The inition of the Pontificate of Pope Leo XIV

Before more than one hundred and fifty international delegations and more than two hundred thousand faithful, under the attentive gaze of Our Lady of Good Counsel, located next to the altar in St. Peter's Square, Pope Leo XIV began his pontificate with a solemn Mass marked by a central message: love and unity as the axis of the mission that Christ entrusted to Peter. Augustinian religious men and women from different countries with presence of the Order of St. Augustine also attended, and they joyfully listened to the invitation to communion and reconciliation that the Pope made in his homily.

On Sunday, May 25th, we had already enjoyed the opportunity to hear and see the newly elected Pope, but his homily confirmed that communion, the search for unity, dialogue and the love of God will be the hallmark of the pontificate of Leo XIV.

“You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you” the Pope began, referring to one of the most emblematic quotes from St. Augustine’s “Confessions”. 

Love and unity

From the beginning the tone was unmistakably Augustinian, appealing to the wounds of the heart of contemporary man, who seems to have forgotten that what constitutes his identity is knowing that he is loved by God. And who lives surrounded by conflicts in a divided society and Church.

Thus he said: "Love and unity: these are the two dimensions of the mission that Jesus entrusted to Peter. He narrates it to us in that passage of the Gospel that takes us to Lake Tiberias, the same lake where Jesus had begun the mission received from the Father. Fishing humanity in order to save it from the waters of evil and death".

And, for Peter, it is only possible to undertake such a mission inasmuch as that he has experienced in his own life the infinite and unconditional love of God, even in the hour of failure and denial: “That is why, when it is Jesus who addresses Peter, the Gospel uses the Greek verb agapao —which refers to the love that God has for us, to his self-giving without reserve or calculation—, different from the verb used for Peter's response, which instead describes the love of friendship, which we exchange among ourselves”.

Service and dedication

Pope Leo XIV explained in his homily that Peter was entrusted with the task of “loving even more” and that Peter's ministry, now entrusted to him, is marked precisely by that oblative love, “because the Church of Rome presides in charity and her true authority is charity in Christ.”

“It is never a matter of trapping with subjugation, with religious propaganda or with the means of power,” he added, "but it is always and only a matter of loving as Jesus did. These are words in which the Augustinian spirituality in which Pope Leo XIV was educated resounds and which also indicate a style in the manner of acting of the newly elected pontiff.

Synodality

In his homily at the Mass at the beginning of his pontificate, he spoke in a synodal key of the figure of Peter, pointing out that Peter must shepherd the flock without ever yielding to the temptation of being a solitary leader or a boss who is above the others, making himself master of the people entrusted to him: “We have all, in fact, been constituted living stones, called by our Baptism to build the edifice of God in fraternal communion, in the harmony of the Spirit, in the coexistence of differences”. And at this point he again quoted St. Augustine: “All those who live in harmony with their brothers and sisters and love their neighbors are those who make up the Church” (Sermon 359,9).

A Desire

The Pope summed up the content of his homily by expressing his desire for unity in the Truth of Christ. “I would like this to be our first great desire,” he said, "a united Church, a sign of unity and communion, which becomes a leaven for a reconciled world.

With simplicity and clarity, the pontiff's words responded to a very evident need in recent times, which connects with the essence of Augustinian spirituality. "Brothers, sisters, this is the hour of love! The charity of God, which makes us brothers among ourselves, is the heart of the Gospel". How could one not be moved when listening to this speech.

Finally, Leo XIV expressed his desire for a Church on the move, founded on the love of God, open to the world and ready to allow herself to be challenged by history. “A missionary Church that becomes a leaven of harmony for humanity,” he concluded.

Catholics, as the Pope said, from our smallness, but also aware of the greatness of the mission ahead of us, are called to be leaven of unity, communion and fraternity, within the dough, to cry out to the world that “it is the hour of Love” and that it is, therefore, also the hour to look at Christ with the eyes of the living tradition of the Church.

The Mass at the beginning of the pontificate of the first Augustinian pope in history was an invitation to build a Church founded on the love of God, a Church that is a sign of unity; a missionary Church that opens its arms to the world, proclaims the Word and allows itself to be challenged by history. A Church that becomes a leaven of harmony for humanity.