11-05-2025
Pope Leo XIV outlines a path for a modern church that follows Pope Francis' steps
Pope Leo said he was committed to following a path of modernisation and cited a major document that Pope Francis issued in 2013. PHOTO: REUTERS
VATICAN CITY – In his first formal address to Roman Catholic cardinals, Pope Leo XIV on May 10 said he would continue the work of Pope Francis in steering the church in a more missionary direction, with greater cooperation among church leaders and a closeness to the marginalised.
Pope Leo said he was committed to following a path of modernisation and cited a major document that Pope Francis issued in 2013.
From that document, Pope Leo highlighted multiple objectives, including 'growth in collegiality'; 'popular piety'; a 'loving care for the least and the rejected'; and 'courageous and trusting dialogue with the contemporary world'.
'Francis masterfully and concretely set it forth,' Pope Leo said, referring to the document, called 'Evangelii Gaudium'.
The new pope also explained the choice of his name. The previous pope with his name, Pope Leo XIII, issued a document called the 'Rerum Novarum,' known in English as 'Rights and Duties of Capital and Labour,' in the late 19th century in which he emphasised the church's right to make assertions about social issues as they related to moral questions.
The document 'addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution,' Pope Leo explained.
Now, the pope added, another industrial revolution was taking place in the field of artificial intelligence. That, he said, would 'pose new challenges for the defence of human dignity, justice and labour'.
The church, he said, 'offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response'.
The reference to Pope Francis' document was not the only endorsement that the new pope gave of his predecessor. Pope Francis, Pope Leo noted, was a 'humble servant of God and of his brothers and sisters' who gave an 'example of complete dedication to service and to sober simplicity of life'.
The cardinals appeared to have noted the message about maintaining the direction set by Pope Francis' papacy. As he exited the meeting, Cardinal Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo of Venezuela said the pope 'spoke about the continuity of the pontificate of Francis'.
Later, Pope Leo paid a visit to St Mary Major, where Pope Francis is buried. He stood in front of his predecessor's simple marble tomb. Before kneeling in front of it in prayer, he laid a white rose on it. NYTIMES
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