ANALYSIS: One month from the Pontificate of Leo XIV

Tags that usually apply to potatoes do not fit Leo XIV. He is not a revolutionary like Francisco or a restorer as Benedict XVI.

“Reformer” and “reactionary” do not quote him either.

On the other hand, what slowly begins to be seen a month after his choice, on May 8, is a generational change in leadership: a pontificate “original”, it could be said, led by a silently capable pastor who prioritizes continuity but also has a sensible behavior, an aptitude to build bridges and an independent vision to fix his own direction.

“Generational”, because he is the first Pope since the Vatican II who was not in the seminar or was a priest at the time of the Council. This fact gives the first Pope born in the United States a certain distance from the great debates and conciliar controversies of the late twentieth and early twenty -first century. In this context, the choice of his papal name acquires greater relevance, since, wisely, he has associated with the last lion, the founding father of the Catholic social doctrine that reigned more than a century ago, instead of with a closest predecessor.

At the same time, this choice of affiliation speaks of an independent spirit that many people seem to appreciate in the new Holy Father.

From the first moments of his pontificate, León emphasized communicating continuity with Pope Francis, who deliberately did the opposite.

The new Pope has repeatedly summoned Francisco in his first homilies, hugging the call to a synodal church, for example, and emphasizing to pray in the tomb of his predecessor.

At the same time, he has sent clear signs that he is himself.

A remarkable way of achieving it is to adopt all the symbols of papal power. Take the muleta, the red layer that reaches half of the shoulder, from its first appearance in the lodge of blessings. More recently, he has started using white pants under the cassock. He did not as a sign of opposition to Pope Francis, who, as is well known, wore black pants, but to strengthen and boost the signs and symbols of the institutional church.

Another sign came in his homily on June 1, on the occasion of the jubilee of families, children, grandparents and the elderly, when Leon cited the encyclical Human life From St. Paul I saw when observing that “marriage is not an ideal, but the measure of true love between a man and a woman: a total, faithful and fruitful love. This love makes them a single flesh and allows them, in the image of God, to share the gift of life.”

In its simplicity, these words mark a change of direction with respect to the previous pontificate, since in the controversial postsinodal exhortation of Francisco, Love happinessChristian marriage was repeatedly summoned as an ideal.

Like Francisco, León recognizes the imperative need to go to the peripheries. However, as a long career missionary in Peru, he has already highlighted the evangelizing work that must be done there.

In the Mass for churchhis first Mass as Pope, held with the Cardinal College in the Sistine Chapel on May 9, Leo XIV pointed out that there are “contexts in which the Christian faith is considered something absurd, for weak and little intelligent people; contexts in which other assurances are preferred to it, such as technique, money, success, power, power, pleasure”.

The Pope reaffirmed the commitment of the mission in those places, because “the lack of faith often brings dramas such as the loss of the meaning of life, the oblivion of mercy, the violation of the dignity of the person in their most dramatic forms, the family crisis and so many other wounds that afflict our society.”

For León, the mission is based on the truth of the Christian message. On May 16, when meeting for the first time with the members of the diplomatic corps accredited before the Holy See, Leo XIV placed the truth, along with peace and justice, as pillars of the diplomatic commitment of the Holy See.

“The Church can never refrain from telling the truth about man and the world, resorting when necessary to a frank language, which can lead to some initial misunderstanding,” he said.

Although a paradigm shift is perceived in the approach of Pope Francis of evangelizing speaking the language of the world, Leo XIV shows no opposition to his predecessor. This is not a pontificate against or favor, but rather a mission pontificate.

The government line

Continuity centered on the mission also underlines its early approach to governance.

For now, he has maintained the appointments already established with the previous pontificate, including the appointment by Francisco of the Franciscan sister of the poor Tiziana Merletti as secretary of the Dicasteria for the institutes of consecrated life and the societies of apostolic life.

The departure of Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia of the Pontifical Academy for Life and his position as Rector of the Pontifical Theological Institute John Paul II for studies on marriage and the family was expected, since he had turned 80 years old. The Pope trusted the Foreign Ministry of the Institute to Cardinal Baldasarre Reina, Vicar of the Pope for the Diocese of Rome and, therefore, also rector of the Pontifical Latarenese University, thus prefiguring a union between the Institute and the University. He also confirmed Mons. Philippe Bordyne, president of the institute, for another four years. In the Academy for Life, Leo XIV also opted for continuity, promoting the rector, Mons. Renzo Pegoraro.

However, a generational change is coming. In addition to having to choose his successor in the Dicasterio for Bishops, he must replace the prefects of the causes of the saints, of the divine cult and the discipline of the sacraments, of the promotion of the Christian unity, of the integral human development, of the laity, of the family and of life, all of them over 75 years.

However, any Pope will act according to their priorities. While forming his own team, León must face the need to introduce a mode of operation Similar to that of a government in the Church to address some complex issues, in particular the Sin-Vatican Agreement. The next round of meetings on this subject was expected to take place next week.

We know, for his leadership career as leader of the Augustinians, Bishop and Prefect, who prefers to establish a structured and priority governance instead of micrognition or early radical changes. He will intervene when he considers it appropriate, as he has already made known to those who, as always happens at the beginning of a pontificate, have appeared at his door to present some requests.

It will not make decisions to be popular; It will not make hasty decisions.

The future of the Church

When ordering 11 priests for the Diocese of Rome on May 31, Leo XIV requested “known lives, legible lives, credible lives.”

“We are within the people of God to be able to introduce ourselves before him with a credible testimony,” he continued. “Together, then, we will rebuild the credibility of a wounded church, sent to a wounded humanity in the middle of a injured creation. We are not yet perfect, but it is necessary to be credible,” he added.

In this way, the Pope did not pointed the infidel priests with his finger, but asked everyone to be faithful. In this we can also recognize your mode of operation To govern the Church. First, faith, and then the infrastructure, whether liturgical, historical or social. León can do this precisely because he is the Pope of a new generation.

Pope Benedict XVI had affirmed, in the book-player The salt of the earth With Peter Seewald, that he was still an old world man, but that the New World had not yet begun.

He has begun with this pontiff. He is a Pope of three worlds: American, missionary in Latin America and a deep connoisseur of Roman reality.

Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in the National Catholic Register.