N.B. Two expressions, Romanita and bella figura, help to decode the Vatican and its denizens. Watch what they do, not what they say.
“Re’s pro eligendo homily contained no word or quote regarding Pope Francis, nor even a passing reference.That was already a sign that the cardinals had decided, as a body, to turn the page.”
For the first time in history, the new Pope pronounced his first words as pontiff, reading a written text. Leo XIV presented himself to the world, visibly moved, reading a text he had prepared full of cross-references, explaining who he is and some, at least, of what he wants to do.
The first Pope in history from the United States of America is Robert Francis Prevost. He is 69 years old, an Augustinian, and has been in the Vatican for only two years.
The man who became Pope Leo XIV on Thursday had been a missionary in Peru and later bishop of Chiclayo in the same country. Before that, he had been superior of the Augustinians, based in Rome. He has a solid education: degrees in mathematics and philosophy; and is an expert in canon law.
Above all, he is a man of three worlds.
When the cardinals elected Pope Francis, they gave him the mandate to reform the Curia. There is still a good deal of reforming to do – perhaps even more than there was when Francis took the reins in 2013 – but when the cardinals elected Leo XIV, they were giving him a mandate to bring unity. Cardinal Giovan Battista Re explained this in the Missa Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice that opened the Conclave.
Re’s pro eligendo homily contained no word or quote regarding Pope Francis, nor even a passing reference.That was already a sign that the cardinals had decided, as a body, to turn the page. The “Franciscan” candidates never gained traction, largely because the liberal wing was divided against itself. All their potential candidates melted like snow in the sun. The silent majority of cardinals from Asia and Africa, frequently ignored in media surveys, were organizing themselves to look at the Church beyond Francis.
Pope Francis’s “guardians of the Revolution” left messages in the media and the homilies of the novemdiales, the Masses for the nine days of official mourning: There is no going back from Pope Francis’s reforms; let’s try not to lose Pope Francis’s legacy; etc.. Those now appear as desperate attempts to stop a wave already moving in another direction.
While it may be too much to say Prevost was already Pope when he entered the Conclave, he certainly was elected with great celerity. His presence, his way of doing things, and even his intervention, had flipped a switch, so to speak. The majority of the cardinals were almost immediately focused on him.
More: https://www.mondayvatican.com/vatican/leo-xiv-the-pope-called-to-bring-unity
