Pope Leo XIV, the youngest Pope in four decades, celebrates his 70th birthday at the Vatican

Papa Leo XIV He marked his 70th birthday on Sunday with a public speech in which he thanked God, his parents and his followers, after receiving a birthday cake from the new United States ambassador to the Vatican.

Leo, the first Pope born in the United States, saw giant banners of “Happy Birthday”, in English, Italian and Spanish, balloons and congratulations sustained by the faithful gathered in the Plaza de San Pedro for his traditional noon blessing. The groups of Peruvian believers, including dancers in traditional clothing, were in force, a testimony of the two decades that the Pope spent in the South American country as a missionary and bishop at that time.

“Dear, it seems that today you know that I have turned 70,” Leo told the cheers. “I thank the Lord, my parents and everyone who reminded me of me in their prayers.”

Later, on Sunday, Leo spent his birthday afternoon presiding over an ecumenical prayer service in honor of the 21st century martyrs.

The Pope had received a Brian Burch birthday cake, President Trump’s new ambassador to the Vatican, at a meeting on Saturday, Reuters reported. The exchange video showed Burch present Leo with a chocolate cake, covered with a red sign that said “Happy birthday Papa Leo XIV”. According to Reuters, the Portillo’s wine cake, which is a popular restaurant in Chicago, where the Pope is.

Burch began his mandate as an ambassador on Saturday, said the United States embassy to the Holy See in a statement. His meeting with the Pope was held mainly to present his credentials to Leo, a ceremony and “an important milestone in the continuous diplomatic relationship between the United States and the Holy See,” according to the embassy.

When He was chosen Last May of the age of 69, former Robert Prevost was the youngest Pope since 1978, when Karol Wojtyla was chosen Pope John Paul II at age 58.

Many people in the square knew that it was Leo’s birthday and wished him the best, especially given the weight of the responsibility he had assumed to direct the Catholic Church.

“Well, it definitely needs a lot of support, because it has to take a pontificate for a particularly difficult period, both for geopolitical issues and for internal affairs,” Lorenzo Vecchio, a member of a Catholic university group in Piazza, said. “We are certainly happy to be a very young Pope.”

Celso Fernández, a resident of Rome, originally from the former diocese of Leo in Chiclayo, Peru, recalled that Chiclayo Faithful used to celebrate his former bishop’s birthday, who fell the same day as a local religious celebration. Prevost would spend their birthday with them to honor their party.

“Now we get to him for his birthday,” he said.

The first Italian first Giorgia Meloni, on the other hand, issued a special greeting thanking Leo for her preaching, which she said it was a source of inspiration. Leo’s teachings, he said in a statement, “provide reliable and solid orientation in extremely complex times, when certainties seem to hesitate and the changes are as sudden as deep.”

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