Leo the Fourteenth

The conversation took place twenty years ago, but I recall it well. I had been teaching Religious Education at the time, and the election of Benedict the Sixteenth was in full swing. It was not a Catholic school, and so I did not expect to speak to any Catholic children, but I was pleasantly surprised when a female pupil gave me news. "Sir, we have a pope." Benedict the sixteenth had just been elected.  I asked whether she was Catholic, but her reply surprised me ,"I'm not" she replied, but we all need a pope!" For some reason unbeknown to me she had sensed the spiritual and moral guidance given by the papacy. From this experience I drew a  strong inspiration into the significance of the papacy, and an awareness of its spiritual power.

Popes generally take a regnal name. For example Peter was originally Simon until Jesus changed it, initially to Cephas, the Aramaic for Peter. No pope takes the name Peter nowadays, out of respect for the first pope The name adopted is generally a clue as to the direction that the new pope needs/wants his papacy to take. There had been previously thirteen Leos, so the reference is generally to the latest holder of the name. The previous holder, the thirteenth of the name, was pope at a time spanning the end of the nineteenth century to the early twentieth century, though not covering any years during which the First World Was was raging. Leo the thirteenth was a pope who addressed issues of social justice, particularly for workers and the working classes. He did this through the long-established institution of encyclicals, papal letters sent round the whole church containing teachings. These encyclicals are known by the Latin words of their first two letters. For example, the issue that concerned Leo  the thirteenth's teachings on social justice was Rerum Novarum, which means Of New Things in Latin. It concerns the just claims of capital and labour. This emphasis on social justice was a milestone in Catholic Social Teaching. 

Leo's choice of his regnal name indicates that like his predecessor he would make social justice a major consideration in his pontificate, just as Leo did, but he did not become Francis the Second, as he felt a need to carve his own path through his pontificate. Francis was identified with progressive elements in the church, to use a loaded term, but Leo seems to wish for more than a passing nod to conservative elements who have felt more than a little neglected, though it is the case that not all decisions have gone the way of these self-styled progressives.  

From early in his life Leo seemed to have been drawn to the priesthood. Rejecting the secular clergy of his own diocese to join a religious order he joined the Augustinian friars. These were not founded by St Augustine, but by a founder who was inspired by the ideas of St Augustine. Friars are not monks. Whereas monks dwell in monastic communities and are very much confirmed in their commitment to stability, which means that they are not very mobile, Friars, be they of the Augustinian order, Franciscans, Carmelites or Dominicans, are mobile, and are much more likely to move around for the sake of religious works. 

He was a scholarly man and in his early years managed to study for qualifications at three institutions universities, and acquired a degree in mathematics along with theological qualifications. . The level of education that he acquired in the intense course of study that he underwent will have stood him in good stead for his future ministry. 

The mobility demanded of these friars led Leo to become a missionary and he was called to work at the Augustinian friars' mission in North Peru. There he would spend the remaining years until he was summoned to Rome, , and it seems that he saw Peru as the place where he would spend the rest of his life. We can infer this from the fact that he took up Peruvian citizenship, though he kept his American citizenship. Leo was to work as a missionary for a long time, but he spent much of his time performing the role of seminary tutor, educating candidates  for the priesthood,  and he also  performed other official functions on  church tribunals.    The work of a missionary is very arduous. Besides his work as a seminary tutor and work in dealing with church tribunals, a task for which he used his doctorate in canon law, he did the routine work of a missionary, which involved his driving to remote communities in the Andes, providing priestly services and delivering aid. Missionaries have to be versatile, and often Leo had to repair his own vehicle. Sleeping rough in remote chapels or villages became part of his life, and he would at times have to sleep on a mattress on the floor. He would have been quite familiar with the presence of rats in some of his sleeping places.

Further  educational endeavours were to be beneficial to his future ministry, though he was not fully cognizant of the full significance of his studies, which would benefit him in his future ministry. This was his talent for languages. Being of mixed ethnicity he was exposed to various languages, ie, English and French from early years, becoming fluent in both. His work in South America led him to become fluent in Spanish, and along with that he picked up Portuguese. His eventual transfer to Rome to work in the Vatican led him to develop his competence in Italian. Catholic theological study led him to develop his knowledge of Latin, though he is not verbally fluent in that tongue. The number of Germans resident in certain South American countries meant that the demands of the pastoral ministry led him to acquire some competence in  German.

He returned to the USA in the year 1999, as prior of the Augustinian's Chicago based province, in effect leader of the American Augustinians, where he had to take responsibility for dealing with an abusive priest, whom he took into the Augustinians' house, to act as the man's supervisor. This was not the happiest task, and later the culprit was ejected from the priesthood. But in 2001 Leo was appointed for the first of two six year spells as superior general of the Augustinians, a role that gave him a woldwide role supervising the whole Augustinian order. This worldwide remit was the sign of things to come. 

After his twelve year spell as prior general he returned to Peru, where he became bishop of the diocese of Chiclayo, a coastal town on the  Pacific coast, though much of Leo's missionary work took him to his familiar haunts inland where he resumed work with the poor. In the latter part of this period his time was spent working with refugees from Venezuala, Fleeing from the socialist kleptocracy in that country where the left wing government clings onto power by gerrymandering elections.

He was not long ago named in an abuse case, in which three women named the whole Peruvian Catholic hierarchy for not adequately dealing with their abuse by a cleric and reported the hierarchy to the Vatican. But a Mexican sociologist, an expert on clerical abuse, leapt to his defence, saying that Leo was the Peruvian bishop who took abuse the most seriously and had established a commission to investigate it in his diocese. 

For most of his time as a missionary bishop he was performing the routine tasks of a bishop, and not expecting to move any further in the church hierarchy. But this expectation was thwarted by his encounter with Pope Francis, who, having met Leo decided that he was a person with all the qualities needed to move him up the clerical hierarchy. so Francis raised him to the rank of cardinal. A summons to work in Rome in the Vatican administration soon followed. His first role was to serve in the dicastery [department] for bishops, in which his task was to investigate/research candidates for the episcopate [bishopric] to provide a report on their suitability. There are for each candidate three nominees sent forward to the pope for consideration, and the then cardinal would have to investigate the backgrounds. Considering that there are several thousand bishops in the world the future pope would have had his work to do. His was a hard job with long hours that involved asking questions about the nominees and following through the answers. Later on Pope Francis elevated him to a very senior position, leading the commission established by the church to co-ordinate the operations of the church in South America. After that there was conclave which raised him to the papacy. Whether or not he considered the chance that he might become pope, but there were cardinals other than he who were tipped to achieve the rank of pope.

No one who has sought the papal role has ever been a good pope. Rather, the role should be undertaken with a great deal of trepidation. I suspect that St Peter, the first pope, would at times dream about going fishing! Being pope, especially in the modern world, requires a great deal of knowledge. We have seen how Leo is an adept at languages and has high quality qualifications in Theology and canon law. Yet there will be languages that he does not know, and his role of guiding the church through the minefields of the modern world will require political knowledge, and a grasp of science will always be useful. The politics of situations in which the church finds itself involved will require a grasp of political history, no doubt. But this is not always the core knowledge required by the papacy. The holder of the papal office needs a strong faith, for the problems that he encounters must challenge him greatly, and his faith must be fortified by theological and philosophical learning. No one man can grasp all the great scope of knowledge,  so he must be adept at building a team of learned and skilled people around him. The pope would benefit from knowing how to manage organizations or at least be able  to appoint people talented in that field. 

The need to be tough is often overlooked.  A leader must be able to discipline his staff, dismissing people when necessary.  There are plenty of people in the world, including some national leaders who are difficult to deal with, and toughness of character may be needed in dealing with these people. Which of us would like to deal with Vladimir Putin?  Not I! 

Yet we have not reached the main point. The power of mind and soul that are needed to perform a Herculanean task that the papacy requires is spiritual, especially because the church is a spiritual organization. To perform the pontifical role the pope must be a man of great faith. This implies that he must be a man of prayer. This reminds me of an old Jesuit who taught at my theological college,  who often said, "The priest must be a man of prayer. If you are not a man of prayer, leave." A sobering thought. 

The Catholic Church exists to serve God by doing His work in the world. The world needs God, so the church under papal guidance must strive to spread the faith and to educate people into living a godly life, living by God's standards and wishes. Church must enable people to live the lives of dignity, love and justice that enable them to flourish  The two great commandments are to love God and love your neighbour. These two are the essence of the church's mission, and they involve an option for the poor, which means working for justice and charity in the world, and this should be an important part of the pope's work. Modern issues arise, such as the implications of AI for the human population. The church must stand up for the needs of ordinary people find work and not be replaced by a robot to provide cheap slave labour to fill a capitalist's pocket. Readers who have attended to the news following the conclave will have noticed that the new pope has spent some time talking about peace in the world and about environmental justice 

There are several issues in which the church is at odds with contemporary culture, and I do not wish discuss them here., for it would be too long. Suffice to say that the church has the mission to speak and work for God, and the pope is the leading spokesperson in this matter.

 Getting such a task is arduous. There are no contractual hours, no salary, more problems than a person can deal with. And you get to start dealing with them at an age when an ordinary person is thinking of retirement. There are easier jobs.