Leo and Francis

Many people claim that Pope Leo was a successor, not a replacement of Pope Francis. This was the case every time a new Pope is elected. Like Francis, Leo went to a country, Turkey, with very few Catholics. Francis, went to Mongolia, which has only a few thousand Catholics. There are not that many more in Turkey and it is wonderful to see the bishop of Rome confirm the faithful in lands where they are so few. Leo met with the elderly, the sick as well as the youth, besides civic leaders and the clergy, as did his predecessors on their trips. Like Francis, Leo championed the cause of Christian unity, looking forward to the great jubilee of 2033 when all Christians will celebrate the 2,000th anniversary of the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord. Like all of his recent predecessors, Leo emphasized the special closeness of the church of Rome with the Eastern churches. The scene at the site of the Council of Nicaea where the Pope was joined by almost all the patriarchs of the Eastern churches, was another step toward the restoration of full communion. His obvious and easy rapport with Patriarch Bartholomew brought to mind memories of Pope Paul VI meeting with Patriarch Athenagoras in Jerusalem in 1964. Leo is continuing the path charted by Francis, and indeed by the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council. Leo, unlike Francis, was trained as a canonist. And, perhaps most importantly, Leo is an Augustinian not a Jesuit. After 11 years of Ignatian insights, which were a great blessing, Leo now brings Augustinian insights into almost every speech or homily he delivers. The Catholic faith is the richer for being reminded of what St Ignatius and St Augustine have to teach us! After Francis died, but before the conclave began, the situation the cardinals faced was similar to that which confronted the cardinals in the 1963 conclave after the death of Pope John XXIII. Then, the central issue was whether to continue the council, just as in 2025 the central question was whether to continue with the synodal path. In 1963, they selected Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini as Pope Paul VI, someone with more obvious managerial capabilities, who "landed the conciliar plane John XXIII had gotten airborne." What we are seeing now is that Leo is to Francis as Paul was to John: committed to the same program, but more cautious and a better manager, and with a softer personality. 

A successor, not a replacement.