Pope Leo baptizes 20 infants in tradition marking end of Christmas season
Pope Leo XIV baptized 20 infants in the Sistine Chapel, marking the close of the Vatican's Christmas season and celebrating faith as essential to life.
Overview
Pope Leo XIV personally baptized 20 infants in the Sistine Chapel beneath Michelangelo’s frescoed ceiling, continuing an annual Vatican tradition.
The infants are children of Vatican employees; their parents, godparents and siblings participated at a baptismal font set in a bronze Tree of Life base.
This was the pontiff’s first baptismal ceremony and he emphasized faith as essential, saying it gives meaning to life and salvation through God.
The ceremony marks the feast recalling Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan, established in 1981 by St. John Paul II, and is linked to a Perugino fresco in the chapel.
Afterward in St. Peter’s Square, the pope blessed all infants receiving baptism, particularly those born in difficult health or danger, and gave fathers candles symbolizing Christian light.
Analysis
Center-leaning sources present this report neutrally, focusing on factual ceremony details and direct papal quotes without loaded language. They describe what happened (baptisms, infants of Vatican employees), provide context (feast origin, Sistine Chapel setting), and avoid editorial judgment or selective emphasis.
Sources (3)
FAQ
At the Vatican, the Christmas season liturgically concludes with the feast recalling Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan, and the pope’s baptism of infants in the Sistine Chapel is the traditional celebration of that feast, marking the close of the Christmas period there.
The 20 infants baptized by Pope Leo XIV were the children of Vatican employees who work at the Holy See.
Pope Leo XIV stressed that faith is even more necessary than food and clothing because, with God, life finds salvation and faith gives true meaning to the gift of life.
The celebration is tied to the feast day commemorating Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan, a feast established in 1981 by St. John Paul II, and it is visually linked to a Perugino fresco of Christ’s baptism on the Sistine Chapel’s north wall.
Each father received a candle symbolizing the Christian light that illuminates believers’ path, representing faith and the presence of Christ guiding their families’ lives.
History
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