Correction: I originally said the Pope Leo XIV was Cardinal Robert Joseph Prevost, not Robert Francis Prevost. A reader pointed out my error and reminded me that, in that sense, there’s still a Francis in the Chair of Peter.
“Peace be with you all! Dearest brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting of the Risen Christ, the Good Shepherd who gave His life for God’s flock.”
These were also the first words of Pope Leo XIV.
I was on the road yesterday listening to the Vatican News livestream when Robert Francis Prevost was announced with the name Pope Leo.
If I’m being honest, I was hoping for Francis II. So my first reaction was some disappointment. My second reaction was shock when I realized that he was an American. And from Chicago! The pope grew up only a three hours drive from my house!
I was really touched by his opening address from the balcony. He spoke of the unconditional love of God and the “unarmed and disarming” peace of Christ. He also spoke fondly of Francis:
“We still hear in our ears the weak but always courageous voice of Pope Francis blessing Rome! The Pope who blessed Rome was giving his blessing to the world, to the whole world, that Easter morning. Allow me to continue that same blessing: God loves us, God loves you all, and evil will not prevail! We are all in God’s hands. Therefore, without fear, united hand in hand with God and with one another, let us go forward. We are disciples of Christ. Christ goes before us. The world needs His light. Humanity needs Him as the bridge to be reached by God and His love. Help us—and each other—to build bridges, through dialogue, through encounter, uniting everyone to be one people always in peace. Thank you, Pope Francis!”
It was also encouraging to me that he seems to be wanting to continue Francis’s vision of the Church, as Pope Leo said later in his address:
“We must seek together how to be a missionary Church, a Church that builds bridges, dialogue, always open to receive like this square with open arms. Everyone—everyone who needs our charity, our presence, dialogue, and love…To all of you, brothers and sisters of Rome, of Italy, of the whole world—we want to be a synodal Church, a Church that walks, a Church that always seeks peace, that always seeks charity, that always seeks to be close especially to those who suffer.”
Then, earlier this morning, I read his first homily during a Mass with the cardinals. It was fine. Good even. But he's not Francis. Which is reality. But I still miss Francis.
In that homily, he referenced a line from St. Ignatius of Antioch on his way to be martyred, "Then I will truly be a disciple of Jesus Christ, when the world no longer sees my body.” Commenting on that passage, Pope Leo said:
“His words apply more generally to an indispensable commitment for all those in the Church who exercise a ministry of authority. It is to move aside so that Christ may remain, to make oneself small so that he may be known and glorified (cf. Jn 3:30), to spend oneself to the utmost so that all may have the opportunity to know and love him.”
Those with authority in the Church are called to be martyrs. If not literal martyrs like St. Ignatius, then martyrs who are always willing to “move aside” and “make themselves small.”
Leo XIV isn’t Francis, but I trust, I hope, he’s the pope that the Church needs today.
May God give Pope Leo XIV the grace to always make himself small so that Christ may be glorified, especially in the most vulnerable and marginalized.
His middle name is Francis, not Joseph, so we do have another Francis in that respect!
Thanks for sharing your reaction to the election of Pope Leo XIV. My husband and I were watching it on our computer in our living room. At first we did not understand the name as it was announced. I only understood the name Pope Leo, which after an initial reaction of "this is taking us back", I realized that this was a connection to Leo XIII and Rerum Novarum and continuity with the church's modern Catholic Social Teaching and with Pope Francis. Then I started cheering and have continued to do so. He is not Pope Francis, but the more I read about him the more I am led to think that he was Pope Francis' choice. I imagine Pope Francis smiling in heaven.