As Pope Leo XIV’s papacy begins, there are indications that he intends to carry on the unfinished business of the Francis papacy, from finances to the abuse crisis to the reform of the Roman Curia, according to the Catholic Herald (May 27). Elise Ann Allen reports that, early on, the pope gave an official—if nominal—job to conservative Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, who was critical of Pope Francis, indicating “that Leo is trying to some degree to mend fences and deal with painful situations not just in the Church, but in the body of the College of Cardinals.” Also revealing is that Pope Leo’s “first official meeting—beyond the heads of state who visited for his election and inaugural Mass—was with American Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley, president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors…Prior to the conclave and during the general congregations, two issues repeatedly emerged as among the most glaring problems the Church continued to face: The Vatican’s financial crisis, and ongoing fallout from the clerical abuse crisis.” Leo also met with the head of Opus Dei, Spanish Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz, likely focusing on the ongoing reform of Opus Dei’s statutes, which had been ordered by Francis.
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The pope’s first curial appointment of Sister Tiziana Merletti as Secretary of the Dicastery for Consecrated Life also signals continuity with Francis on the issue of giving greater responsibility to women in the administration of the church. While Leo initially said he wanted to leave all dicastery heads in their current positions while he gets the lay of the land, his early meetings “are indicative of his own priorities, and those expressed during pre-conclave meetings,” Allen concludes. Meanwhile, evangelical Protestants may well be particularly critical of the new papacy, seeing it as challenging in a way that is quite different from that of Francis. Leo is seen less as a Francis holdover than as showing a “mindset liberated from 20th-century geopolitical categories,” according to the Europe-based newsletter Evangelical Focus (May 15). Italian evangelical theologian Leonardo De Chirico writes that Pope Leo’s American identity “serves at least two strategic purposes: First, it may seek to undermine the cultural leadership of Trump-style conservative Christianity, particularly in the battle against ‘woke’ ideologies, by reasserting the Catholic Church as the guardian of civilization and moral order. Second, it could serve as a magnet for disillusioned American evangelicals—those growing weary of consumeristic religious options—who see in Catholicism a more stable and historic alternative. In the fluid and competitive religious marketplace of the United States, an American pope could attract significant interest and credibility.”
Whether or not the cardinals held such a grand design in their voting, De Chirico also agrees that Leo will play a reassuring role to Catholics across the theological spectrum as an Augustinian coming from a more grounded, millennia-old order than the Jesuit-inspired intellectual eclecticism and theological creativity of his predecessor. “This background suggests a pope who is more theologically stable, more predictable, and, in a sense, more ‘traditional.’ His Augustinian identity may be perceived as an olive branch to conservative Catholics, especially those disillusioned by the Francis era.” De Chirico adds that this new pope will “undoubtedly attract interest from the evangelical world. Evangelicals in the Global South may see in him a missionary close to the poor. North American evangelicals may recognize an Augustinian voice who understands the language of tradition. In short, everyone may be tempted to see the pope they want to see.”
(Catholic Herald, https://thecatholicherald.com/popes-initial-round-of-meetings-indicates-an-effort-to-heal-wounds-in-college-of-cardinals; Evangelical Focus, https://evangelicalfocus.com/european-perspectives/31075/the-new-pope-begins-with-the-old-indulgences)
