‘Citizen of the world’ Leo XIV brings gifts and experience to papacy

‘Pope Francis called on us to be a missionary Church, and here we have a missionary bishop,’ said Christine Allen of Cafod. ‘He will do things in his own way because he has to.’

The Archbishop of Westminster described Pope Leo XIV as “a citizen of the world” after voting in the conclave which elected him on Thursday.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols said his experience as a missionary, as prior general of his order and then in the Vatican showed the new pope had “a combination of talents [and] the right depth and breadth of experience” to succeed Pope Francis.

Speaking in the Venerable English College after the conclusion of the conclave and the Mass pro Ecclesia celebrated by Pope Leo with the cardinal electors on Friday morning, Cardinal Nichols said he had known the then-Cardinal Robert Prevost OSA as a member of the Dicastery for Bishops, of which Prevost was prefect from 2023, where he could “resolve difficulties in a way that didn’t leave enemies behind”.

He said his experience of the curia in recent years made the Pope familiar with its operations without identifying with a particular interest. He was “fresh, competent and knowledgeable”, Nichols said.

The cardinals made a “quite rapid decision”, he said, electing Prevost on the fourth ballot, which reflected how much the College of Cardinals shared Pope Francis’ vision that “this must be a missionary church”. Nichols described strong themes of pastoral and theological continuity between Francis and Leo.

Several cardinals confirmed that the Pope had taken the name Leo in explicit reference to Leo XIII, the author of the encyclical Rerum Novarum recognised as the founding document of Catholic Social Teaching.

The director of Cafod Christine Allen said this decision, and the words of his first address after his election on Thursday, reflected “continuity” with Francis’ pontificate and “a forward-looking vision”.

“Catholic Social Teaching is not a manifesto, it’s about how we make sense of what wants us to be in the world,” she told The Tablet. She said his greeting of peace to all people showed that “this is our job to be catalysts for peace”.

Allen said Pope Leo’s “grass-roots experience” as a missionary in Peru, including extensive work with Caritas organisations, balanced his administrative credentials as a former prior general of the Augustinians and senior Vatican official.

“He’s got his hands dirty,” she said. “He’s got a lot of experience and expertise to draw on.”

She also noted his reference to the “synodal Church” in his address and the importance of “encounter” in missionary work, with its focus on “empowering” communities and bring them together.

“He called on us to try to be unified,” Allen said, referring to the priority which emerged from the congregations of cardinals before the conclave, for a “pontifex” – a builder of bridges. She said Leo himself had bridged divides between rich and poor nations in his missionary work: “He’s calling on us to bridge that gap.”

“Pope Francis called on us to be a missionary Church, and here we have a missionary bishop,” she said. “He will do things in his own way because he has to.”

Fr John Murray OSA also told The Tablet that the new pope “can’t just be a lookalike Francis … given who he is and where he comes from”. Nevertheless, he said: “The Church can’t go back.”

He said that Leo was shaped by “his story, his background, his personality”, and was known among his fellow Augustinians to have “a great sense of dignity – capable, competent, smart”.

Murray, who was ordained in the order five years after the future pope, has worked in Thailand since 2005. He said Leo was known by Augustinians for having “a big smile and a hearty laugh” from his two terms as prior general in 2001-13, and was “friendly, approachable, down to earth”. His success in that role, he said, was because he was “happy to be among people”.

“He had a true calling to be a missionary in Peru,” Murray said. “He didn’t politic to be the prior general.”

He added that Leo’s instinct “just to get on with his job” was suited to the impossible demands of the papacy. “No matter who you are, you’re a human being,” he said, and it was right that the Pope was not “superhuman” but shared this with other people. “What a great testament that is to our humanity.”

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