Pope Leo XIV: A New Era

CNS photo/Kendall McLaren

We’re all excited to see the election of our new Holy Father, Cardinal Robert Prevost of the United States, now Pope Leo XIV.  I am having a great time in conversations, discussing his background, growing up in Chicago, his love for sports and White Sox affiliation, his vocational journey through the religious order of St Augustine, missionary work in south America, Africa, Asia, and all over the world, and the first words he is saying as he begins his new ministry.  This is truly an unprecedented blessing coming from America into the Church, and out into the world.   

Our beloved Pope Francis, resting in peace, brought the Church through tumultuous times and gave us renewed confidence as we learned to encounter and bring forward the human face of God, the mercy and compassion of Jesus Christ.  We have seen the highest numbers of people either joining or returning to religious worship through this last Easter and the present season of Confirmations, since I began my episcopacy in the Diocese of Pueblo eleven years ago.

"We have seen the highest numbers of people either joining or returning to religious worship through this last Easter and the present season of Confirmations, since I began my episcopacy in the Diocese of Pueblo eleven years ago."

Of all questions asked about how Pope Leo will continue this forward movement, I am most intrigued by the possibilities offered by the name Cardinal Prevost has chosen.  Of course there was the first Leo, the Great, who in 452 met Atilla the Hun and persuaded him to cease his invasion of Italy.  He also categorically resolved the positive Christological definition of Jesus Christ as true God and true man for all time. 

 As to another Leo, more recently in 1891, Pope Leo XIII issued the encyclical Rerum Novarum (Of New Things), defining the rights of Capital and Labor, mutually upheld but with responsibilities each to the other, according to the needs for addressing the abuses of social justice of the Industrial Revolution.  This brilliantly conceived document laid the foundations for a universal understanding of both the economic and social rights and duties of Capital and Labor to live in mutual support and harmony for the Common Good. 

"Of all questions asked about how Pope Leo will continue this forward movement, I am most intrigued by the possibilities offered by the name Cardinal Prevost has chosen."

Leo XVIII also stabilized Church teachings by instituting the theology of St Thomas Aquinas, which incorporates and systemizes the theology of St Augustine, as normative for catechetical formation.  This may seem like an esoteric observation.  However, it promises administrative stability and unity for the Church in an ever-changing world.  Along with our new Pope Leo XIV’s background: a good family and childhood imbued with the Chicago work ethic, some hopeful American know-how, extensive well-honed experience and contacts all over the world and, particularly, experience in the Vatican as a Cardinal, it is exciting to speculate what his choice of name as Pope Leo XIV, his American upbringing, and his personal Augustinian charism signify for carrying out the mission ahead. 

In closing, let us hear the words of Pope Leo XIV, from his Inaugural Mass, May 18: “I was chosen, without any merit of my own, and now, with fear and trembling, I come to you as a brother, who desires to be the servant of your faith and your joy, walking with you on the path of God’s love, for he wants us all to be united in one family….We want to say to the world, with humility and joy:  Look to Christ!  Come closer to Him!  Welcome his word that enlightens and consoles!  Listen to his offer of love and become his one family:  in the one Christ, we are one!  This is the path to follow together…with our sister Christian churches, with those who follow other religious paths, with those who are searching for God, with all women and men of good will, in order to build a new world where peace reigns!”

+Most Reverend Stephen J. Berg

 Bishop of Pueblo

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