Leo XIV, the North and South American Pope

On Thursday 19 February, the School of Church Communications at Rome's Santa Croce University held a webinar with US Catholic media organisation Our Sunday Visitor.

Aimed primarily at journalists, the webinar was entitled 'Leo XIV, the North and South American Pope' and billed as a preparation for a residential event for journalists in Rome, 'The Church Up Close 2026', to be held in September.

Fr John Wauck, Professor of Literature at Santa Croce, was in conversation with Gretchen Crowe, Editor-in-Chief of Our Sunday Visitor.

Leo is unique among recent Popes, they said, for having been educated in a secular university, where he studied mathematics rather than theology, and having been a missionary. He is a citizen of the USA and of Peru, speaks Spanish and Italian nearly as fluently as his native English, and as head of the Augustinian order had travelled all over the world before being elected to the Papacy. As his address to the Vatican Diplomatic Corps in January showed, he has a deep and broad understanding of the global context in which the Church exists.

Being an Augustinian is key to Leo's identity. He frequently quotes St Augustine, who is one of the greatest minds and writers of western civilisation. He takes a long view of the teaching of the Church, with the fourth century saint as a reference point. He is unlikely to follow the latest fads simply because they are currently fashionable. Augustine saw humility as a key virtue, and Leo quoted him when he said, "With you I am a Christian, for you I am a bishop." Leo sees no need to draw attention to himself. He is comfortable being quiet and listening, and is renowned as a good listener.

Leo's decision to use his Wednesday catechesis sessions to talk about the texts of the Second Vatican Council is an opportunity to bring people together and create common ground. Those texts are clear, but the interpretation of them is hotly disputed. Leo resists being identified with any ideology and cannot be understood through an ideological lens. As well as being concerned about the pressing current question of how humanity can use Artificial Intelligence in a way which does not threaten human dignity, he also insists on the need to support the family as an age-old reality prior to any society. He has an easy relationship with young people, which he has demonstrated at various youth events. He understands US society from inside but can also view it from outside, from his years in Peru. He knows how to communicate well across cultures and age groups.

In his address to the Diplomatic Corps, Leo said that "rediscovering the meaning of words is one of the primary challenges of our time." The abuse of language for propaganda purposes is a serious problem, he says. He constantly stresses the need for clarity and kindness in our use of words. To address the divisions in our societies and in the world, we need dialogue, and to engage in dialogue we need to find agreed meanings for words, over which culture wars are currently being fought.

It is still hard to talk of any kind of 'programme' for Leo's papacy, but if we can identify a theme it would be unity in Christ. Last year, Leo stepped into a Jubilee Year programme already planned by Pope Francis, and completed it. As soon as it was over, he held a consistory of cardinals. There will soon be new appointments as a number of cardinals are past retirement age. These, and Leo's speeches when he begins travelling outside Italy, will reveal more of his character and the nature of his papacy.

(A recording of the webinar will be made available in the next few days.)