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The (Associate) Pastor's Column
Pope Leo at One Year
“What is your impression of Pope Leo after one year?” That’s the question that was posed last month to a few of our parishioners by a USA Today reporter, preparing a story on the one-year anniversary of his election tomorrow, May 8.
In the article, published online yesterday, our own Marge Sebern expressed appreciation for the Pope’s focus on nonviolence even in the face of harsh criticism. Christopher Browner said how exciting it is to see the first-ever American Pope. Think for a moment about how you might respond to this question.
Personally, when I reflect on Pope Leo’s first year, the word that comes to mind is “peace.” Quoting Jesus, his first words from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica after his election were, “Peace be with you all.” To a Church mourning the death of Pope Francis and uncertain about her future, and to a world marred by ongoing humanitarian crises and armed conflicts, his message was one of peace.
When Jesus speaks of peace, it is packed with meaning (e.g., John 14:27). It is a commitment to nonviolence and a proactive way of communal life. It means community that upholds the dignity of all its members and promotes unity among its diverse peoples.
As an Augustinian friar, Pope Leo has been immersed for decades in a religious order that places a particular emphasis on communal life. Having traveled the world as a missionary, the former head of the Augustinian order, and now as pope, he clearly knows what it is to seek unity that doesn’t need uniformity. During his visit last month to Cameroon, he said, “Peace, in fact, cannot be decreed: it must be embraced and lived. It is a gift from God, which unfolds through patient and collective effort.” If our goal is peace as Jesus envisioned it, Pope Leo seems to know the steps we must take.
As much as peace has been fundamental to his message, I am equally struck by the peace which he himself seems to embody. Last June, reflecting on his first month as pope, columnist Michael Sean Winters wrote, “Leo seems remarkably unflustered by his election, aware of the enormity of the change that has happened to him, but not the least overwhelmed by it.” This summarizes the entire past year for me. Does this man not seem unshakably grounded in something so deep and so real?
Last week one of Pope Leo’s Augustinian brothers recounted that when they lived together, the future pope was always the first one in the chapel in the morning. Are we surprised? How else could one step into this role, especially in the geopolitically complex, media-saturated world in which we live, were it not for a committed life of prayer and the peace in Christ that flows from it? And I wonder if it is this rootedness in Christ, this peace, that allows Pope Leo to bring such intentionality and clarity to his words, to bring moderation in a world that constantly asks us to take sides, and to still speak prophetically and uncompromisingly when the Gospel demands it.
In the course of any papacy, there will certainly be missteps and necessary growth, but I have to say this last year and what this man has been for our Church and world has been strong evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence among us. We so desperately need Christ’s peace and he has been such an inspired agent of it.
May he feel our continued prayers and that peace of Jesus Christ for many years to come.
God Bless,
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