Pope Leo XIV Channels the Greatness of Leos Past, Battles Modern Church Division
By Greg Maresca
I have been blessed to have two friends who can discuss matters of faith with the breadth of theological knowledge, consequence, and devotion. They are not ordained members of the clergy but laymen who read deeply and are wholly committed to the ongoing study of the faith of our fathers.
They probe encyclicals, apostolic exhortations, and letters while maintaining a library that is unmatched by any local public collection. They are faithful anomalies of the first degree.
When Pope Francis was elected in March 2013, the man who would succeed him was not a bishop, let alone a cardinal. Given these anomalous papal results, a conclave of our own ensued.
Once a new pope is elected, he chooses a papal name inspired by past pontiffs and saints. Like so many Church traditions, renaming is not only deeply symbolic but traces its roots to the Old Testament, when Abram became Abraham and Jacob became Israel. In Matthew 16:18 of the New Testament, Jesus gave Simon the name Peter from the Latin Petrus, meaning rock—the first pope—upon which His Church was established.
For the past dozen years, the trope “Is the Pope Catholic?” was anything but laughable. Pope Francis was the Church’s Obama. He filled the College of Cardinals with political ideologues much like Obama did with our military’s general corps.
Every one of Francis’ proclamations had us holding our breath. His Liberation Theology, with its roots firmly planted in Marxism, would seemingly undermine the faith from within.
When Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected pope, he chose the papal name Leo. In Latin, the name means lion. My confidant explained, “Leo is an Augustinian, so the choice reflects a desire to reconnect with the past, more toward the foundations of the Church, rather than the comparative radical approach of Franciscans, especially that of Francis. He was the first of his name, a groundbreaker and a rebel. Leo is the 14th.”
Among popes, Leos have historically confronted adversity and division and fought for unity with clarity. Leo I was one of three designated as “the Great.” Leo III crowned Charlemagne, the Holy Roman Emperor, who defended and spread the faith across pagan Europe. It was Leo IV in the 9th century who built the 39-foot wall that protected the Vatican from invading pirates. Leo IX and Leo X both led the Church during times of internal friction, resulting in the excommunication of former priest Martin Luther.
Leo XIII served during the political upheavals of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He advocated for the working class and wrote the Church’s first social encyclical, “Rerum Novarum,” to meet the challenges of the Industrial Revolution. Today, as we confront the AI technological transformation, the new pope referenced “Rerum Novarum” as one reason he chose the name to continue down “this same path.” Leo XIII also confronted communism, writing the St. Michael the Archangel prayer, which many pray. In his 1899 encyclical Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae, he condemned the belief that the Church should change its teachings to attract nonbelievers.
Another hopeful sign was when Leo first appeared on the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica. he was wearing the traditional red mozzetta – the customary papal attire that his predecessor declined. Moreover, when making his way to celebrate his first Mass, he carried a crozier used by Pope Benedict XVI. From the beginning, Leo has shown reverence for the tradition, mission, and history of the 2,000-year-old papacy. Such behavior can assuage a Church full of anxiety. As my colleague articulated, “it heartens and gives the weary hope.”
The new pope is most likely the first to hold an undergraduate degree in mathematics. Mathematicians possess a penchant for linear and logical reasoning, another encouraging sign.
Leo XIV could be for the growing agnostic West, what Pope John Paul II was for communist Eastern Europe.
Embracing the peripheries of secularism is a course for failure. Advancing Francis’ synodality will only further divide the Church. What is not needed is another heterodox Francis in Leo’s clothing, but a namesake true to the wisdom of the Leo lineage. In good faith, the new pontiff should unconditionally reinstate Bishop Joseph Strickland and Father James Altman.
The magnitude, tradition, and grace of the Petrine office can overcome a world filled with anguish and distress.
My cohorts and I remain prudently hopeful.
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