Pope Leo's quotation of Augustine after his election contains within it an important theological point about the nature of the episcopacy. The quotation signals Leo XIV’s approach to his role as bishop of Rome.
I listened to Pope Leo’s first messages with Augustinian ears. In his first words from the balcony, and then in his homily at his first Mass, I heard abiding themes from the Doctor of Grace.
Pope Leo XIV picked one of the most common names in history for a pope. But it is a name with great resonance in modern church history, and one whose selection suggests quite a bit about what the reign of the new pontiff might be like.
As we prepare for a new papacy, an important question faces the church: What foundations do we inherit from Pope Francis’ bold reimagining of Catholic moral theology? How will the church carry forward the vision he nurtured—a vision both thoroughly traditional and courageously new?