ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV closed out 2025 on Wednesday with a prayer that the city of Rome might be a welcoming place for foreigners and fragile people, young and old.
Leo presided over a New Year’s Eve vespers service in St. Peter’s Basilica, giving thanks for the 2025 Holy Year that brought millions of pilgrims to Rome in the once-every-quarter-century celebration of Christianity.
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Pope Leo XIV arrives to preside over the first Vespers and the 'Te Deum' in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV presides over the first Vespers and the 'Te Deum' in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV presides over the first Vespers and the 'Te Deum' in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV presides over the first Vespers and the 'Te Deum' in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV arrives to preside over the first Vespers and the 'Te Deum' in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Leo will officially close out the Jubilee on Jan. 6. But in his homily, he thanked the city of Rome and the volunteers who helped keep crowds moving as they visited St. Peter’s and passed through its Holy Door.
He recalled that Pope Francis, who inaugurated the Holy Year on Dec. 24, 2024, had asked that Rome be a more welcoming place. “I would like it to be so again, and I would say even more so after this time of grace,” Leo said.
“What can we wish for Rome? That it may be worthy of its little ones. Of children, of lonely and fragile elderly people, of families who struggle to get by, of men and women who have come from afar hoping for a dignified life,” he said.
In the pews was Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri and other dignitaries.
In addition to the Jubilee, 2025 was momentous because of the papal transition after Francis died in April and cardinals elected history's first pope from the United States.
The Vatican this week released statistics showing 3.2 million people had participated in Vatican liturgies, audiences, Angelus prayers and Jubilee audiences this year. The numbers were small in the first quarter, given Francis' long hospitalization and illness, and then greatly shot up after Leo's May election.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Pope Leo XIV arrives to preside over the first Vespers and the 'Te Deum' in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV presides over the first Vespers and the 'Te Deum' in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV presides over the first Vespers and the 'Te Deum' in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV presides over the first Vespers and the 'Te Deum' in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV arrives to preside over the first Vespers and the 'Te Deum' in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The advice that legendary investor Warren Buffett offered on investing and life over the years helped earn him legions of followers who eagerly read his annual letters and filled an arena in Omaha every year to listen to him at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meetings.
Buffett's last day as CEO is Wednesday after six decades of building up the Berkshire conglomerate. He'll remain chairman, but Greg Abel will take over leadership.
Here's a collection of some of Buffett's most famous quotes from over the years:
“Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.”
That's how Buffett summed up his investing approach of buying out-of-favor stocks and companies when they were selling for less than he estimated they were worth.
He also urged investors to stick with industries they understand that fall within their “circle of competence” and offered this classic maxim: “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No. 1.”
“After they first obey all rules, I then want employees to ask themselves whether they are willing to have any contemplated act appear the next day on the front page of their local paper to be read by their spouses, children and friends with the reporting done by an informed and critical reporter.
“If they follow this test, they need not fear my other message to them: Lose money for the firm and I will be understanding; lose a shred of reputation for the firm and I will be ruthless.”
That's the ethical standard Buffett explained to a Congressional committee in 1991 that he would apply as he cleaned up the Wall Street investment firm Salomon Brothers. He has reiterated the newspaper test many times since over the years.
“You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.”
Many companies might do well when times are good and the economy is growing, but Buffett told investors that a crisis always reveals whether businesses are making sound decisions.
“Who you associate with is just enormously important. Don't expect that you'll make every decision right on that. But you are going to have your life progress in the general direction of the people you work with, that you admire, that become your friends.”
Buffett always told young people that they should try to hang out with people who they feel are better than them because that will help improve their lives. He said that's especially true when choosing a spouse, which might be the most important decision in life.
“Our unwavering conclusion: never bet against America.”
Buffett has always remained steadfast in his belief in the American capitalist system. He wrote in 2021 that “there has been no incubator for unleashing human potential like America. Despite some severe interruptions, our country’s economic progress has been breathtaking.”
FILE - Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, puts pen to paper during a game of bridge following the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in Omaha, Neb., Sunday, May 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)
FILE - Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, opens a bottle of Cherry Coke during a game of bridge outside Berkshire-owned Borsheims jewelry store in Omaha, Neb., Sunday, May 6, 2018. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)
FILE- In this May 7, 2018, file photo, Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett smiles during an interview in Omaha, Neb.. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)
FILE - Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, gestures as he plays bridge outside Berkshire-owned Borsheims jewelry store in Omaha, Neb., Sunday, May 6, 2018. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)
FILE - Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, speaks to reporters before presiding over the annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Neb., May 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)
