvale, Sydney, in 2008. Picture: Supplied.

“He enjoyed being in our company. He enjoyed driving from Brisbane to Sydney, the distance and the loneliness of the distances in our country. He has many great memories of Australia”.

Father Tony Banks spoke of his close friendship with Pope Leo while in Rome. Picture: Sophie Elsworth

Pope Leo XIV spent time Australia in 2008 when World Youth Day was held at Sydney’s Randwick Racecourse – the first time the event was held in Oceania. He also visited St Augustine’s College in Brookvale on Sydney’s North Shore and met with students and staff.

Leo will make one of his first public appearances today since being announced as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, when a Regina Caeli prayer from the Central Loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica is held from noon (8pm AEST).

Pope Leo XIV during a mass with cardinals in the Sistine Chapel in The Vatican. Picture: AFP

Australia’s only Cardinal, Mykola Bychok, 45, originally from Ukraine and now living in Melbourne, also speaking for the first time since the new pontiff was elected, said people wouldn’t learn much from watching Ralph Fiennes’ hit 2024 movie Conclave, which has surged back into popularity, about the process of electing the leader of the Catholic Church.

The Cardinal watched the film three months ago and said it didn’t closely resemble the real experience of voting for a new pope.

“It wasn’t helpful,” Cardinal Bychock laughed.

“The main reason during the conclave is to pray, not only to vote, it’s second. I watched the movie but it was controversial, especially about praying”.

He pointed out the movie didn’t show the cardinals taking part in any praying while locked inside the Sistine Chapel and cut off from the outside world.

Cardinal Bychok admitted the election of Leo was “unexpected for many people, it was unexpected for many of us cardinals”.

Ukrainian Mykola Bychok who is Australia's only cardinal spoke to the media in Rome the day after the election of Pope Leo. Picture: Sophie Elsworth

The 69-year-old pope will lead the Regina Caeli prayer in the central gallery of the Basilica, with around 1.4 billion Catholics from around the world expected to watch on.

Leo was due to meet with the College of Cardinals on Saturday after a service was held at the Sistine Chapel on Friday. It was Leo’s first mass since being elected and he had some strong messages, including criticism of those who have attacked worshippers.

“Even today, there are many settings in which the Christian faith is considered absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent,” Leo warned.

“Settings where other securities are preferred, like technology, money, success, power, or pleasure.These are contexts where it is not easy to preach the gospel and bear witness to its truth, where believers are mocked, opposed, despised or at best tolerated and pitied. Yet, precisely for this reason, they are the places where our missionary outreach is desperately needed”.

Pope Leo XIV also faces a series of questions over the handling of sexual abuse cases prior to becoming pontiff and claims that he didn’t handle allegations properly.

Advocacy group, The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), a US-based network for survivors of institutional sexual abuse, said after he was appointed the Roman Catholic Church’s 267th pontiff, with it “comes a grave reckoning”.

SNAP filed a complaint against Leo (Robert Prevost) on March 25 to the Vatican’s then secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

Pope Leo XIV during a mass with cardinals in the Sistine Chapel in The Vatican. Picture: AFP

On the group’s website it claims that the pontiff failed to act when a priest was accused of abusing minors.

“As provincial of the Augustinians, Pope Leo XIV allowed Father James Ray, a priest then accused of abusing minors whose ministry had been restricted since 1991, to reside at the Augustinians’ St. John Stone Friary in Chicago in 2000, despite its proximity to a Catholic elementary school,” SNAP said.

“When Prevost was Bishop of Chiclayo, three victims reported to civil authorities in 2022 after there was no movement on their canonical case filed through the diocese.

“Victims have since claimed Prevost failed to open an investigation, sent inadequate information to Rome, and that the diocese allowed the priest to continue saying mass, attaching photos of the priest saying mass after their complaint to their letter”.

Published news reports claimed that the Vatican denied that Leo approved Ray to be move to the Friary.

In a statement on SNAP’s website it asks Pope Leo: “You can end the abuse crisis — the only question is, will you?”

Pope Leo XIV will meet with a massive world media pack on Monday at Paul VI Hall at Vatican City – more than 6000 members of the international media have been in Italy to report on his appointment.

The inauguration of the world’s 267th Pope will be held at St Peter’s Square on Sunday, May 18 and is expected to be attended by many world leaders.

King Charles will not be attending Pope Leo XIV’s inauguration next weekend, Buckingham Palace has confirmed.

The 76-year-old will instead be represented by Prince Edward the Duke Of Edinburgh when the inauguration is held on Sunday, May 18 at 10am (6pm AEST).

It comes as His Majesty continues to recover from his cancer battle and he also did not attend Pope Francis’s funeral on April 26, he was represented by his son, the Prince of Wales.