Sunday will mark one month since the election of Pope Leo XIV. Many people have looked at discrete decisions, like his choice of clothing, as tea leaves about his pontificate, whether they are or not.
For example, there is much speculation about whether the new pope will live in the Vatican guesthouse where Pope Francis lived, or if he will return to the apostolic palace. Would moving back to the palace be a repudiation of Francis? A sign that Leo intends a more regal papacy? No. The issue about living in the apostolic palace was raised during the pre-conclave general congregations not because of its symbolism but because of its cost: Paying for security in two locations has become prohibitively expensive.
In seeking to discern any direction in the new papacy, it is smarter to highlight things he has said in this first month that offer an inkling as to how he views his ministry.
His first Sunday as pope, four days after his election, Leo celebrated Mass with a few Augustinian brothers in the crypt of St. Peter’s. Fr. Tony Pizzo, provincial of the Midwest Augustinians, was in Rome to celebrate the anniversary of his ordination. While they were all vesting before the Mass, Leo congratulated Pizzo on his anniversary and asked him if he would like to preside at the Mass. Pizzo said, “I could not believe he asked me that. And I looked at him, and I said, ‘Nooooo.’ ”
Leo presided, and in his homily said:
How important it is to listen! Jesus says, “My sheep listen to my voice”. And I think it is important for all of us to learn how to listen more, to enter into dialogue. First and foremost, with the Lord: always listen to the Word of God. Then also listen to others, to know how to build bridges, to know how to listen without judging, not closing the doors thinking that we have all the truth and no one else can tell us anything. It is very important to listen to the voice of the Lord, to listen to it, in this dialogue, and to see where the Lord is calling us towards.
It is not difficult to imagine Pope Francis saying these words. They point to synodality and, critically, that we listen to each other to better listen to the Holy Spirit. The critics of synodality who complain it is precisely the kind of inward-looking experience Francis claimed to shun always leave out the part about listening to the Holy Spirit. Also worth noting is the absence of listening in various social media ministries such as Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire. There, the answers are prepackaged and ready to be shared with the docile audience. That is not Leo’s approach.
In the days of his first week as pope, Leo met with a variety of groups, including the media and members of a charitable foundation. Speaking to the diplomatic corps, he focused his message on three words: peace, justice and truth. I found his remarks about truth especially blunt and penetrating. “The third word is truth. Truly peaceful relationships cannot be built, also within the international community, apart from truth,” the pope said. “Where words take on ambiguous and ambivalent connotations, and the virtual world, with its altered perception of reality, takes over unchecked, it is difficult to build authentic relationships, since the objective and real premises of communication are lacking.”
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With thanks to the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) and Michael Sean Winters, where this article originally appeared.
