The Sat Report: How does Pope Leo XIV intend to govern the Church?
The next few weeks will indicate the manner and direction of travel
As the both the calendar year and the Jubilee Holy Year come to a close, Pope Leo XIV is slowly emerging from the shadow of his larger-than-life predecessor at chart his own vision of the Church.
In the last few days, the Pope has appointed new Archbishops to the Metropolitan Sees of New York and Westminster. Catholic internet has been a buzz, speculating, at times embarrassingly so, as to what the appointment of these men, +Ronald Hicks and +Richard Moth, respectively, say about how the Pope wants to lead the Church. From my end, I know next to nothing about them, and it would be imprudent to speculate. I only pray that they are up to the task of increasing the Kingdom of God on earth.
Much has been written about these appointments because they are significant Sees in their respective countries. Westminster has a Catholic population of 450,000, which makes up about 8.9% of the total population of the See. Firm missionary territory for Archbishop-elect Moth to work in. New York, on the other hand, is very much a Catholic city, with its own problems, most notably the recently announced $300 million settlement to victims of clerical sexual abuse.
The expectation is that both men will be raised to the Sacred College of Cardinals in due time. As an aside, the College itself is bloated, with Pope Francis keen to name as many Cardinals as possible, notably holding a consistory in each of the full years of his Pontificate, except for 2021 when the world was in the midst of a global pandemic.
What this has done is tie the hands of the current Pope, with the expectation being that he will wait for the number of Cardinal-electors to drop enough below the 120 number in order to hold a sizable Consistory, raising amongst others the newly appointed Prefects to the major Roman Curia dicasteries. This likely won’t happen until 2027.
Christmas greetings with the Roman Curia
Speaking of the Roman Curia, tomorrow Pope Leo XIV meets with all those who work in the Curia and the Cardinals resident in Rome to exchange Christmas greetings in the Hall of Benedictions in loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica. The address has historically been used by Roman Pontiffs to describe the state of the Church, acknowledging the good things that had been achieved in the year, and to address the challenges facing Holy Mother Church. Pope Francis rather infamously used to the address to berate the Curia and those who worked in.
In the early years of the Francis Pontificate, some of his criticisms were often viewed through the lens of the failures of his immediate predecessors to address issues. We all remember Pope Francis saying in 2013 that there was a gay lobby in the Vatican responsible for the corruption in the Curia.
His speeches often descended into long and tedious rants, accompanied by the exchanging of Christmas greetings and gifts with the Cardinals resident in Rome, with some all-time Papal soundbite zingers. As the years went on and Francis molded the Curia in his own image, even reforming it with the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate evangelium, his attacks reflected poorly on his own leadership.
In his last Christmas address to the Roman Curia, almost as if he knew it would be his last, Pope Francis stated that when preparing his speech, he “thought of speaking well of others and not of speaking ill of them.” We will wait to see the tone Pope Leo XIV choses to use, considering 12 months ago, he was a member of the Curia, listening to the Pope.
Many believe that the current make-up of the Roman Curia is the most bereft of talent in centuries. A number of heads and undersecretaries of Dicasteries are incompetent. For many, this Christmas will be their last in post. Pray that Pope Leo XIV can find holy, competent men with a zeal for souls to replace these in the new year. This will be the real sign of the direction in which the Pope is taking the Church.
Meeting with Cardinals in January
Also, this week the Vatican officially announced that the Holy Father has summoned all the Cardinals to Rome for an Extraordinary Consistory on January 7-8, the day after the Jubilee Holy Year officially ends. This is the first time since the Pope’s election that all the Cardinals will be in Rome together.
The Holy See in its announcement of the consistory, described the occasion as one where the Cardinals offer “support and counsel to the Holy Father in the exercise of his lofty and weighty responsibility in the governance of the universal Church.”
“The Consistory is set within the context of the life and mission of the Church, and it intends to strengthen communion between the Bishop of Rome and the Cardinals, who are called to collaborate in a particular way in solicitude for the good of the universal Church.”
Pope Francis rather notoriously eschewed these such Consistories, holding two in his entire Pontificate. The first in 2014, where Walter Cardinal Kasper proposal of allowing divorced and ‘remarried’ to be readmitted to the sacraments under the guise of mercy, was widely rejected by the Cardinals present. This experience most probably contributed to Pope Francis shunning these gatherings of Cardinals, instead preferring an ever-smaller group of trusted confidents for advice on governing the universal Church. The next and final gathering of all the Cardinals in the Pontificate of Francis was in 2022 to discuss the implementation of Praedicate Evangelium, the document through which Pope Francis reformed the Roman Curia, with the meeting taking place after the document had been promulgated.
The infrequency of these meetings led to a lack of familiarity between the Cardinals at the pre-Conclave meetings and Conclave proper, something that Pope Leo XIV wants to remedy. It also gives us a glimpse into the way the Holy Father wants to govern his Church, Synodally, and in collaboration with his Cardinals.
Pope Leo XIV for his part has been consistent that his priorities are; Mission, Unity, and Peace. Apparently, what has been confirmed to be on the agenda for this consistory is a reflection on the Liturgy. It will be interesting to see what comes out of these two days of intense prayer and reflection. It would be funny if the issue of Communion for the divorced and ‘remarried’ makes a return. That will really be full circle.
Leo is his own man. Perhaps 2026 is the year he steps out of the large shadow of Francis.