Pope takes message of dialogue, unity to the Curia
VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV took his message of building bridges and promoting dialogue to the Roman Curia on Saturday, in his first audience with members of the Catholic Church's governing body. The late Pope Francis had sometimes difficult relations with the Curia and Vatican officials, accusing them early in his papacy of "spiritual Alzheimer's" and a lust for power.
The new pontiff, the first from the United States, said on Saturday that his inaugural meeting was an opportunity to say thanks for all their work. "Popes come and go, the Curia remains," Leo told the audience of officials, staff and their families in the Vatican's vast Paul VI hall. He repeated his first words from St Peter's Basilica when he became pope on May 8, where he urged people to "build bridges" and to welcome "with open arms, everyone who needs our charity, our presence, dialogue and love".
"If we must all cooperate in the great cause of unity and love, let us try to do so first of all with our behaviour in everyday situations, starting from the work environment," the pope said. "Everyone can be a builder of unity with their attitudes towards colleagues, overcoming inevitable misunderstandings with patience and humility, putting themselves in the shoes of others, avoiding prejudices, and also with a good dose of humour, as Pope Francis taught us."
From decentralising power and increasing transparency to providing greater roles for lay people and women, Francis implemented several reforms of the Roman Curia. But his criticism left a lasting impression among many officials, and he also drew accusations of being too authoritarian in his governance, regularly bypassing the administrative bodies of the Holy See.
In 2024, the Vatican also saw an unprecedented strike by around 50 employees of the Vatican Museums over their working conditions. The pope spent two decades working in Peru but for the past two years was head of the Vatican department responsible for appointing bishops worldwide.
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24-05-2025
- Observer
Pope takes message of dialogue, unity to the Curia
VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV took his message of building bridges and promoting dialogue to the Roman Curia on Saturday, in his first audience with members of the Catholic Church's governing body. The late Pope Francis had sometimes difficult relations with the Curia and Vatican officials, accusing them early in his papacy of "spiritual Alzheimer's" and a lust for power. The new pontiff, the first from the United States, said on Saturday that his inaugural meeting was an opportunity to say thanks for all their work. "Popes come and go, the Curia remains," Leo told the audience of officials, staff and their families in the Vatican's vast Paul VI hall. He repeated his first words from St Peter's Basilica when he became pope on May 8, where he urged people to "build bridges" and to welcome "with open arms, everyone who needs our charity, our presence, dialogue and love". "If we must all cooperate in the great cause of unity and love, let us try to do so first of all with our behaviour in everyday situations, starting from the work environment," the pope said. "Everyone can be a builder of unity with their attitudes towards colleagues, overcoming inevitable misunderstandings with patience and humility, putting themselves in the shoes of others, avoiding prejudices, and also with a good dose of humour, as Pope Francis taught us." From decentralising power and increasing transparency to providing greater roles for lay people and women, Francis implemented several reforms of the Roman Curia. But his criticism left a lasting impression among many officials, and he also drew accusations of being too authoritarian in his governance, regularly bypassing the administrative bodies of the Holy See. In 2024, the Vatican also saw an unprecedented strike by around 50 employees of the Vatican Museums over their working conditions. The pope spent two decades working in Peru but for the past two years was head of the Vatican department responsible for appointing bishops worldwide.
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16-05-2025
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Meeting diplomats, pope highlights inequality, injustice
VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV recalled his immigrant roots as he spoke out on Friday against global inequality and injustice, including "unworthy" working conditions, in a speech to diplomats accredited to the Vatican. The 69-year-old, who became the first US head of the Catholic Church on May 8, also highlighted climate change, migration and artificial intelligence as some of the world's key challenges. "In this time of epochal change, the Holy See cannot fail to make its voice heard in the face of the many imbalances and injustices that lead, not least, to unworthy working conditions and increasingly fragmented and conflict-ridden societies," the pontiff said. "Every effort should be made to overcome the global inequalities — between opulence and destitution — that are carving deep divides between continents, countries and even within individual societies." The son of a father of French and Italian descent and a mother with Spanish origins, the Chicago-born pontiff recalled how "my own story is that of a citizen, the descendant of immigrants, who in turn chose to emigrate". "All of us, in the course of our lives, can find ourselves healthy or sick, employed or unemployed, living in our native land or in a foreign country, yet our dignity always remains unchanged: it is the dignity of a creature willed and loved by God." The pope, who spent around two decades as a missionary in Peru, added that "my own life experience, which has spanned North America, South America and Europe, has been marked by this aspiration to transcend borders in order to encounter different peoples and cultures". He highlighted as "challenges of our time" issues including "migration, the ethical use of artificial intelligence and the protection of our beloved planet Earth". Leo has made several calls for peace in his first week as pontiff, echoing his late predecessor, Pope Francis. Within this context, he said there was "a need to give new life to multilateral diplomacy and to those international institutions conceived and designed primarily to remedy eventual disputes within the international community". Citing traditional Catholic values, he emphasised the importance of "investing in the family, founded upon the stable union between a man and a woman". He also encouraged "respect for the dignity of every person, especially the most frail and vulnerable, from the unborn to the elderly, from the sick to the unemployed, citizens and immigrants alike". Although the audience was private, the audio of Leo's speech was relayed to journalists in the Vatican press office, with an official transcript provided. — AFP
Observer
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Pope Leo tells media to shun divisions, urges release of jailed reporters
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