“True progress is rooted in compassion, not innovation”
HABEMUS Papam! His name is Leo XIV!
The last Pope Leo, the XIII, was pontiff from 1878 to 1903. He is known for shaping modern Catholic social teaching, especially through his 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, which defended workers’ rights amid industrial changes during the industrial revolution.
When I was in college, our theology teacher Fr. Thomas O’Shaughnessy made us memorize all social encyclicals. That was helpful to me when I joined the anti-Marcos dictatorship and engaged with Marxists as a Christian to find common ground. This first paragraph from Rerum Novarum was stirring and still burns my heart:
“That the spirit of evolutionary change, which has long been disturbing the nations of the world, should have passed beyond the sphere of politics and made its influence felt in the cognate sphere of practical economics is not surprising.
“The elements of the conflict now raging are unmistakable, in the vast expansion of industrial pursuits and the marvelous discoveries of science; in the changed relations between masters and workmen; in the enormous fortunes of some few individuals, and the utter poverty of the masses; the increased self-reliance and closer mutual combination of the working classes; as also, finally, in the prevailing moral degeneracy.
“The momentous gravity of the state of things now obtaining fills every mind with painful apprehension; wise men are discussing it; practical men are proposing schemes; popular meetings, legislatures, and rulers of nations are all busied with it – actually there is no question which has taken deeper hold on the public mind.”
This sounds like our world today.
In his first address to the College of Cardinals, Pope Leo XIV highlighted the Church’s mission to support the poor and marginalized while recognizing modern challenges like the rise of artificial intelligence.
Technology should serve humanity, not undermine it, and Church should lead through service rather than power.
True progress is rooted in compassion, not innovation.
Our new pontiff signaled his plans to follow the path laid down by Francis even as he is his own person, probably – as a Canon lawyer and a former head of a religious order – more deliberate and systematic.
We will probably lose some spontaneity (although Pope Leo surprised as by singing Regina Coeli in Piazza San Pietro in his first general audience) but gain clarity in the years to come.
Contrary to expectations of those who want the Church to become self-referential and clericalist again, the three S of the Francis era will stay: simplicity, synodality, and social justice.
Leo XIV will not be distracted by the culture wars some Catholics in the USA like to wage for political gain.
He is going to be another Laudato si and Fratelli tutti Pope, committed to protection of environment and climate justice and respect for human rights, especially of the most marginalized like migrants and refugees.
Elected prior general of the Order of Saint Augustine from 2001 to 2013, he lived in Rome and traveled all over the world, including the Philippines. He later returned to Peru, appointed by Pope Francis as Bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023. Born and raised in Chicago, he became a Peruvian citizen.
Pope Francis brought Bishop Prevost back to Rome to be the prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. He was made Cardinal shortly after that, in 2023, becoming what some describe as the least (US) American Cardinal. He is best described as a missionary of the world
Obviously, Francis was the instrument of the Holy Spirit in the selection of his successor. Surely, the Holy Spirit did its work in the conclave.
Pope Leo XIV has the preparation and temperament to steer the Roman Catholic Church through today’s and tomorrow challenges.
The missionary church, under this Vicar of Christ, will challenge systems of oppression and marginalization. Through humble service and solidarity, and witnessing of its members who will disappear so Christ remains, the Church will continue to transform to become a better “field hospital” in a broken world, a beacon of God’s love, restoring dignity where it has been stripped away, and nurturing a future rooted in justice and grace.
We Catholics and the world are so blessed with Pope Leo XIV. We are very happy.
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