Eyes on Pope’s inauguration this weekend as JD Vance confirms attendance

Pope Leo XIV ’s inauguration on Sunday will be a symbol-laden welcome before hundreds of thousands of Catholic faithful crammed into St Peter’s Square, but like Pope Francis’s funeral just a fortnight ago, it will be the interaction of world leaders that will be intensely scrutinised.

Pope Leo XIV gestures during an audience to representatives of the media on Monday. Picture: Tiziana Fabi / AFP

Pope Leo XIV ’s inauguration on Sunday will be a symbol-laden welcome before hundreds of thousands of Catholic faithful crammed into St Peter’s Square, but like Pope Francis’s funeral just a fortnight ago, it will be the interaction of world leaders that will be intensely scrutinised.

Pope Leo has already stressed for peace in his earliest remarks since last week’s conclave, and all ears will be upon his homily, which may provide further clues about the direction and priorities the American wishes to take the church.

But all eyes will be on the opportunities for influential leaders to have “pull asides” and quick, but meaningful, chance encounters may allow the Vatican to claim further credit for geopolitical manoeuvres.

Pope Leo will arrive for the inauguration in a procession of cardinals and bishops chanting a hymn Laudes Regiae through St Peter’s Square into the basilica and he may stop to interact with the crowd before or after the 10am local time (6pm AEST) event on Sunday.

He will also visit St Peter’s tomb beneath the high altar of the Basilica to pay homage, before the official service which could last as long as two hours.

The key moment of the inauguration involves a senior Cardinal placing the pallium, a white woollen fleece stole with six red crosses, across the Pope’s shoulders signifying his primary role as a shepherd to the flock of Catholics.

The dean of the College of Cardinals will then present the Pope with a gold signet ring, known as the Fisherman’s Ring, which has been created for Leo with an image of St Peter as a fisherman to signify the Pope’s authority.

US Vice President JD Vance will attend the inauguration. Picture: AFP

Pope Leo will then conduct mass and present his homily, followed by the singing of the hymn Te Deum.

The new pope, a baseball loving, tennis playing, multi lingual missionary and canon lawyer, will then be celebrated by the faithful, the numbers of which will be swollen because of a diary clash this weekend with the Catholic Church Jubilee event, the celebration of the Confraternities, for which around 150,000 pilgrims have begun to descend upon Rome.

More than 4000 Italian and Vatican police have been seconded to protect the dignitaries and the public at the inauguration and have already begun to close down outer areas of the Vatican to vehicles. Some military personnel have begun sweeps of the Vatican City with anti drone and anti missile equipment.

The Pope’s coat of arms will be revealed to the public during the inauguration, showing the emblem of the Order of St Augustine with a heart pierced by an arrow with the motto being “In the One (Christ), we are one”.

The dramatic illustrative moment when US president Donald Trump sat in a chair, face-to-face with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky as Emmanuel Macron and Prince William quickly removed themselves from the marble surrounds of St Peter’s Basilica before Francis’s funeral on April 26, was as remarkable as it was rare, and it is unlikely to be repeated.

While Mr Zelensky will attend, having been promised help from the Pope to facilitate any meetings that could bring about a just and lasting peace, Mr Trump will be absent.

Instead US Vice President JD Vance, with whom Mr Zelensky had a bitter falling out in the Oval Office recently, will be among the hundreds of VIP guests this weekend.

Mr Vance’s interactions with new Canadian president Mark Carney and their body language will be intriguing given the Trump administration’s tariff moves.

But the Pope, when tweeting as Cardinal Robert Prevost, had been critical of Mr Vance’s interpretation of the church and the treatment of immigrants, and their interactions will be similarly absorbing.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who is of Catholic faith, will also mix religion with economics, wanting to solidify and progress Australia’s reopened trade talks with the European Union and French president Emmanuel Macron, and introduce himself to Mr Carney before the G7 talks.

It’s also a chance for further dialogue with another Five Eyes partner, the British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, possibly in relation to AUKUS and Australia’s ongoing contribution to training Ukrainian soldiers in the British countryside.

Volodymyr Zelensky met with Donald Trump on the sidelines of Pope Francis's funeral at St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican.

Pope Leo shared his first official social media post earlier this week saying “Peace be with you!”, and was shared in English, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French, Polish and German. It was noticeably less inflammatory that his previous social media remarks, including the online stoush with Mr Vance.

Earlier this year, Pope Leo shared a Catholic article which headlined “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”

Mr Vance had earlier justified the Trump administration’s attitude to migrants, telling Fox News “that you love your family and then you love your neighbour, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and then after that, prioritise the rest of the world.”

Mr Vance had also tweeted “Just google ‘ordo amoris’. Aside from that, the idea that there isn’t a hierarchy of obligations violates basic common sense.”

“Ordo amoris,” reflects upon the “order of love.”

Not to be thwarted, a week later Pope Leo reposted another article on Twitter: “Pope Francis’ letter, JD Vance’s ‘ordo amoris’ and what the Gospel asks of all of us on immigration.”

But by the time of the conclave it appeared the two men had called an online truce. Mr Vance sent congratulations to Pope Leo on his election by the Cardinals saying: ”I’m sure millions of American Catholics and other Christians will pray for his successful work leading the Church. May God bless him!”