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In a sign he will make the papacy very much his own, Leo made his first outing since his election to a sanctuary south of Rome that is dedicated to the Madonna and is of particular significance to his Augustinian order.

Townspeople of Genazzano gathered in the square outside the main church housing the Madre del Buon Consiglio (Mother of Good Counsel) sanctuary as Leo greeted them and blessed them. The sanctuary, managed by Augustinian friars, has been a place of pilgrimage since the 15th century and the previous Pope Leo elevated it to a minor basilica and expanded the adjacent convent in the early 1900s.

After praying in the church, Leo told the crowd they had both a gift and a responsibility in having the Madonna in their midst, then offered a blessing. En route back to the Vatican, he stopped to pray at Francis' tomb at St. Mary Major Basilica.

The outing came after Leo presided over his first formal audience, with the cardinals who elected him pope. In it Leo repeatedly cited Francis and the Argentine pope's own 2013 mission statement, making clear a commitment to making the Catholic Church more inclusive and attentive to the faithful and a church that looks out for the "least and rejected."

Leo, the first American pope, told the cardinals that he is fully committed to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, the 1960s meetings that modernized the church. He identified AI as one of the main issues facing humanity, saying it poses challenges to defending human dignity, justice and labor.

Identifying with Pope Francis

Leo explained the choice of his name: His namesake, Pope Leo XIII, was pope from 1878 to 1903 and laid the foundation for modern Catholic social thought. The late pope criticized both laissez-faire capitalism and state-centric socialism, giving shape to a distinctly Catholic vein of economic teaching.

In his remarks Saturday, Leo said he identified with his predecessor, who addressed great social issues posed by the industrial revolution — workers' rights and capitalism — in his famous 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum.

"In our own day, the church offers everyone the treasury of its social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and labor," he said.

Toward the end of his pontificate, Francis was vocal about the threats to humanity posed by AI and called for an international treaty to regulate it. He warned that such powerful technology risks turning human relations into mere algorithms. Addressing the Group of Seven summit last year, Francis insisted AI must remain human-centric so decisions about when to use weapons or even less lethal tools always remain made by humans and not machines.

The late Argentine pope also used his 2024 annual peace message to call for an international treaty to ensure AI is developed and used ethically, arguing that a technology lacking human values of compassion, mercy, morality and forgiveness is too perilous to develop unchecked.

The Vatican revealed Saturday that Leo would retain the motto and coat of arms that he had as bishop of Chiclayo, Peru. The motto, "In Illo uno unum," was pronounced by St. Augustine in a sermon to explain that though "we Christians are many, in the one Christ we are one."

In the speech, delivered in Italian in the Vatican's synod hall — not the Apostolic Palace — Leo referenced Francis and the mourning over his death. He held up Francis' 2013 mission statement, "The Joy of the Gospel," as something of his own marching orders.

He cited Francis' insistence on the missionary nature of the church and the need to make its leadership more collegial. He cited the need to pay attention to what the faithful say "especially in its most authentic and inclusive forms, especially popular piety."

Again, referring to Francis' 2013 mission statement, Leo cited the need for the church to express "loving care for the least and rejected" and engage in courageous dialogue with the contemporary world.

A quick conclave

Greeted by a standing ovation, Leo read from his prepared text, as he had from a prepared, handwritten text when he first appeared to the world as pope Thursday. He seemed most comfortable speaking off-the-cuff in the few words he pronounced in Spanish.

Prevost was elected the 267th pontiff on Thursday on the fourth ballot of the largest, most geographically diverse conclave in history. Not all cardinals knew one another before arriving in Rome, but Prevost was already known to many.

Cardinals said Prevost did not make any major speech before conclave discussions, and he carried the traditional taboo of precluding a pope from the United States given America's superpower status.

They said he made an impression in smaller groups where English was the key language of communication in a conclave of 133 cardinals from 70 countries.

Madagascar Cardinal Désiré Tsarahazana told reporters Saturday that on the final ballot, Prevost received "more" than 100 votes. That suggests an extraordinary margin, well beyond the two-thirds, or 89 votes, necessary to be elected.