Armed men hijacked a tourist boat in the Amazon rainforest in Peru, robbed all 14 people on board and forced them to empty their bank accounts via mobile apps, according to one of the victims.

Spanish TikToker Elisabet de la Almudena, who has more than 235,000 followers on the platform, described the ordeal as the “worst day of her life” in a 4.5-minute video uploaded Tuesday.

According to her account, she was part of a 14-person group, including her parents and 6-year-old daughter, that set off on an all-day boat tour from the city of Iquitos, a popular jumping-off point to explore the rainforest.

“We contracted a family tour, a sightseeing tour, and we ended up being kidnapped,” she said.

Four men armed with pistols and a machine gun boarded the boat and sailed it deep into the forest, said de la Almudena, where they took everyone’s belongings and even the vessel’s motor.

“Through mobile phone applications, they asked us to take the money out of our accounts and transfer it to one of their accounts, otherwise they would not leave,” she added.

“I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone,” de la Almudena said.

The passengers then took pieces of wood from the boat and used them to row down the river, where they came upon a family in another boat that towed them to safety, she said.

De la Almudena claimed that the tour company, Canopy Tours Iquitos, had no GPS tracker on the boat, no insurance and no security measures in place, despite the fact that she was later told that this kind of incident has happened in the area before.

“We were completely abandoned by the people that were supposed to look after us,” she said.

In response, Canopy Tours Iquitos said the incident, which occurred on May 14, was a chance event outside of its control that “was immediately reported to the authorities.”

“We activated our emergency protocols straight away, offered our assistance to the affected group and have been actively cooperating with the investigation,” the company said in a Facebook post published Tuesday.

In addition, the company said it would strengthen security measures, including introducing GPS monitoring, closer cooperation with the police and more training for staff.

According to the US State Department, travelers to Peru should “exercise increased caution due to crime, civil unrest, and the risk of kidnapping. Some areas have increased risk.”

In a travel advisory update published May 16, the department underlined that “crime is common in Peru.”

“Petty theft, carjackings, muggings, assaults, and other violent crime often happen even in daylight hours and with many witnesses around. Kidnapping is rare, but it does occur,” it said.

Many South Africans are praising President Cyril Ramaphosa’s calm demeanor as President Donald Trump’s multimedia ambush unfolded in front of the world’s press. He pushed back gently whenever he could, but he didn’t raise his voice or show anger, displaying his decades of negotiation experience.

“What else could Cyril have done?” asked veteran journalist Milton Nkosi. “You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t. I think they were caught completely unawares. How on earth could you have planned for that?” said Nkosi, who’s a senior research fellow at the Africa Asia Dialogues think tank.

On social media and across South Africa’s broadcast outlets, consensus seemed to quickly form that Ramaphosa did the best under the circumstances. He remained “calm, collected and humble in the face of bigotry and lies,” posted one user on X. “You were a leader today. Went to build not to fight.”

Ramaphosa brought his own White billionaire to the meeting – luxury goods magnate Johan Rupert, who’s behind brands like Cartier – who told Trump that violent crime affects all races, but his words fell on deaf ears.

Rupert even threw tech billionaire Elon Musk, who was also in the room, a bone.

“We have too many deaths. But it’s across the board,” Rupert said. “It’s not only White farmers. It’s across the board. We need technological help. We need Starlink at every little police station. We need drones.”

One White South African called Rupert a traitor to his fellow Afrikaners in a social media post.

Another prominent White South African, agriculture minister John Steenhuisen, also tried to convince their Oval Office host that he had been misled.

The most dramatic part of the scene was when Trump called for lights to be dimmed and screened a four-and-a-half minute montage claiming to show evidence of a White genocide. It included far-left opposition leader Julius Malema singing “Kill the Boer, kill the farmer” as a crowd chanted along.

Officially named “Dubula iBhunu” in the Xhosa language, the song emerged in the 1980s to fight the unjust system of segregation. South African courts have ruled that it doesn’t mean a literal call to kill White farmers.

The Supreme Court of Appeal ruled in 2024 that any “reasonably well-informed person” would see it as a “historic struggle song, with the performance gestures that go with it, as a provocative means of advancing his party’s political agenda.”

Trump confronted Ramaphosa on why he had not arrested Malema for it.

Malema, leader of the the Economic Freedom Fighters party, responded in his typical fiery way on X: “A group of older men meet in Washington to gossip about me,” he said, disputing the claims of a genocide. “We will not agree to compromise our political principles on land expropriation without compensation for political expediency.”

Malema was expelled from Ramaphosa’s African National Congress (ANC) party more than a decade ago and came third in the most recent election.

Most of the information that Trump used to try to prove that “White genocide” is happening in South Africa has repeatedly been disproven.

Some South Africans have said that they believe that the information is “AfriForum propaganda” – referring to a White Afrikaner lobby group criticized as being a White nationalist group.

“It shows that the South African president and the ANC leadership cannot just simply sweep real problems that we have in the country under the carpet and think they will disappear,” Kallie Kriel said in a voice note.

It was the toughest public test yet for Ramaphosa, a skilled dealmaker who led negotiations for Nelson Mandela in talks that ended apartheid.

It was a good day for South Africa’s White nationalists. The president of the United States repeated their talking points from the bully pulpit of the White House, giving them the highest-profile validation they could have ever dreamed of.

The South African delegation expected a confrontational meeting, but nothing could have prepared them for the ambush that awaited them.

A group of 59 White South Africans arrived in the United States last week after being granted refugee status by the White House, which has fast-tracked the processing of Afrikaner refugees but paused refugee applications for other nationalities.

On Wednesday, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to meet his US counterpart Donald Trump in Washington, seeking a reset in relations with the United States. Ties between both nations have been fraught since Trump froze aid to South Africa in February over claims it was mistreating its minority White population.

The South African government said “reframing bilateral, economic and commercial relations” was the specific focus of Ramaphosa’s US visit. Ramaphosa said that the White South Africans arriving in the US “do not fit the bill” for having refugee status as someone who is leaving their country out of fear of persecution.

But as thousands more Afrikaners hope for admission to the US, others insist they have no need of refugee status but want America’s help instead to tackle a wave of violent crime in South Africa, or even to establish an autonomous state within a state.

Joost Strydom leads the group of White South Africans who have dismissed the US’ offer of asylum, and heads Orania, a separatist “Afrikaner-only” settlement in the country’s Northern Cape.

“Help us here,” he said his message was to Trump, whom he hopes will recognize Orania’s quest for self-determination.

Home to some 3,000 Afrikaners, the 8,000-hectare (19,800-acre) Orania town is partially self-governing. The exclusively White enclave produces half of its own electricity needs, takes local taxes, and prints its own currency that’s pegged to the South African rand. But the settlement’s residents want more: its recognition as an independent state.

Strydom was part of Orania’s delegation to the US in late March to push for this goal.

“We met with government officials,” he said. “The conversation is ongoing, and it is something that we’ve decided to keep a low profile on.”

Orania is backed by a 1994 post-apartheid accord that allowed for Afrikaner self-determination, including the concept of an Afrikaner state, referred to as Volkstaat.

Strydom anticipates that the settlement could develop into a “national home for the Afrikaner people.”

Why are some Afrikaners fleeing to the US?

Afrikaners are the descendants of predominantly Dutch settlers in South Africa, with White South Africans making up roughly 7% of the country’s population as of 2022 – a share that had declined from 11% in 1996, census data shows. A discriminatory apartheid government led by Afrikaners lost power in the mid-1990s, replaced by a multi-party democracy dominated by the African National Congress.

At least 67,000 South Africans have shown interest in seeking refugee status in the US, according to the South African Chamber of Commerce in the USA (SACCUSA).

In comments justifying his decision to resettle Afrikaners in the US, Trump cited claims that “a genocide is taking place” in South Africa, adding that “White farmers are being brutally killed and their land confiscated.”

South African authorities have strongly denied such claims. In a statement in February, the South African Police Service said “only one farmer, who happens to be white,” had been killed between October 1 and December 31, and urged the public “to desist from assumptions that belong to the past, where farm murders are the same as murders of white farmers.”

Police minister Senzo Mchunu stressed in a recent statement that there was no evidence of a “White genocide” in the country.

The police crime figure for the last quarter of 2024 had been disputed by an Afrikaner advocacy group, AfriForum, which argued that five farm owners were murdered during those months and that police had underreported the actual figures.

Most of the attacks happened in Gauteng province, the group stated. Gauteng is home to the largest concentration of South Africa’s White population, according to the country’s last census in 2022, with about 1.5 million Whites living there.

Afrikaner farmer Adriaan Vos is a recent victim of Gauteng’s farm attacks. The 55-year-old said he was left fighting for his life just two months ago after being shot on his farm in Glenharvie, a township in Westonaria, West of Gauteng.

“I was shot twice in the knee and once at my back,” Vos said about the attack on his farm in the early hours of March 16.

“Luckily, that bullet stuck next to my lung,” he said, adding that his farmhouse was pillaged and set on fire the same night.

Vos could not identify his attackers and is unsure whether the attack was racially motivated. But the raid appears to be part of a pattern of farm attacks that has persisted for years in South Africa, a country grappling with one of the world’s highest murder rates. South African authorities rarely publish crime figures by race but local media report that most murder victims are Black.

South African leader Ramaphosa does not believe that Afrikaners are being persecuted – as claimed by Trump and his ally Elon Musk, who was born and raised in the country – and has described those fleeing to the US as “cowards” who are opposed to his government’s efforts to undo the legacy of apartheid, especially inequality.

One of those efforts was the controversial enactment in January of an Expropriation Act, which empowers South Africa’s government to take land and redistribute it – with no obligation to pay compensation in some instances – if the seizure is found to be “just and equitable and in the public interest.”

Under apartheid, Black South Africans were forcibly dispossessed of their lands for the benefit of Whites. Today, some three decades after racial segregation officially ended in the country, Blacks, who comprise over 80% of the country’s population of 63 million, own around 4% of private land while 72% is held by Whites.

Who are the Afrikaners staying back, and what do they want?

For some Afrikaners in Orania, there is more to lose than gain if they choose to be refugees in the US.

Built from scratch on arid land described by Strydom as “an abandoned ghost town” with extreme weather, Orania has witnessed infrastructural growth and is the most realistic place to preserve Afrikaner culture and heritage, according to Cara Tomlinson who coordinates an Afrikaner cultural association.

“When we travel outside Orania in South Africa, it is very common to be looked at with hate,” he added.

Both Roets and Tomlinson desire Trump’s recognition for Orania, but the legitimacy of the separatist town has been questioned by other South Africans, including members of the radical left-wing party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) who say that its “Afrikaner-only” policy “institutionalizes exclusion.”

South Africa’s foreign ministry said Orania had no status as a nation within a nation and remained bound by South African laws.

Beyond Orania, other Afrikaners, such as Vos, who’s still nursing his injuries, do not plan to leave despite the pressures felt by farmers.

“I’m lucky to be alive,” he said, adding: “I must look after this place (his farmland), whatever is left. We were born and bred here. South Africa is all we know.”

But help must come fast, Vos warned, as he outlined what he hoped Ramaphosa will tell his US opposite number during his visit to the White House.

“We need help in South Africa because you don’t know if you’re going to wake up tomorrow. It’s a mess here,” he said.

“Hopefully, he (Ramaphosa) can be open about everything (with Trump) … and say, ‘I’m going to fix it, and I’m going to look after the farmers and the people that are putting food in my mouth.’ He must come and do it, implement it, and let’s start over again.”

Portnov, 51, was shot several times as he was getting into a car around 9:15 a.m. local time in Madrid (3:15 a.m. ET), the police source said. Various assailants shot him in the back and the head, and later fled into a wooded area, the source said.

The shooting took place outside The American School of Madrid, located in Pozuelo de Alaracon, an affluent suburb just west of Madrid. It has just over 1,000 students from the United States, Spain and several dozen other countries.

Portnov was sanctioned by the United States in 2021 for corruption and bribery under the Magnitsky Act. He was “credibly accused of using his influence to buy access and decisions in Ukraine’s courts and undermining reform effort,” according to the US Treasury Department.

The Magnitsky Act, signed into law in December 2012, blocks entry into the US and freezes the assets of certain Russian and pro-Russian government officials and businessmen accused of human rights violations.

The Security Service of Ukraine previously investigated Portnov’s possible involvement in Russia’s annexation of Crimea, but the case was later closed.

The former politician fled Ukraine months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, according to an investigation by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, when men of draft age were not permitted to leave.

Canada also froze his assets in 2014 as part of a crackdown on “corrupt foreign officials,” in relation to his work as a former adviser to ousted ex-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

Portnov was appointed deputy head of Yanukovych’s administration in 2010, as well as the head of Ukraine’s Main Directorate for Judicial Reform and Judicial System. At the same time, Portnov became a member of the board of the National Bank of Ukraine.

Yanukovych was driven from office by mass demonstrations in Ukraine in 2014 after he turned his back on the European Union in favor of closer ties with Russia. Yanukovych then fled Ukraine, and Portnov also left the country at the time.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Ukraine and Russia accused each other of launching attack drones on one another overnight, hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with his US counterpart Donald Trump – and again refused an immediate ceasefire.

Russia launched 108 Shahed drones and “various types of decoy drones,” Ukraine’s Air Force said on its Telegram channel Tuesday, adding air defenses had destroyed 93 of them in the east, center and north of the country.

The strikes come after Trump and Putin spoke for nearly two hours on Monday – Trump from the Oval Office and Putin phoning in from a visit to a music school in the city of Sochi.

Following the call Trump said Kyiv and Moscow would begin ceasefire negotiations ‘immediately.’

But Putin said the Kremlin was ready to work with Ukraine on a “possible ceasefire for a certain period of time, provided the corresponding agreements are reached.”

Neither Putin nor Trump discussed a timeframe for a possible truce, said Kremlin presidential aide Yury Ushakov.

Putin has previously ignored a proposal from Washington and Kyiv for a 30-day ceasefire and last week snubbed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s call to meet face-to-face for talks in Istanbul.

As the Turkey talks sputtered, Trump said he didn’t think there would be a significant breakthrough on peace talks until he spoke directly with Putin.

“Unfortunately, following the Trump–Putin phone call, the status quo has not changed,” said Mykhailo Podolyak, Adviser to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky

European leaders decided to increase pressure on Russia through sanctions after Trump briefed them on the call with Putin, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in an X post late on Monday.

Trump said he would not join in any new sanctions on Russia “because there’s a chance” of progress.

“I think there’s a chance of getting something done, and if you do that, you could also make it much worse. But there could be a time where that’s going to happen,” Trump said.

Following the call Zelensky said discussions would take place about the future location of a further round of talks – which would be aimed first at achieving a ceasefire.

Russian state news agency TASS cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as telling reporters that “so far, no specific decisions have been made regarding the location for the continuation of possible future contacts” with Ukrainian officials.

“We are primarily interested in a prompt settlement by eliminating the root causes of this conflict,” Peskov said.

“He wants Ukraine to capitulate. He wants Ukraine to disarm… to be in a position where… the Ukrainians cannot defend themselves,” said Taylor.

“That’s what Putin means when he says ‘the root causes.’”

Salvage crews have recovered the boom from the $40 million Bayesian luxury yacht, which sank off the coast of Sicily in August 2024, killing seven people, including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah.

The boom, which was connected to the 72-meter (236-foot) mast — one of the tallest on any sailboat—is the first known piece of debris to be lifted from the water.

The 55.9 meter (184-foot) yacht, which still has 18,000 liters of fuel onboard, went down in a sudden storm on August 19 while moored near Porticello, Sicily near Palermo.

Fifteen people, including nine crew members, survived.

British investigators, who were on the scene days after the accident, published a “desktop” report last week in which they concluded that the ship sank due to structural problems with the vessel.

Italian investigators have publicly dismissed the findings and have told local reporters that until the vessel can be examined once out of the water, no conclusion into the cause of the sinking can be determined. The ship is lying on its starboard side on the seabed, meaning no images have been taken of that part of the vessel to determine its condition.

No one has been charged with any criminal culpability in the accident, but the ship’s captain James Cutfield and two other crew members are under investigation for their role in the deaths of the passengers, which included one crew member.

The timetable to lift the yacht from the 50-meter deep seabed originally stated that the mast and boom would be left on the seabed until after the hull of the luxury yacht is lifted. The boom was instead brought out first to aid in the investigation into the diver’s death. It is unclear when the mast, which is being cut from the vessel, will be pulled from the water.

The hull of the yacht is scheduled to be brought up between May 26 and May 28, weather permitting. Once emptied of water, the wreckage will be lifted by crane to the port of Termini Imerese where it will be sequestered and examined by officials. A full report is expected by the end of the summer.

Portugal’s ruling center-right Democratic Alliance (AD) won a snap parliamentary election on Sunday but again fell short of the majority needed to end a long period of instability as the far-right Chega gained a record share of the vote.

Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said the election result was a vote of confidence in his party, but with votes from abroad still to be counted Chega could supplant the center-left Socialists as the main opposition party, ending almost 40 years of dominance by the country’s two major parties.

Continued political instability could delay structural reforms and major projects in Portugal, including lithium mining in the north, and potentially compromise the efficient deployment of EU funds and the long-delayed privatization of TAP airline.

The election, the third in as many years, was called one year into an AD minority government’s term after Montenegro failed to win a vote of confidence in March when the opposition questioned his integrity over dealings of his family’s consultancy firm. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Electoral data showed the AD making gains, winning 89 seats in the 230-seat parliament, nine more than in the previous election.

Montenegro, who has ruled out any deal with Chega, said he expected to form a minority government.

“The Portuguese don’t want any more snap elections, they want a four-year legislature,” Montenegro said as his supporters chanted “Let Luis work,” his campaign slogan.

Chega gained 8 seats for a total of 58, winning a record 22.6% of the vote, while voters appeared to punish the Socialists for their role in bringing down Montenegro’s government.

They fell to 58 seats from 78, prompting Socialist leader Pedro Nuno Santos to say he would step down.

Chega leader Andre Ventura, who was hospitalized during the campaign after collapsing on stage with an esophageal spasm, said his party had “swept the left block off the map in style.”

“There are moments in life during which God says, just stop a little bit,” he told a crowd of jubilant supporters. “This time I am not going to listen. I am not going to stop until I become the prime minister of Portugal.”

Centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski and nationalist Karol Nawrocki will compete in a second round of the presidential election in Poland on June 1, the electoral commission said based on votes from 100% of electoral districts.

Trzaskowski, from the ruling Civic Coalition (KO), got 31.36% of votes in the first round of presidential election on Sunday. The candidate backed by nationalist opposition party Law and Justice (PiS), Karol Nawrocki, got 29.54% of votes. Earlier late polls showed Trzaskowski leading in the electoral race.

Both candidates started preparing for the second round early on Monday, with Trzaskowski meeting voters in Warsaw and Nawrocki in Gdansk.

“We need to talk to everyone, arguments are the most important. I am glad that many young people went to vote, but the big challenge is to convince them to vote for me,” Trzaskowski told reporters.

Far-right candidates Slawomir Mentzen and Grzegorz Braun together accounted for more than 21% of the vote, a historically high percentage, winning widespread support from young voters. It is not clear, however, who their votes will go to in the second round.

Nawrocki, backed by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, said he will fight for the votes the people on both sides of the political landscape.

“My social agenda and the fact that I will be the guardian of the social achievements of the Law and Justice government and the Solidarity (trade union) make it an offer also for left-wing, socially sensitive circles,” he said.

Russia has battered Ukraine overnight with its largest drone attack since the war began, Ukraine’s military said Sunday, as Moscow intensified its military assault despite holding direct peace talks with Kyiv Friday.

Russia launched 273 Shahed drones in one night, the Ukrainian Air Force said, predominantly targeting the central Kyiv region.

A 28-year-old woman was killed, and three others including a four-year-old child were injured, according to Mykola Kalashnik, the governor of the Kyiv region.

Ruslan Stefanchuk, the head of Ukraine’s parliament, said in a social media post Sunday: “The air raid alarm lasted almost nine hours. This is what Putin’s ‘sincere desire for peace’ looks like.”

The attack destroyed residential buildings, damaged a high-rise and set garages on fire, Stefanchuk wrote, adding: “This is terror in its purest form.”

The “massive attack” caused a number of fires, Ukraine’s emergency services also said, adding that 55 rescue workers had been deployed.

Elsewhere, Russian shelling killed one person and injured eight in the Donetsk region Saturday, according to the head of the Donetsk regional military administration, Vadym Filashkin. Russian drones also targeted the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, regional military chiefs said.

Meanwhile, Russian forces have downed 75 Ukrainian drones in the past 24 hours, TASS, a Russian state news agency, reported Sunday, citing Russia’s defense ministry.

The latest assault comes after a Russian drone attack on a bus in Ukraine’s northeastern region of Sumy killed at least nine people and injured seven Saturday, just hours after the two countries met for the first direct peace talks since the early weeks of Russia’s 2022 invasion.

The negotiations in Turkey failed to produce a major breakthrough. The two countries discussed a possible meeting between their presidents, a ceasefire and agreed a prisoner swap.

The talks capped days of back-and-forth: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin called for the face-to-face meeting but did not attend himself, instead sending a junior delegation after rejecting Ukraine’s proposal of a 30-day ceasefire.

Donald Trump is set to speak with Putin Monday on ending the Ukraine war, the US president announced Saturday. Trump has previously said he doesn’t think there will be a significant breakthrough on peace talks until he speaks with Putin directly.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed Saturday that preparations were underway for a phone conversation between the two leaders.

Leo XIV, the first ever American pope, will be formally inaugurated as the 267th pontiff Sunday during a special Mass in St. Peter’s Square attended by world leaders, royalty, and thousands of believers.

The May 18 service will be rich in symbolism and include the formal bestowing on Leo of the symbols of office including the pallium – a lamb’s wool vestment symbolizing his pastoral care for the church and role as shepherd to his flock – and the fisherman’s ring, which symbolizes the Pope’s authority as the successor of St. Peter, a fisherman by trade and who Catholics hold to be the first pope.

Among those expected to attend Sunday’s two-hour long liturgy include US Vice-President JD Vance, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the President of Peru, Dina Boluarte, the leader of the country where Pope Leo served as both a missionary and a bishop for several decades. Countries from across the globe will be represented, with the Vatican hosting delegates from more than 150 nations.

The 69-year-old Chicago-born pontiff is expected to greet delegations from different countries after his inauguration Sunday, a Vatican spokesman said.

Although Leo was elected as pope on May 8, the official beginning of his papacy begins on May 18, with his first general audience with the public scheduled for May 21.

In his first Mass as pontiff on May 9, Leo called on the clergy to show humility, has made repeated appeals for peace and explained his choice of name. Later in the week, he used his first Vatican address since his election to call for peace in Ukraine and Gaza, saying “Never again war!”

The first American pope, who is an avid tennis player, has also met with journalists and men’s tennis number one seed, Jannik Sinner.

Symbols of office

On Sunday morning , Pope Leo will use the popemobile for the first time and greet people in St Peter’s Square before heading inside the basilica for the Mass.

He will be joined by leaders of Eastern Orthodox churches for the first part of the service as he descends to pray at the tomb of St.Peter. The pallium, the ring and a book of the gospels will then be taken by two members of the clergy towards the altar in the square.

The scripture readings at the Mass will largely focus on the figure of St. Peter and the central passage from John’s Gospel, a text seen as foundational to the pope’s ministry as St. Peter’s successor.

Following this reading, three cardinals will then present the pope with the symbols of office.

Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, who announced the news that Leo had been elected, will place the pallium over the new pontiff. Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, will say a special prayer. Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines will present Leo with the signet “ring of the fisherman,” which was traditionally used to seal official documents but is now ceremonial.

The Vatican has released details of the ring, which has an image of St. Peter on the outside band, with “Leo XIV” and the pope’s coat of arms engraved on the inside.

All bishops wear rings to show their bond to the local church they lead and the ring of the Pope, as Bishop of Rome, symbolises his “betrothal” to the entire church.

After receiving the symbols of office, representatives of ordinary Catholics from across the world will show their “obedience” to the pope, something that in the past was done by cardinals. The decision to include non-cardinals in this part of the service shows the pope’s commitment to a church which seeks to deepen the involvement of Catholics who are not part of the hierarchy. The inclusion of ordinary Catholics in the ceremony is also a nod to Leo’s intent to continue reforms started by his predecessor, Pope Francis.

During the Mass, Pope Leo will also give a homily, where he will likely set out some of the key themes of his pontificate, something he would have spent time considering carefully.

After the Mass ends, the pope will lead the Regina Caeli, or “Queen of Heaven” prayer before meeting the international delegations inside the basilica.

Papal inauguration ceremonies have changed over the years. For centuries it also involved a “coronation,” which included placing the papal tiara on the new pope’s head. The last papal “coronation” was of Paul VI in 1963. He however, decided to sell the tiara and give the proceeds to charity. Catholics in the US bought that tiara, which is now on display at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.