LONDON and ROME — Pope Leo XIV spoke on Sunday of the remarkable times during which he’s been elevated to the papacy, saying in his first homily as pontiff that he will rise to the task “with fear and trembling,” while still seeking to serve all with “faith and joy.”

That homily was delivered during the American pope’s inaugural mass, called the Holy Mass for the Beginning of the Pontificate, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. An open-topped popemobile had driven Leo on Sunday morning through St. Peter’s Square, where about 100,000 people had gathered to catch a glimpse of him, according to the Vatican’s press office.

The pope said during his homily that there’s “too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference, and the economic paradigm that exploits the Earth’s resources and marginalizes the poorest.”

He called for the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics to embrace a “missionary spirit,” rather than closing themselves off “in our small groups.” He called for the faithful to discard feelings of being “superior to the world.”

“We are called to offer God’s love to everyone, in order to achieve that unity which does not cancel out differences but values the personal history of each person and the social and religious culture of every people,” he said.

Attendees at the mass, which marks the official beginning of Leo’s papacy, included Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, along with other political figures and religious dignitaries.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Australian Prime Minster Anthony Albanese were in attendance. And representatives of the Ecumenical, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Zoroastrian and Jain churches were there, the Vatican’s Holy See press office said.

Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy greeted each other and shook hands prior to the mass. The Vatican said later Sunday that the pope had held a private audience with Zelenskyy and his wife in the Vatican. The pope met with Peruvian President Dina Boluarte prior to the mass, the Vatican said.

Leo, who was formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost, is a 69-year-old native of Chicago, Illinois. Elected on May 8, he’s the first American to lead the church.