On this year’s celebration of the Feast of St Peter and St Paul we shall all be praying especially for our new Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV. When the Oratory Church’s bell indicated that the Cardinals in Conclave had elected a new Pope, earlier than most of us had expected, those fathers who were in the house gathered in our Congregation Room where a television screen which is usually concealed behind cupboard doors showed the sunlit roof of the Sistine Chapel. One of the senior fathers, who has now lived during nine pontificates, quietly retreated on seeing the last wisps of white smoke issuing from the chimney, to carry on with his business of the afternoon. For this seasoned labourer in the vineyard it was enough to be pleasantly assured that the See of St Peter was once again occupied. The rest of us, however, waited with rising anticipation to hear the Cardinal Protodeacon announce the name of our new Holy Father. When His Holiness Pope Leo XIV eventually arrived on the balcony we were immediately touched by the appearance of his radiant modesty, and by his first words to the Faithful and to the world: “Peace be with you!”
No message could have been more welcome. The Holy Father continued: “Dear brothers and sisters, these are the first words spoken by the risen Christ, the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for God’s flock. I would like this greeting of peace to resound in your hearts, in your families, among all people, wherever they may be, in every nation and throughout the world. Peace be with you! It is the peace of the risen Christ. A peace that is unarmed and disarming, humble and persevering. A peace that comes from God, the God who loves us all, unconditionally.” We pray with His Holiness that the peace which only Our Lord can give will prevail in our time in which the world is riven with war and displacement, and that this peace will prevail within the Church, where division and internal conflict only serve as a hindrance to the divine commission to go into the world and “teach ye all the nations; baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
Naturally there has been much speculation in the press about “the direction” in which Pope Leo XIV is likely to lead the Church, and to what extent he will prove to be a successor of his immediate predecessor, and also of Pope Leo XIII, who inspired the choice of name. We should remember, however, that every pope is called above all to be a successor of St Peter, the humble fisherman whom Our Lord appointed to be the rock on which He would build His Church. As such His task is to preserve the integrity of the life-giving doctrine of the Deposit of Faith entrusted to St Peter and the Apostles and which has been handed down to us inviolate for two millennia, and to teach this saving truth in all its beautiful fullness in every generation.
We can be glad that not only the Catholic Faithful but also the world beyond the Church have welcomed our new Holy Father with such warmth and hope. The media, of course, is the most fickle of beasts, and so we should do well not to be swept backwards and forwards like chaff in the wind by whichever narrative is peddled as this new pontificate progresses. Let us rather pray continually for Pope Leo XIV and may our prayers be fortified by the intercessions of Our Blessed Lady, St Peter and of course the great “Counsellor of Popes”, our own St Philip. God bless our Pope.
Father Julian Large