Pope Leo XIV moved on Monday to the Basilica of San Agustín in Rome, located in the heart of the city, to preside over the opening mass of the 188th General Chapter of the Order of San Agustín.
On his first official visit after being elected Pope to this temple, a symbol of the order of St. Augustine in the eternal city, the Holy Father was received by his Augustinian brothers and by the rector of the Basilica, Fr. Pasquale Cormio.
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This Basilica, one of the first Renaissance erected in Rome and where the mortal remains of Santa Monica, the mother of the saint of Hipona, also have great value for Pope Leo XIV, since it was here that he received the priestly ordination in 1982.
At the beginning of his homily, the Holy Father asked the Holy Spirit to guide the work of the order and that his grace “becomes the protagonist of the days to come.”
“The Holy Spirit speaks, today as in the past. He does it in the depths of the heart and through the brothers and the circumstances of life,” he said.
After urging the Augustinians to cultivate a climate of “listening to God and others,” he evoked the words of St. Augustine to remind them that “together you are members of the body of Christ, who speaks all languages.”
Along these lines, he encouraged them to live these days “with a sincere effort to communicate and understand”, and do it with real humility: “That nobody intends to have all the answers. That each one shares with openness what he possesses,” he said.
“Only like that,” the Pontiff continued – the spirit can ‘teach’ and ‘remember’ what Jesus said, recording it in your hearts so that from them their echo is disseminated in the uniqueness and unrepeatability of each beat. “
He also highlighted “the value of the unit” and encouraged them to be “an inalienable objective of your efforts, but not only: it is also the criterion of verification of your work and work together, because what unites comes from it, but what divides cannot come from it.”
“Listen, humility and unity: Here are three useful suggestions that the liturgy offers you for the next few days,” concluded Pope Leo XIV.
Almudena Martínez-Bordiú
Graduated in journalism and advertising from the CEU San Pablo University of Madrid. Specialized in religious information in Spain since 2015. It has been a senior correspondent for ACI Press and Ewtn News at the Vatican for two years and is currently a correspondent for Europe based on Spain.