{"id":10718,"date":"2025-05-27T12:00:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T11:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/?p=10718"},"modified":"2025-05-23T22:43:02","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T21:43:02","slug":"reflection-leo-xiv-mission-grace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/05\/27\/reflection-leo-xiv-mission-grace\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflection. Leo XIV: Mission & Grace."},"content":{"rendered":"

In the conclave, the Cardinals were choosing a person, not a nationality, ethnicity or ideology.\u00a0 The appointment of the new Pope revealed two general features: Cardinals don\u2019t leak \u2013 well, maybe the odd one did – and the experts don\u2019t get it right, a single one did mid-conclave.
\n<\/em>
\nThe commentariat ruled out an American Pope.\u00a0 Leo XIV, a Peruvian citizen, presented himself in Spanish and Italian with hardly a word of English.\u00a0 A contrast to Pope John Paul II who had been well and truly a Polish Pope as well as a striking universal pontiff.<\/p>\n

Leo XIV\u2019s American nationality will, though, probably pose him problems.\u00a0 President Trump initially has been unusually gracious.\u00a0 How long that lasts remains to be seen.\u00a0 The MAGA masses are already on the attack.\u00a0 Pope Francis outspokenly condemned Trump\u2019s contempt for \u2018losers\u2019, his treatment of immigrants and the vulnerable.\u00a0 His successor shares his views, though likely to steer a more diplomatic course.<\/p>\n

The crunch in relations with the Vatican will come over meeting Trump a possible invitation to the USA creating huge media interest, a request to visit the Pope a little less problematic.\u00a0 It is not hard to imagine how the White House would manipulate a papal visit.\u00a0 One way of saying \u2018no\u2019 to Washington would be to present declining as following Pope Francis who resisted return to his homeland Argentina.\u00a0 A visit to Peru would still be possible.<\/p>\n

The new Pope\u2019s Chicago origins elicited massive and investigative interest.\u00a0 His two brothers must be a mixed blessing, immediately humanizing brother Bob but, you can be sure, a bit too gabby for the Vatican into the bargain. And, on cue, ambitious scribblers, religious or otherwise, joined in the \u2018what\u2019s he going to be like as Pope\u2019 comment.<\/p>\n

The media is stuck on conservative and progressive as two binary categories applicable to Catholic prelates.\u00a0 The reality is there is nothing unusual about sharing an \u2018option for the poor\u2019 with an option for social conservatism, or what is commonly called \u2018anti-woke\u2019.\u00a0 You might call it normative for Francis and Leo.\u00a0 In that sense Pope Leo was indeed the continuity candidate for the papacy.<\/p>\n

Papa Leone is clearly a very interesting man, as at ease talking about the impact of AI on future work as the horrors of war, the plight of migrants and climate change.\u00a0 No-one has really been able to pin down his personality in a paragraph or two from details of his biography.\u00a0 Most have missed the full significance of his having worked as a North American missionary in Latin America.<\/p>\n

He worked in a rural area of Peru in his formative years as a young priest.\u00a0 Then in Peru\u2019s historic third city, Trujillo from 1988-1998 as a parish priest and Augustinian seminary teacher.\u00a0 In 2015 he was appointed bishop of Chiclayo, a seaside town also in the North-West where he served for eight years.\u00a0 All this has been publicized.\u00a0 What is missing is the significance of this appointment.<\/p>\n

Three quarters of Peru\u2019s population of 34 million is, at least nominally, Catholic.\u00a0 As an Episcopal Conference, the country has 75 cardinals, archbishops and bishops, plus 12 titular bishops who do not serve a particular diocese.\u00a0 As Bishop of Chiclayo he took out Peruvian citizenship.\u00a0\u00a0 Looking at the 75 names in the Conference, Roberto Prevost appears like the only American one.\u00a0 The only other American name was the papal Nuncio, the Vatican\u2019s State\u2019s ambassador in Peru.<\/p>\n

To be recommended in 2014, an American, for a Peruvian diocese is some measure of his record as a priest.\u00a0 Missionary bishops are in the main a thing of the past.\u00a0 An American Nuncio perhaps had some anxieties as he passed on his name to Rome, though Pope Francis appointed him quickly. In many parts of Latin America, the USA\u2019s role in propping up vicious dictatorships in the past has not been forgotten. Peru had less unpleasant memories, was far from America\u2019s backyard, but also suffered from insurgency and military reaction to it.<\/p>\n

It was, typically, politically and culturally independent. And Gustavo Gutierrez\u2019s seminal Theology of Liberation: Perspectives was published in Lima, Peru\u2019s capital, in 1971.\u00a0 Its radical spirituality and Marxist economic analysis – of relations with the USA – caused consternation in the Vatican.\u00a0 The Peruvian love and acceptance of their Bishop Roberto is shown in the joy of his appointment as Pope.<\/p>\n

As the leadership of all Religious Orders demanded, his two terms as Prior-General of the Augustinians, meant extensive travel. The distinctive demands of a missionary vocation in different contexts and cultures would have become obvious. No-one had to tell Roberto Prevost that he was serving a global Church.<\/p>\n

\u200bHe brought lay teams into the pastoral action of the diocese of Chiclayo following the Second Vatican Council\u2019s vision of a united \u201cPeople of God\u201d. He was known for his easy manner and friendship, his concern for migrants, the poor and vulnerable, for the refugees arriving from Venezuela, and as a spiritual director.\u00a0 Leo\u2019s first words \u201cpeace be with you all\u201d and his fatherly \u2018Non avete paura\u2019,\u00a0 (\u201cdo not be afraid\u201d), reflect the gravity of the global conflicts and problems he now faces.<\/p>\n

How on earth do you lead 1.4 billion people today in their various cultures, societies and governance?\u00a0 Respected for his calm and as a listener, no wonder his emotion and tension showed before his address on the balcony.\u00a0 A missionary Pope, many prayers will carry him, his friendship with many, not least the cardinals who chose him, his Augustinian spirituality, and a faith honed by the people of Peru. (Ian Linden, visiting Professor at St Mary’s University, Strawberry Hill, London<\/em>) \u2013 (Photo: Facebook)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the conclave, the Cardinals were choosing a person, not a nationality, ethnicity or ideology.\u00a0 The appointment of the new Pope revealed two general features: Cardinals don\u2019t leak \u2013 well, maybe the odd one did – and the experts don\u2019t get it right, a single one did mid-conclave. The commentariat ruled out an American Pope.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}