Pope Leo XIV has already put his own stamp on what it means to be a Pope. He will promote peace between people, peaceful relationships in the Church, peace in the political life of nations and peace between nations. And the peace that he promotes will be the peace of Christ embodied in his life and death, guaranteed in his rising from the dead, and seeded in his Church.
In that vision he will follow the path taken by Pope Francis. He will encourage a Church on mission to the world, going beyond its boundaries, build that sense of mission and agency into the relationships in the Church within congregations, local churches, national churches and the universal Church. He will honour continuity and change, unity and difference in the life of the Church.
Each pope is a distinctive person. He brings his own personality, gifts and style to his work. Pope Francis brought his childhood in a poor neighborhood, his calling as Jesuit priest, his experience under a military dictatorship, and a gift for responding naturally and empathetically to situations and to people.
Pope Leo will do things in his own way. His background as an Augustinian friar will be significant. Augustinian friars adopted the Monastic rule of St Augustine and were founded in the religious explosion of the early 13th century. They are priests who respect scholarship and spend their lives in pastoral ministry. They live simply together in monasteries under a local and international prior. Among the most notable members of Augustinian inspiration were Martin Luther and Nicholas Breakspear. The latter is the only Englishman to have become Pope.
Pope Leo’s Augustinian background suggests that he will bring to the papacy a spiritual depth, a respect for faith and reason, and experience in shaping a community out of different peoples. His experience as prior general of the Augustinians and as bishop in a poor and fractious region of Peru testifies to his understanding of how communities work and to his gifts of unifying and of making space. That experience explains why he will follow Pope Francis in his commitment to shape a universal Church that is committed to mission at all levels, to service of the poor, and in which all Catholics have agency. He also spent recent years with responsibility for Vatican departments. He is manifestly a citizen of the world and a gifted leader and administrator.
Pope Francis revealed the style of his papacy in the striking symbols of behaviour, dress, choice of name and motto that marked a simple lifestyle and connection with the lives of ordinary people. The full meaning of Pope Leo’s symbols remain to be discovered. But initially they have been unassuming. His dress and address were unpretentiously episcopal. His choice of name evokes Pope Leo XIII whose 19th century encyclical letters on pressing social issues arising from the Industrial Revolution inspired modern Catholic reflection and teaching on social justice.
His name also recalls the first Pope Leo, remembered with justice as Leo the Great, who lived in turbulent times both of invasion and tribal warfare in Italy and of fierce differences about faith particularly in the Eastern Church. Leo acted as legate to broker a peaceful entry into Rome by an invading army. He also acted forcefully to ensure unity of faith in the Church, appealing to the authority of the successors of Peter as Bishop of Rome. Pope Leo’s choice of name suggests that Pope Leo will see his mission as universal both in encouraging peace in the world and unity in the Church. We can also expect him to travel widely.
Finally, Pope Leo’s motto in illo uno unum, drawn from St Augustine’s exposition of Psalm 127 which stresses the value of each person and the unity of human beings in Christ. It expresses the human dignity that underpins Catholic social teaching on social issues and makes the good of each the responsibility of all.
Pope Leo’s first days have been rich and promising. We should pray for him in his many responsibilities.
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