A top US cardinal has celebrated a traditional Latin Mass in St Peter's Basilica with the explicit permission of Pope Leo XIV, thrilling traditionalist Catholics who had felt abandoned after Pope Francis greatly restricted the ancient liturgy.

A few thousand pilgrims, many of them young families with multiple children and the women covering their heads with lace veils, packed the altar area of the basilica to standing room-only capacity.

Cardinal Raymond Burke, a conservative US figurehead, presided over the two and a half hour liturgy, which was rich in hymn, incense and priests bowing to the altar, their backs to the faithful in the pews.

For many traditionalists, the moment was a tangible sign that Leo might be more sympathetic to their plight after they felt rejected by Francis and

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