Inside the Vatican magazine July-August 2025

JULY-AUGUST 2025

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SPECIAL ISSUE

Peace Be With You From the Funeral oF PoPe Francis to the election oF leo XiV. the images and Words oF the neW PontiFicate.

C OMPELLiNG S TORiES OF C OMPELLiNG S TORiESLOF COURAGEOUS CATHOLiC EADERS COURAGEOUS CATHOLiC LEADERS

◆ FATHER JOSEPH FESSIO, S.J. ◆ GEORGE CARDINAL PELL ◆ FATHER JOSEPH FESSIO, S.J. ◆ GEORGE CARDINAL PELL California Blackrobe Pax Invictus California Blackrobe Pax his in-depth, page-turning biography of the founder of his Invictus definitive biography of the great Australian Cardinal

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his in-depth, biography of the founder of Ignatius Press is page-turning written by one of Fessio’s earliest Jesuit Ignatius Press is written by one of Fessio’s earliest Jesuit mentors, historian Fr. Cornelius Buckley, S.J. mentors, historian Fr. Cornelius Buckley, S.J. Raised in the Bay Area after World War II, the bold Joe Fessio Raised in the Bay Area after World War II, the bold Joe Fessio entered the Society of Jesus at age twenty and, by divine provientered the Society of Jesus at age twenty and, by divine providence, studied for for six six years under three dence, studied years under threeofofthe thegreatest greatest theologtheological minds of the 20th century—Henri de Lubac, von ical minds of the 20th century—Henri de Lubac,Hans Hans Urs Urs von Balthasar, and Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI).

He reBalthasar, and Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI). He returned from Europe and started the St. Ignatius Institute at USF, turned from Europe and started the St. Ignatius Institute USF, and Ignatius Press.

Over decades,hehehas hasbecome become one one of and Ignatius Press.

Over thethe decades, of the the powerful forces in the AmericanCatholic CatholicChurch, Church, designdesignmostmost powerful forces in the American ingCatholic the Catholic Great Books programatatUSF USFand andfounding founding one ing the Great Books program one the largest Catholic publishing housesininthe theworld. world. of theoflargest Catholic publishing houses is robust yet unsentimental studyofofFessio’s Fessio’sunique unique life, life, cut This Th robust yet unsentimental study cut with Buckley’s trademark wit, shows what effective Christian with Buckley’s trademark wit, shows what effective Christian missionary work can look like in the age of media. missionary work can look like in the age of media.

Includes 32 pages of photos. FRFH . . . Sewn Hardcover, $27.95 Includes 32 pages of photos. FRFH . . . Sewn Hardcover, $27.95 “No one has impacted the Catholic Church in America and beyond

“No one impacted the Catholic Church inisAmerica and” beyond like has Father Fessio. Th is delightful biography a must-read. like Father This Conley, delightful biography is NE a must-read.”

—MostFessio.

Rev. James Bishop, Lincoln —Most Rev. James Conley, Bishop, Lincoln NE “Essential reading to appreciate Fr. Fessio’s undaunted character, sense of mission, the impact his workundaunted on the globalcharacter, Catholic “Essential reading toand appreciate Fr.of Fessio’s scene. ” — Scott Hahn, Author, Rome Sweet Home sense of mission, and the impact of his work on the global Catholic scene.” — Scott Hahn, Author, Rome Sweet Home

“As the light of Christian faith flickers across the West, one American priest leads on with inimitable brilliance, Joseph Fessio, S.J.” “As the light of Christian faith flickers across the West, one American —Mary Eberstadt, Author, Adam and Eve after the Pill

priest leads on with inimitable brilliance, Joseph Fessio, S.J.” —Mary Eberstadt, Author, Adam and Eve after the Pill

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his nitive journalist biography Tess of theLivingstone great Australian Cardinal bydefi veteran traces his life from by veteran journalist Tess Livingstone traces his life from childhood in Australia to his role as the Vatican treasurer; childhood in Australia to his role as the Vatican treasurer; through his trials, unjust imprisonment, and exoneration, to his through his trials, unjust imprisonment, and exoneration, to his untimely passing away in January 2023. untimely passing away in January 2023.

Hishuge hugelegacy legacy includes rebuilding Church precincts in His includes rebuilding Church precincts in Melbourneand andSydney, Sydney, revitalizing seminary formation, Melbourne revitalizing seminary formation, founding Catholic Catholicuniversities, universities, leading Australia’s founding leading Australia’s Catholicforeign foreign agency, heading World Catholic aidaid agency, andand heading World YouthYouth Day Day 2008. a weekly column in Australia’s largest Sunday news- news2008.From From a weekly column in Australia’s largest Sunday paper books andand scholarly lectures, he hasheleft a left a papertotobestselling bestselling books scholarly lectures, has trove ThTh is book includes snippets of some of the of best troveofofwritings. writings. is book includes snippets of some the best ofofthem captures his his ideas, wit, wit, and and personality. themand and captures ideas, personality.

InInhis Vatican treasurer, his eff the the hisrole roleas as Vatican treasurer, hisorts effto ortsreform to reform Church’s finances met with resistance from an entrenched “old Church’s finances met with resistance from an entrenched “old guard’’. Through it all, he retained his dignity and integrity as a guard’’. Through it all, he retained his dignity and integrity as a faithful successor to the apostles. GCPBH . . Sewn Hardcover, $29.95

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“George Pell, was a giant — on the football field, as a bishop leading “George was a as giant — on the football eld, a bishop the flock inPell, Australia, a brilliant intellect, andfiin hisas love of Jesusleading the flock in Australia, as every a brilliant and in his whom he served with vigor day ofintellect, his extraordinary life.love ” of Jesus —whom Cardinal Timothy Dolan, York he served with vigorArchbishop every day of of New his extraordinary life.”

— Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York

“Cardinal Pell was extraordinary in every sense: a man of sacrificial intelligence, and tremendous “Cardinalfaith, Pellsuperior was extraordinary in every sense:evana man of gelical energy.

Livingstone has captured all these qualities, in evansacrificial faith, superior intelligence, and tremendous this marvelous biography.” gelical energy. Livingstone has captured all these qualities, in —Francis X. Maier, Author, True Confessions: Voices of Faith from this marvelous biography.” a Life in the Church

—Francis X. Maier, Author, True Confessions: Voices of Faith from a Life in the Church

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EDITORIAL by Robert Moynihan

he hearT of PoPe Leo XIV T The first words of the new Pope were simple, steady, balanced. his focus: the peace of the risen Lord. Interior peace, peace in the Church, peace in our world...

W

hen Pope Leo XIV stepped out on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica on the evening of May 8, 2025, an hour or so after he had been elected the successor of Pope Francis, the 150,000 people in the square below, and the millions watching around the world, asked themselves: Who is this man, this first Pope from the United States of America? What moves this new Pope, what does he believe and cherish? And what will be his priorities as the leader of the Church? What will be the goals of his pontificate?

An answer began to appear in his first, long moments of silence. Because, when Leo first stepped out on the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, he stood for a long time in silence. As the crowd cheered, Pope Leo said nothing at all for about two minutes. Cameras focusing close-up on the Pope’s face from the right side showed him slightly clenching and unclenching his jaw, almost imperceptibly.

Was he reflecting on the fact that he was now, truly, the Successor of Peter, the Pope? On the fact that his mission would henceforth be to “confirm his brothers” — and all the faithful, in our tumultuous, “post-Christian,” skeptical, secular age? Perhaps. In those moments of silence — while the vast crowd applauded — it seemed as if the weight of his office was settling upon his shoulders, almost physically, and it seemed he was adjusting his stance, his posture, his very mind, heart, and soul, to bear that burden with honesty, with competence, with perseverance, to the end, unto death itself, worthily. All of us, watching, felt we were waiting with him, as the silence lengthened. And all of us were moved by his silence, his authentic humanity, before he spoke even a single word. Then he spoke.

“Peace be with you,” Pope Leo said. Those were his first words. And the first of those first words was “peace.”

And so, a reasonable point of departure to understand this new Pope, and the purpose he sees for his pontificate, may be found in this first word: “peace.” Pope of peace.

Peace in individual hearts, peace in the Church, in the community of Christ’s disciples and followers, and peace in the world, in a time of wars in many places.

Leo wishes to be a Pope who brings peace, who offers peace to individuals, to the Church, and to the world.

But it must be noted that the words Leo spoke were not his own, but a quotation. They are the words Jesus spoke when he met his disciples after the resurrection.

Leo was well aware of this, and he told us all immediately that he was citing the words of Christ, speaking the words of Christ. “Dear brothers and sisters,” Leo said, “these are the first words spoken by the risen Christ, the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for God’s flock. I would like this greeting of peace to resound in your hearts, in your families, among all people, wherever they may be, in every nation and throughout the world. Peace be with

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INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

you! It is the peace of the risen Christ. A peace that is unarmed and disarming, humble and persevering. A peace that comes from God, the God who loves us all, unconditionally.” So, if the first signal from Pope Leo about what is in his heart was his choice of the word “peace,” the second signal was his choice to cite Christ’s words to express this passion at the center of his being: that there be peace through Christ, that he is centered on Christ, a disciple and herald of Christ, the Son of God and the savior of the world. And, since Jesus Christ was and is “the reconciler,” the way toward peace, for Pope Leo, comes through Christ’s reconciliation, through mutual forgiveness, and God’s forgiveness in Christ.

Finally, the new Pope is an Augustinian monk, a follower of St. Augustine of Hippo (354 to 430 A.D.) In his first words from the loggia, Pope Leo said: “I am an Augustinian, a son of St. Augustine, who once said, ‘With you I am a Christian, and for you I am a bishop.’ In this sense, all of us can journey together toward the homeland that God has prepared for us.”

If, for Leo, the path is the path of peace, the end is love, life in God, who is love itself. St. Augustine wrote at length on the great mystery of the Trinity. And Pope Leo spoke about this in a homily on Sunday, June 15, for the Feast of the Holy Trinity. “For St. Augustine,” Leo said, “every good and worthwhile human activity is in some way a reflection of God’s infinite beauty. For God is not immobile and closed in on himself, but activity, communion, a dynamic relationship between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, which opens up to humanity and to the world... This dynamism of God’s inner life gives birth to life. We were created by a God who finds joy in giving existence to his creatures, who ‘delights’ in our world...”

Leo thus is a Pope who wishes to lead us in peace, toward true beauty and, finally, to eternal life. m

Vatican City, May 28, 2025.

Pope Leo XIV during the first General Audience in St. Peter's Square. Grzegorz Galazka photo

JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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CONTENTS JULY-AUGUST 2025

JULY-AUGUST 2025 Year 33, #4

v EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Robert Moynihan ASSOCIATE EDITOR: George “Pat” Morse (+ 2013) ASSISTANT EDITOR: Christina Deardurff CULTURE EDITOR: Lucy Gordan CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: William D. Doino, Jr. WRITERS: Anna Artymiak, Alberto Carosa, Giuseppe Rusconi, David Quinn, Andrew Rabel, Vladimiro Redzioch, Serena Sartini PHOTOS: Grzegorz Galazka LAYOUT: Giuseppe Sabatelli ILLUSTRATIONS: Stefano Navarrini CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: Deborah B. Tomlinson ADVERTISING: Katie Carr Tel. +1.202.864.4263 kcarr@insidethevatican.com

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v INSIDE THE VATICAN (ISSN 1068-8579, 1 yr subscription: $ 49.95; 2 yrs, $94.95; 3 yrs, $129.95), provides a comprehensive, independent report on Vatican affairs published bimonthly (6 times per year) with occasional special supplements.

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6 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

Year 33, #4

SPECIAL ISSUE: HABEMUS PAPAM! POPE LEO XIV IS ELECTED The Church Bids Farewell to Pope Francis

by ITV staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Voting for a New Pope: Cardinals from Around the World in the General Congregations

by ITV staff/CNA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Voting for a New Pope: The Pre-conclave Mass Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice

by ITV staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 “Habemus Papam!”: The Historic Election of the First American Pope, Leo XIV

by Robert Moynihan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 The First Urbi et Orbi Message of Leo XIV: “For you I am a bishop; with you I am a Christian”

by ITV staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 Pope Leo’s First Mass: “Recognize the marvels that the Lord has done”

by ITV staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 Leaving the Vatican for the First Time as Pope

by Robert Moynihan/Vatican News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Pope Leo to the College of Cardinals: “God communicates Himself in the gentle breeze”

by Robert Moynihan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 How Pope Leo Got Elected

by Phil Lawler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 PHOTO ESSAY: The First Weeks of a New Pope

by ITV staff/photos by Grzegorz Galazka/Vatican Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 A Historic First: Pope Leo XIV Sings the Regina Caeli from the Loggia at St. Peter’s

by Robert Moynihan/Vatican News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 Inauguration of the Petrine Ministry: A New Pontificate Officially Begins

by Robert Moynihan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 Pope Leo’s Homily for the Inaugural Mass of his Pontificate

by Vatican News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 The Fisherman’s Ring and the Pallium: Key Symbols of the Petrine Office

by Vatican Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 Pope Leo Takes Possession of the Lateran Basilica — Cathedral of the Bishop of Rome

by Vatican News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 REPORT: POPE FRANCIS, POPE LEO AND THE EAST How will Leo conduct relations with the Orthodox?

by Robert Moynihan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 Address to Representatives of Other Churches

by Pope Leo XIV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 Pope Leo will fulfill the promise of Pope Francis — to come to Nicaea in 2025

by Anna Artymiak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58 “Looking for Meaning? Turn to God”: Leo’s Angelus address, June 4, 2025

by Deborah Castellano Lubov (Vatican News) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 A Brief Biography of Pope Leo XIV

by ITV staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62 What kind of Pope will Leo be? His past remarks may hold some insight

by ITV staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64 FEATURES The Papacy in a New Era: From Gregory VII to Leo XIV

by Darrick Taylor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66 American Cardinals and the Papacy: Historical Vignettes

by Donald McClarey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 Scripture/The Cross of Peter — and of Pope Leo XIV

by Anthony Esolen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74 Of Books, Art and People/Caravaggio’s Pictorial Autobiography from Debut to Death

by Lucy Gordan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76

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aPril 23, 2025 a ProCession oF Cardinals on aPril 23 led The CaskeT ConTaining The morTal remains oF PoPe FranCis inTo sT. PeTer’s, where iT would lie in sTaTe For Two days n Text: Vatican Media/ITV staff

Photos: Grzegorz Galazka

The ChurCh Bids Farewell To PoPe FranCis he Rite of Translation of the body of Pope “As we now leave this home, let us thank the Francis took place in the Vatican on the Lord for the countless gifts He bestowed on the morning of April 23 led by the College of Christian people through His servant, Pope Cardinals, gathered in Rome following his death. Francis,” he prayed. “Let us ask Him, in His Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the mercy and kindness, to grant to the late Pope an Holy Roman Church, began the liturgical rite in eternal home in the kingdom of heaven, and to the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta with a brief comfort with the celestial hope the papal family, prayer for the soul of Pope Francis, and thanked the Church in Rome, and the faithful throughout God for the Pope’s 12-year ministry. the world.”

T

10 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

Swiss Guards accompany the casket of Pope Francis through the crowded piazza into St. Peter’s Basilica, where he would lie in state for two days.

(Photo: Grzgorz Galazka)

JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 11

april 25, 2025 THE FUNEral OF pOpE FraNCiS

THE FAITHFUL JOIN WITH THE ENTIRE CHURCH TO PRAY FOR THE SOUL OF POPE FRANCIS Crowds of the faithful wait to enter St. Peter’s Basilica to pay their final respects to Pope Francis while he lies in state on April 24 and 25. His funeral was on the morning of Saturday, April 26.

(Galazka photos)

12 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

13 JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 15

april 25, 2025 THE FUNEral OF pOpE FraNCiS

14 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

Left, members of the press and others present to pay their respects stand before the casket of Pope Francis as he lies at the altar of St. Peter’s, with both Vatican gendarmes and Swiss Guard in attendance.

The April 26 funeral Mass was presided over by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals.

A habited cleric moves silhouetted in front of the Loggia window in the middle of the facade of St. Peter’s where the Popes appear to give their Blessing.

From this place the newly elected Pope will bless crowds in the piazza below.

(Galazka photos)

SEDE VACANTE This is the Vatican insignia representing the sede vacante (vacant see). The emblem is used between the death of a Pope and the election of a new one—a period known as the interregnum. The Chair of the Holy See was considered vacant as of April 21, 2025, when Pope Francis passed away.

(CNS illustration/Tim Meko)

JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 15

voting for tHE nEW PoPE gEnEral congrEgations Cardinals pray May 6 before the 11th General Congregation to discuss the needs of the Church (Vatican Media photo)

Voting for a PoPe: Cardinals from around the World n Text by ITV staff/CNA

T

he 2025 conclave which elected Pope Leo XIV was the largest papal conclave in history.

Once the sede vacante (empty chair) was declared by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Vatican Camerlengo (Chamberlain) upon the death of Pope Francis on April 21, events were put into motion as prescribed by the 1996 Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici Gregis, produced under the papacy of John Paul II, which outlines norms for the funeral of the deceased Pope and the election of the new Pope.

With 133 cardinal electors gathered in the Sistine Chapel on the first day of the conclave which voted for the new Pope, May 7, the unprecedented number surpassed all previous papal conclaves, breaking the previous record of 115 electors in the 2005 and 2013 elections.

It also marks the first time a conclave was held with 16 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

more than 120 voting cardinals — the limit set by St. John Paul II in Universi Dominici Gregis.

While paragraph 33 of that document capped the number of electors at 120, paragraph 36 of the constitution affirms that any “cardinal of Holy Roman Church who has been created and published before the College of Cardinals thereby has the right to elect the Pope.”

The College of Cardinals had said earlier in the week of the conclave that Pope Francis lawfully dispensed with the numerical limit by exercising his supreme authority as pontiff.

Not only was the conclave the largest, but also the most diverse in nationalities: Europe’s representation was below 40% for the first time ever, while nations like Sweden, Myanmar, Tonga, Cape Verde and South Sudan were represented in the conclave, also for the first time.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell (c), the Vatican’s Camerlengo, who oversaw the proceedings during the sede vacante, speaks with two other cardinals

English Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe, OP, and Canadian Cardinal Michael Czerny during the General Congregations at the Vatican

A “STACKED DECK”? tralization and doctrinal evolution with caution, seeing It was no secret that among those who did not favor such shifts as a threat to the Church’s unity and historic the “reform” programs and policies of Pope Francis, authority. They will probably advocate a clarification there was concern that the “deck was stacked” by Pope and tidying up of Pope Francis’ various motu proprios, Francis’ own cardinalate appointments throughout his which have been perceived as confusing by part of the pontificate — a whopping 109 of the potential 135 carinstitutional Church and the faithful, as Italian Vaticanist dinal electors (two pled infirmity and did not travel to Andrea Gagliarducci recently pointed out.

Rome for the conclave).

“A final bloc, which could be defined as the instituAn analysis by Solène tional stabilizers, focuses on Tadié in the National Vatican governance and interCatholic Register the week nal stability. This group seeks before the conclave split the to balance tradition and pasvoting cardinals among three toral flexibility without intro“core blocs.” ducing major structural She said, “The reformist or changes...Whether progressive ‘pro-Francis’ bloc seeks conor conservative, [they] are tinuity with the Argentine seen as essentially pragmatic Pope’s pastoral approach, and likely to support a pontiff which is largely focused on capable of uniting the various mercy, social justice and factions within the Church and interreligious dialogue. restoring the Vatican’s credi“This group is open to bility without introducing disreforms on issues such as the ruptive reforms.”

Archbishop Emeritus of Hong Kong, Cardinal Joseph Zen, 93, inclusion of same-sex cou- arrives But it is not clear that these at the Vatican to take part in the election of the new Pope ples, access to Communion “blocs” were actually as wellfor divorced-and-remarried couples, and greater defined when it came to the actual voting. involvement of the laity. They also favor greater promotion of ecumenism and dialogue with Islam...They DAYS OF DISCUSSION are likely to press for the Church’s greater engagement How did the voting cardinals hash out their differwith modern society. ences and come up with viable candidates for whom “The conservative bloc, on the other hand, favors they could realistically vote, and did vote, over the doctrinal clarity and moral consistency over pastoral course of the four ballots that it took to finally choose a flexibility,” Tadié continued. “This group regards decennew pontiff?

JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 17

voting for tHE nEW PoPE gEnEral congrEgations Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, 69, President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference and a past special envoy of Pope Francis in international diplomatic efforts, attends Mass with fellow cardinals (Galazka photos)

The College of Cardinals, including those not eligible to vote because of their age (over 80) engage in a many-days-long period of discussion called General Congregations. In these daily meetings, the cardinals cover many topics of importance in the life of the Church in an effort to clarify how a new Pope should best be equipped to address them, and to sound out potential candidates.

The 2025 Congregations lasted 15 days, from April 22 to May 6, the day before the actual conclave began.

The Congregations began with the traditional con-

firmation of the vacancy of the papacy by the Camerlengo, an office designated in Pope John Paul’s 1996 Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici Gregis. The current Camerlengo, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, named in 2019 by Pope Francis, is an Irish-born prelate who spent the majority of his ecclesial career serving in the United States.

The cardinals are summoned to the General Congregations and take an oath of secrecy regarding the content of their discussions (on pain of excommunication).

Cardinals are allowed to give short speeches (called

Below, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, 60, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem; Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, 67; Indian Cardinal George Koovakad, 51, of the Catholic Syro-Malabar Rite Church (Galazka photos)

18 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

“interventions”) as well as hold open discussions in smaller groups.

The daily Congregations continued until Tuesday morning, May 6, the day before the beginning of the conclave, when 173 Cardinals, including 130 Cardinal electors, participated in the twelfth General Congregation.

A WIDE RANGE OF TOPICS During a subsequent briefing with journalists, Matteo Bruni, the Director of the Holy See Press Office, explained that, as always, the last Congregation began at 9:00 am with a moment of prayer. There were 26 interventions that day, addressing a wide range of topics.

of the Pope, of divisions and the role of cardinals in the Church, of the proximity of the Solemnity of Christ the King and the World Day of the Poor — possibly considered together — and of the need for meetings of the Cardinals during Consistories called by the Pope.

Other topics included Christian initiation and formation as missionary acts, the memory of the witness of martyrs of the faith in areas of conflict and where religious freedom is limited, and the urgent issue of climate change.

The topic of the date of Easter, the Council of Nicaea and ecumenical dialogue was also mentioned.

Bruni also explained that Pope Francis’ Ring of the Fisherman had been made void, and that an appeal was

Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, 70, Vatican Secretary of State and once thought a leading papal election contender, celebrates Mass during the General Congregations (Galazka photos)

For instance, discussion focused on the reforms of Pope Francis that need to be carried forward: legislation on abuse, economic issues, the Roman Curia, synodality, work for peace and care for creation.

The theme of communion was emphasized as a calling for the new Pope to be a Pontifex, a builder of bridges, a shepherd, a master of humanity and the face of a “Samaritan Church.”

In times of war, violence, and deep polarization, it was said, there is a need for a Pope of mercy, synodality, and hope.

There was discussion of Canon Law and the power

read to the parties involved in various conflicts for a permanent ceasefire and negotiations, calling for a just and lasting peace.

The following morning, May 7 — just hours before the conclave began — the cardinals attended the Pro Eligendo Pontifice (For the Electing of the Pontiff) Mass, the principal celebrant of which was Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals.

At age 81, Cardinal Re was not eligible to vote in the conclave, but he gave a stirring homily at the Mass which we reproduce on the following pages.m JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 19

WAITING for THE NEW PoPE Pro EligEndo romano PontificE (MAy 7, 2025)

homily of the mass for the eleCtion of the Pontiff By the Dean of the College of CarDinals, CarDinal giovanni Battista re

Cardinal re delivered this homily just hours before the Cardinals entered the ConClave

W

e read in the Acts of the Apostles that after Christ's ascension into heaven and while waiting for Pentecost, all were united and persevering in prayer together with Mary, the Mother of Jesus (cf. Acts 1:14).

This is precisely what we are doing a few hours before the beginning of the conclave, under the gaze of Our Lady beside the altar, in this Basilica which rises above the tomb of the Apostle Peter.

We feel united with the entire People of God in their sense of faith, love for the Pope, and confident expectation.

We are here to invoke the help of the Holy Spirit, to implore his light and strength so that the Pope elected may be he whom the Church and humanity need at this difficult and complex turning point in history.

To pray, by invoking the Holy Spirit, is the only right and proper attitude to take as the Cardinal electors prepare to undertake an act of the highest human and ecclesial responsibility and to make a choice of exceptional importance. This is a human act for which every personal consideration must be set aside, keeping in mind and heart only the God of Jesus Christ and the good of the Church and of humanity.

In the Gospel that has been proclaimed, words resound that bring us to the heart of the supreme message and testament of Jesus, delivered to his Apostles on the evening of the Last Supper in the Upper Room: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” As if to clarify this “as I have loved you,” and to indicate how far our love must go, Jesus goes on to say: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends” (Jn 15:1213).

20 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

This is the message of love, which Jesus calls a “new” commandment. It is new because it transforms into something positive, and greatly expands, the admonition of the Old Testament that said, “Do not do to others what you would not want done to you.”

The love that Jesus reveals knows no limits and must characterize the thoughts and actions of all his disciples, who must always show authentic love in their behavior and commit themselves to building a new civilization, what Paul VI called the “civilization of love.” Love is the only force capable of changing the world. Jesus gave us an example of this love at the beginning of the Last Supper with a surprising gesture: he humbled himself in the service of others, washing the feet of the Apostles, without discrimination, and not excluding Judas, who would betray him.

This message of Jesus connects to what we heard in the first reading of the Mass, in which the prophet Isaiah reminded us that the fundamental quality of pastors is love to the point of complete self-giving.

The liturgical texts of this Eucharistic celebration, then, invite us to fraternal love, to mutual help and to commitment to ecclesial communion and universal human fraternity.

Among the tasks of every successor of Peter is that of fostering communion: communion of all Christians with Christ; communion of the Bishops with the Pope; communion of the Bishops among themselves.

This is not a self-referential communion, but one that is entirely directed towards communion among persons, peoples and cultures, with a concern that the Church should always be a “home and school of communion.” This is also

a strong call to maintain the unity of the Church on the path traced out by Christ to the Apostles.

The unity of the Church is willed by Christ; a unity that does not mean uniformity, but a firm and profound communion in diversity, provided that full fidelity to the Gospel is maintained.

Each Pope continues to embody Peter and his mission and thus represents Christ on earth; he is the rock on which the Church is built (cf. Mt 16:18).

The election of the new Pope is not a simple succession of persons, yet it is always the Apostle Peter who returns.

The Cardinal electors will cast their votes in the Sistine Chapel, the place, as the Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici Gregis states, “where everything is conducive to an awareness of the presence of God, in whose sight each person will one day be judged.”

In his [poem] Roman Triptych, Pope John Paul II expressed the hope that during the hours of voting on this weighty decision, Michelangelo’s looming image of Jesus the Judge would remind everyone of the greatness of the

responsibility of placing the “supreme keys” (Dante) in the correct hands.

Let us pray, then, that the Holy Spirit, who in the last hundred years has given us a series of truly holy and great Pontiffs, will give us a new Pope according to God’s heart for the good of the Church and of humanity.

Let us pray that God will grant the Church a Pope who knows how best to awaken the consciences of all and the moral and spiritual energies in today’s society, characterized by great technological progress but which tends to forget God. Today’s world expects much from the Church regarding the safeguarding of those fundamental human and spiritual values without which human coexistence will not be better nor bring good to future generations.

May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, intercede with her maternal intercession, so that the Holy Spirit will enlighten the minds of the Cardinal electors and help them agree on the Pope that our time needs.m

“You who see all — point to him!”

From the “Epilogue” of Pope St. John Paul II’s 40-page, 3-part poem Roman Triptych, (2003), to which Cardinal Re referred in his homily at the Mass for the Election of the Pontiff Left: a view of the entire ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The poem below refers to these images, which the cardinals sitting below can look up and contemplate during a papal conclave

By John Paul II, Roman Triptych, 2003 It is here, at the feet of this marvellous Sistine profusion of color that the Cardinals gather— A community responsible for the legacy of the keys of the Kingdom. They come right here. And once more Michelangelo wraps them in his vision.

“In Him we live and move and have our being” Who is He? Look, here the creating hand of the Almighty Ancient One, turned towards Adam....

In the beginning God created....

He, the all-seeing One....

The Sistine painting will then speak with the Word of the Lord: Tu es Petrus — as Simon, the son of Jonah, heard.

"To you I will give the keys of the Kingdom."

Those to whom the care of the legacy of the keys has been entrusted gather here, allowing themselves to be enfolded by the Sistine's colors, by the vision left to us by Michelangelo—

So it was in August, and then in October of the memorable year of the two Conclaves, And so it will be again, when the need arises after my death.

Michelangelo's vision must then speak to them.

"Con-clave": a joint concern for the legacy of the keys of the Kingdom.

They will find themselves between the Beginning and the End, between the Day of Creation and the Day of Judgment.

It is given to man once to die and after that the judgment!

A final clarity and light.

The clarity of the events— The clarity of consciences— It is necessary that during the Conclave, Michelangelo teach them— Do not forget: Omnia nuda et aperta sunt ante oculos Eius.

You who see all—point to him!

He will point him out...

JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 21

Habemus papam PoPe leo XIV (May 8, 2025)

“WIth you I aM a ChrIstIan, and For you I aM a BIshoP” n By Robert Moynihan

22 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

T

hursday, May 8: At 6:07 in the evening, I was standing on a cold and windy rooftop at St. Peter’s, watching as the papal conclave ended with white smoke.

An hour later, the Cardinal Protodeacon Dominique Mamberti came out onto the papal loggia and said to the crowd: “I announce to you a great joy: WE HAVE A POPE, the Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lord Robert Francis Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church Prevost, who has taken the name Leo XIV.” Then the new Pope, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, 69, an American from the south side of Chicago, appeared on the central loggia of St. Peter' Basilica, to make his first appearance to the world as Pope Leo XIV. The first most striking thing: his silence.

He did not speak for a considerable time, evidently deeply moved, as the crowd applauded.

The second most striking thing: he prayed the entire Hail Mary, in Italian, the first time a new Pope has ever done that.

His pontificate thus begins under the sign of Mary, Our Lady, the Blessed Mother of Jesus.

His first words were of peace."Peace be with all of you!" were the first words he spoke.

Pope Leo XIV greeted the city of Rome and the world with these words at his first appearance as the Successor of Peter from the Central Loggia of St Peter's Basilica.

The entire transcript of Pope Leo’s first greeting follows on the next page.

00 JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 23

habemus papam PoPe Leo XIV (MaY 8, 2025)

THE “URBI ET ORBI” (“TO THE CITY AND TO THE WORLD”) MESSAGE OF THE NEWLY ELECTED HOLY FATHER, POPE LEO XIV

Greetings to Rome and to the world, May 8, 2025 Peace be with you!

Dearest brothers and sisters, this was the first greeting of the risen Christ, the good shepherd who gave His life for the flock of God. I, too, would like this greeting of peace to enter your hearts, to reach your families and all people, wherever they are; and all the peoples, and all the earth: Peace be with you.

This is the peace of the Risen Christ, a disarming and humble and preserving peace.

It comes from God. God, who loves all of us, without any limits or conditions.

Let us keep in our ears the weak but always brave voice of Pope Francis, who blessed Rome — the Pope who blessed Rome and the world that day on the morning 00 24 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

of Easter.

Allow me to continue that same blessing.

God loves us, all of us, evil will not prevail.

We are all in the hands of God. Without fear, united, hand in hand with God and among ourselves, we will go forward.

We are disciples of Christ, Christ goes before us, and the world needs His light.

Humanity needs Him like a bridge to reach God and His love.

You help us to build bridges with dialogue and encounter so we can all be one people always in peace.

Thank you, Pope Francis!

Thank you to my Cardinal brothers who chose me to be the Successor of Peter and to walk together with you as a united Church searching all together for peace and justice, working together as women and men, faithful to

Far left: it is 6:07 p.m. in St. Peter’s Square: white smoke emerges from the chimney as a seagull flutters by. Center: French Cardinal Proto-deacon Dominique François Mamberti, 73, announces the election of the Pope from the central Loggia of St. Peter’s. Right: A young man is one of thousands taking a photo. Below, Pope Leo XIV appears on the Loggia and greets the people in the square (Galazka photos)

Jesus Christ without fear, proclaiming Christ, to be missionaries, faithful to the Gospel.

I am a son of Saint Augustine, an Augustinian.

He said, “With you I am a Christian, for you a bishop.”

So may we all walk together towards that homeland that God has prepared for us.

To the Church of Rome, a special greeting: We have to look together how to be a missionary Church, building bridges, dialogue, always open to receiving with open arms for everyone, like this square, open to all, to all who need our charity, our presence, dialogue, love.

[In Spanish]: Hello to all and especially to those of my diocese of Chiclayo in Peru, a loyal, faithful people accompanying the bishop and helping the bishop.

[Returning to Italian]:

To all you brothers and sisters of Rome, Italy, of all the world, we want to be a synodal Church, walking and always seeking peace, charity, closeness, especially to those who are suffering.

Today is the day of the Supplicatio [Plea] to Our Lady of Pompei.

Our blessed mother Mary always wants to walk with us, be close to us, she always wants to help us with her intercession and her love. So let us pray together for this mission, and for all of the Church, and for peace in the world.

We ask for this special grace from Mary, our Mother.

“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art Thou among women, and blessed in the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

“Amen.”

00 JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 25

habemus papam first MAss of pope leo xiv (MAy 9, 2025)

PoPe Leo: “ReCognIze THe MaRVeLS THaT THe LoRd HaS done” The day after he was elected, Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass for the first time in the Sistine Chapel with the College of Cardinals. Here is the text of his homily Pope Leo XIV incenses the altar as he celebrates his first Mass as Pope with cardinals in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel on May 9, the day after his election Opposite page: the new Pope elevates the consecrated Host at his first Mass.

Below, Pope Leo delivers his homily in which he spoke of what it means to have true faith in Jesus, repeating the words of the first Pope, Peter: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Vatican Media photos)

I

will begin with a word in English, and the rest is in Italian.

But I want to repeat the words from the Responsorial Psalm: “I will sing a new song to the Lord, because he has done marvels.”

And indeed, not just with me but with all of us. My brother Cardinals, as we celebrate this morning, I invite you to recognize the marvels that the Lord has done, the blessings that the Lord continues to pour out on all of us through the Ministry of Peter.

You have called me to carry that cross, and to be blessed with that mission, and I know I can rely on each and every one of you to walk with me, as we continue as a Church, as a community of friends of Jesus, as believers to announce the Good News, to announce the Gospel.

[Continued in Italian] “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16).

In these words, Peter, asked by the Master, together with the other disciples, about his faith in him, expressed the patrimony that the Church, through the apostolic succession, has preserved, deepened and handed on for two thousand years.

Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God: the one Saviour, who alone reveals the face of the Father.

In him, God, in order to make himself close and accessible to men and women, revealed himself to us in the trusting eyes of a child, in the lively mind of a young person and in the mature features of a man (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 22), finally 26 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

appearing to his disciples after the resurrection with his glorious body. He thus showed us a model of human holiness that we can all imitate, together with the promise of an eternal destiny that transcends all our limits and abilities.

Peter, in his response, understands both of these things: the gift of God and the path to follow in order to allow himself to be changed by that gift. They are two inseparable aspects of salvation entrusted to the Church to be proclaimed for the good of the human race. Indeed, they are entrusted to us, who were chosen by him before we were formed in our mothers’ wombs (cf. Jer 1:5), reborn in the waters of Baptism and, surpassing our limitations and with no merit of our own, brought here and sent forth from here, so that the Gospel might be proclaimed to every creature (cf. Mk 16:15).

In a particular way, God has called me by your election to succeed the Prince of the Apostles, and has entrusted this treasure to me so that, with his help, I may be its faithful administrator (cf. 1 Cor 4:2) for the sake of the entire mystical Body of the Church. He has done so in order that she may be ever more fully a city set on a hill (cf. Rev 21:10), an ark of salvation sailing through the waters of history and a beacon that illumines the dark nights of this world. And this, not so much through the magnificence of her structures or the grandeur of her buildings – like the monuments among which we find ourselves – but rather through the holiness of her members. For we are the people whom God has chosen as his own, so that we may declare the wonderful deeds of him who

called us out of darkness into his marvellous light (cf. 1 Pet 2:9).

Peter, however, makes his profession of faith in reply to a specific question: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” (Mt 16:13). The question is not insignificant. It concerns an essential aspect of our ministry, namely, the world in which we live, with its limitations and its potential, its questions and its convictions.

“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” If we reflect on the scene we are considering, we might find two possible answers, which characterize two different attitudes.

First, there is the world’s response. Matthew tells us that this conversation between Jesus and his disciples takes place in the beautiful town of Caesarea Philippi, filled with luxurious palaces, set in a magnificent natural landscape at the foot of Mount Hermon, but also a place of cruel power plays and the scene of betrayals and infidelity. This setting speaks to us of a world that considers Jesus a completely insignificant person, at best someone with an unusual and striking way of speaking and acting.

And so, once his presence becomes irksome because of his demands for honesty and his stern moral requirements, this “world” will not hesitate to reject and eliminate him.

Then there is the other possible response to Jesus’ question: that of ordinary people. For them, the Nazarene is not a charlatan, but an upright man, one who has courage, who speaks well and says the right things, like other great prophets in the history of Israel. That is why they follow him, at least for as long as they can do so without too much risk or inconvenience. Yet to them he is only a man, and therefore, in times of danger, during his passion, they too abandon him and depart disappointed.

What is striking about these two attitudes is their relevance today. They embody notions that we could easily find on the lips of many men and women in our own time, even if, while essentially identical, they are expressed in different language.

Even today, there are many settings in which the Christian faith is considered absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent. Settings where other securities are preferred, like technology, money, success, power, or pleasure.

These are contexts where it is not easy to preach the Gospel and bear witness to its truth, where believers are

mocked, opposed, despised or at best tolerated and pitied. Yet, precisely for this reason, they are the places where our missionary outreach is desperately needed. A lack of faith is often tragically accompanied by the loss of meaning in life, the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the crisis of the family and so many other wounds that afflict our society.

Today, too, there are many settings in which Jesus, although appreciated as a man, is reduced to a kind of charismatic leader or superman. This is true not only among non-believers but also among many baptized Christians, who thus end up living, at this level, in a state of practical atheism.

This is the world that has been entrusted to us, a world in which, as Pope Francis taught us so many times, we are called to bear witness to our joyful faith in Jesus the Saviour.

Therefore, it is essential that we too repeat, with Peter: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16).

It is essential to do this, first of all, in our personal relationship with the Lord, in our commitment to a daily journey of conversion. Then, to do so as a Church, experiencing together our fidelity to the Lord and bringing the Good News to all (cf.

Lumen Gentium, 1).

I say this first of all to myself, as the Successor of Peter, as I begin my mission as Bishop of Rome and, according to the wellknown expression of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, am called to preside in charity over the universal Church (cf. Letter to the Romans, Prologue).

Saint Ignatius, who was led in chains to this city, the place of his impending sacrifice, wrote to the Christians there: “Then I will truly be a disciple of Jesus Christ, when the world no longer sees my body” (Letter to the Romans, IV, 1). Ignatius was speaking about being devoured by wild beasts in the arena – and so it happened – but his words apply more generally to an indispensable commitment for all those in the Church who exercise a ministry of authority. It is to move aside so that Christ may remain, to make oneself small so that he may be known and glorified (cf. Jn 3:30), to spend oneself to the utmost so that all may have the opportunity to know and love him.

May God grant me this grace, today and always, through the loving intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church.m JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 27

Habemus papam pope leo’s first day outside the vatican (May 10, 2025)

Leo’s fIrst trIP outsIde the VatIcan THE NEW POPE TRAVELED OUTSIDE THE VATICAN WALLS FOR THE FIRST TIME ON MAY 10, TWO DAYS AFTER HIS ELECTION. HE VISITED THE TOMB OF HIS PREDECESSOR, FRANCIS, AND THE SHRINE OF THE SALUS POPULI ROMANI n By Robert Moynihan

Below, Pope Leo lays a single white rose at the tomb of his predecessor, Pope Francis, in Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the four papal basilicas in Rome, on May 10, two days after his election as Pope.

On Thursday, May 8, the papal conclave ended with white smoke at 6:07 in the evening, and an hour later, Pope Leo XIV stepped out on the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, the first Pope from the United States of America, having been elected on the 4th ballot, receiving, it was reported in Italy, more than 100 votes.

Two days later, Pope Leo took his first trip outside of the Vatican...

Leo XIV Prays at tomb of Late PoPe francIs at st. mary major

O

n the way back to the Vatican from Genazzano, Pope Leo XIV stopped at St. Mary Major, where he paused in prayer before the tomb of Pope Francis and the icon of the Virgin Mary, Salus Populi Romani, the Holy See Press Office reported May 10.

The last time Pope Leo XIV had prayed at the tomb of the late Pope was during the late afternoon

of the Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday.

On that day, then-Cardinal Robert Prevost, along with members of the College of Cardinals, went to the papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major to pray at Francis’ tomb that had just been opened to the public.

Deborah Castellano Lubov (Vatican News)

The Salus Populi Romani Icon in St. Mary Major The Salus Populi Romani is an icon painted on cedarwood which arrived in Rome in the year 590 AD during the reign of Pope Gregory I. Its title in English is literally “Health of the Roman People,” rendered more popularly as “Protector of the Roman People.”

The icon, heavily overpainted, bejewelled and leafed with gold in later centuries, was believed to be a miraculous image. Pope Gregory venerated the image publically, having it carried through the streets of Rome as the people prayed for an end to a plague that was rampant at that time.

Pope Pius V venerated the image in prayer for a victory at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.

More recently, Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis all venerated the image on several Marian feast days.

00 28 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

Pope Francis in 2013 in front of the icon of the Madonna Salus Populi Romani

Pope Leo prayed at the Shrine of the Mother of Good Counsel in Genazzano, on May 10.

PoPe visits the shrine of the Mother of Good Counsel in Genazzano Pope Leo XIV on May 10 paid a visit to the Shrine of the Mother of Good Counsel in Genazzano, just outside Rome, saying he “wanted so much to come here in these first days of the new Ministry... that the Church has entrusted to me.”

F

or his first trip outside the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV chose to visit the Shrine of the Mother of Good Counsel in Genazzano, just outside Rome.

Pope Leo visited the shrine, which has been run by the Augustinians since 1200, at around 4:00 pm for a private visit.

The shrine is home to an ancient image of the Virgin Mary, which comes from Shkodër (Albania) and was much loved by Pope Leo XIII, who never managed to visit it but did elevate the shrine to the dignity of minor basilica in 1903.

Other Popes had visited the Mother of Good Counsel: John XXIII in 1959 and John Paul II in 1993.

Today, however, the visit came from Pope Leo XIV who, as a cardinal, had celebrated Mass at the shrine on April 25, 2024.

In his homily, the then-Cardinal Prevost expressed his devotion to the Virgin, urging the faithful to be inspired by Mary to spread peace and reconciliation in the world.

Pope Leo arrived in a Volkswagen vehicle, seated in the front; he was greeted by a cheering crowd of hundreds of people gathered in the square or looking out of windows and balconies.

Many shouted “Leo, Leo” and the nearby streets filled up.

Entering the church, where he greeted the Augustinian religious, the Pope stopped to pray, first in front of the altar and then in front of the image of the Virgin.

With those present, he recited John Paul II's prayer to the Mother of Good Counsel.

At the end, after saying a Hail Mary and singing the Salve Regina, the Pope addressed those who were in the church, greeting them and the people gathered outside.

“I wanted so much to come here in these first days of the new Ministry of carrying out the mission of Successor of Peter that the Church has entrusted to me,” he said.

And, recalling the visit he made after his election as Prior General of the Order of St. Augustine, and his choice to “offer his life to the Church,” Leo XIV reierated his “trust in the Mother of Good Counsel,” recalling the words addressed by Mary to the servants at the Wedding at Cana: “Whatever He tells you, do it.”

The Pope then had a private meeting with the Augustinians.m (Vatican News) 00 JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 29

Habemus papam pope leo meets cardinals (may 10, 2025)

“God likes to communicate Himself, not in tHe roar of tHunder, but in tHe wHisper of a Gentle breeze” n By Robert Moynihan

Pope Leo XIV addresses the College of Cardinals in the Vatican's Clementine Hall May 10 (Vatican Media)

P

ope Leo had his first meeting with his cardinals on May 10 — both the 133 who elected him and another approximately 100 older than age 80 who had participated in the pre-conclave congregations, but who had not voted due to their age.

The Pope in this address explains why he took the name “Leo,” and why the challenges of our time echo some of the challenges facing Leo XIII (1878-1903) more than 100 years ago.

These challenges include threats to the human dignity of workers in a time of 00 30 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

great technological change, including robotics and artificial intelligence (AI).

In essence, the Pope is saying that he will attempt to defend human dignity, the dignity of beings who have eternal souls, in a world which at times can obscure, or tarnish, or lose sight of, this great dignity.

“In these days,” the new Pope said, “We have seen the true grandeur of the Church, which is alive in the rich variety of her members in union with her one Head, Christ, ‘the shepherd and guardian’ (1 Peter 2:25) of our souls.”

— RM

FIRST MEETING WITH CARDINALS: ADDRESS BY POPE LEO XIV, MAY 10, 2025 Thank you very much, Your Eminence.

Before taking our seats, let us begin with a prayer, asking the Lord to continue to accompany this College, and above all the entire Church with this spirit, with enthusiasm, but also with deep faith.

Let us pray together in Latin: Pater Noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie. Et dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.

[This translates to: “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Amen.”-Ed.]

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen."

[This translates to: “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”-Ed.] In the first part of this meeting, there will be a short talk with some reflections that I would like to share with you.

But then there will be a second part, a bit like the opportunity that many of you had asked for: a sort of dialogue with the College of Cardinals to hear what advice, suggestions, proposals, concrete things, which have already been discussed in the days leading up to the conclave.

Pope Leo addresses the cardinals on May 10, 2025

“THE LORD WILL NOT LEAVE ME ALONE” Dear Brother Cardinals, I greet all of you with gratitude for this meeting and for the days that preceded it.

Days that were sad because of the loss of the Holy Father Pope Francis and demanding due to the responsibilities we confronted together, yet at the same time, in accordance with the promise Jesus himself made to us, days rich in grace and consolation in the Spirit (cf. Jn 14:25-27).

You, dear Cardinals, are the closest collaborators of the Pope.

This has proved a great comfort to me in accepting a yoke clearly far beyond my own limited powers, as it would be for any of us.

Your presence reminds me that the Lord, who has entrusted me with this mission, will not leave me alone in bearing its responsibility.

I know, before all else, that I can always count on his help, the help of the Lord, and through his grace and providence, on your closeness and that of so many of our brothers and sisters throughout the world who believe in God, love the Church and support the Vicar of Christ by their prayers and good works.

I thank the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re – who deserves applause, at least once, if not more – whose wisdom, the fruit of a long life and many years of faithful service to the Apostolic See, has helped us greatly during this time.

I thank the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell – I believe he is present today – for the important and demanding work that he has done throughout the period of the Vacant See and for the convocation of the Conclave.

My thoughts also go to our brother Cardinals who, for reasons of health, were unable to be present, and I join 00 JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 31

habemus papam first meeting with cardinals you in embracing them in communion of affection and prayer.

“BOTH SAD AND JOYFUL” At this moment, both sad and joyful, providentially bathed in the light of Easter, I would like all of us to see the passing of our beloved Holy Father Pope Francis and the Conclave as a paschal event, a stage in that long exodus through which the Lord continues to guide us towards the fullness of life.

In this perspective, we entrust to the “merciful Father and God of all consolation” (2 Cor 1:3) the soul of the late Pontiff and also the future of the Church.

Beginning with Saint Peter and up to myself, his unworthy Successor, the Pope has been a humble servant of God and of his brothers and sisters, and nothing more than this.

It has been clearly seen in the example of so many of my Predecessors, and most recently by Pope Francis himself, with his example of complete dedication to service and to sober simplicity of life, his abandonment to God throughout his ministry and his serene trust at the moment of his return to the Father’s house.

Let us take up this precious legacy and continue on the journey, inspired by the same hope that is born of faith.

It is the Risen Lord, present among us, who protects and guides the Church, and continues to fill her with hope through the love “poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom 5:5).

It is up to us to be docile listeners to his voice and faithful ministers of his plan of salvation, mindful that God loves to communicate himself, not in the roar of thunder and earthquakes, but in the “whisper of a gentle breeze” (1 Kings 19:12) or, as some translate it, in a “sound of sheer silence.”

It is this essential and important encounter to which we must guide and accompany all the holy People of God entrusted to our care.

In these days, we have been able to see the beauty and feel the strength of this immense community, which with such affection and devotion has greeted and mourned its Shepherd, accompanying him with faith and prayer at the time of his final encounter with the Lord.

We have seen the true grandeur of the Church, which is alive in the rich variety of her members in union with her one Head, Christ, “the shepherd and guardian” (1 Peter 2:25) of our souls.

“LET US RENEW THE PATH OF VATICAN II” She is the womb from which we were born and at the same time the flock (cf. Jn 21:15-17), the field (cf. Mk 4:1-20) entrusted to us to protect and cultivate, to nourish with the sacraments of salvation and to make fruitful by our sowing the seed of the Word, so that, steadfast in one accord and enthusiastic in mission, she may press forward, like the Israelites in the desert, in the 32 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

shadow of the cloud and in the light of God’s fire (cf.

Ex 13:21).

In this regard, I would like us to renew together today our complete commitment to the path that the universal Church has now followed for decades in the wake of the Second Vatican Council.

Pope Francis masterfully and concretely set it forth in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, from which I would like to highlight several fundamental points: the return to the primacy of Christ in proclamation (cf. No. 11); the missionary conversion of the entire Christian community (cf. No. 9); growth in collegiality and synodality (cf. No. 33); attention to the sensus fidei (cf. Nos. 119-120), especially in its most authentic and inclusive forms, such as popular piety (cf. No. 123); loving care for the least and the rejected (cf. No. 53); courageous and trusting dialogue with the contemporary world in its various components and realities (cf. No. 84; Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 1-2).

These are evangelical principles that have always inspired and guided the life and activity of God’s Family.

In these values, the merciful face of the Father has been revealed and continues to be revealed in his incarnate Son, the ultimate hope of all who sincerely seek truth, justice, peace and fraternity (cf. Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi, 2; Francis, Spes Non Confundit, 3).

Sensing myself called to continue in this same path, I chose to take the name Leo XIV. There are different reasons for this, but mainly because Pope Leo XIII, in his historic Encyclical Rerum Novarum, addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution.

In our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and labor.

“A GREAT FLAME OF FAITH AND LOVE” Dear brothers, I would like to conclude the first part of our meeting by making my own – and proposing to you as well – the hope that Saint Paul VI expressed at the inauguration of his Petrine Ministry in 1963: “May it pass over the whole world like a great flame of faith and love kindled in all men and women of good will. May it shed light on paths of mutual cooperation and bless humanity abundantly, now and always, with the very strength of God, without whose help nothing is valid, nothing is holy” (Message Qui Fausto Die addressed to the entire human family, June 22, 1963).

May these also be our sentiments, to be translated into prayer and commitment, with the Lord’s help.

Thank you!m

How Leo XIV was eLeCted Cardinals voted for a man, not an ideology n By Phil lawler (CatholiC World NeWs)

F

or most of us, the elecWhy was Cardinal Prevost tion of Cardinal Prevost serving on so many dicasterwas a surprise. His name ies? Because Pope Francis kept was not terribly familiar; he appointing him. That fact in was not prominently listed itself is remarkable, because among the papabili published Cardinal Prevost—who had before the conclave by selfknown Pope Francis since his appointed experts. (The Coldays in Argentina—revealed: lege of Cardinals Report, “I won’t say why, but let’s just probably the most reliable refsay that in all the meetings erence for this papal election, with Cardinal Bergoglio, we did not list him among the didn’t always get along.” They dozen likeliest candidates.) did not see eye-to-eye, it Yet he was chosen quickly. seems, but the late Pope Most Vatican-watchers had respected Cardinal Prevost, expected a longer conclave. and saw him as a valuable There was no acknowledged voice in the Roman Curia. Evifront-runner. Most journalists dently other cardinals had agreed that Cardinal Pietro reached the same judgment.

Parolin, the Vatican Secretary Going into the conclave, of State, was the only prelate some cardinals wanted to who might have had a chance ensure that the policies of Pope for an early victory. But CardiFrancis would be continued. nal Parolin carried some bagOthers wanted to see those gage into the conclave. He policies promptly reversed. was the principal author of an Within the first few ballots, unpopular Vatican pact with both groups realized that they Beijing; he was at least tancould not manage a two-thirds gentially involved in the majority—either for a Francis A Jumbotron erected in St. Peter’s Square displays events in the Sistine Chapel during the conclave which elected Pope Leo XIV financial scandals within the II or for an anti-Francis.

(Galazka photo) Secretariat of State; he had So they looked instead for a virtually no experience as a pastor. ery for Bishops he was involved in prelate who would treat them fairly, Beyond him lay a crowded field of the appointments of new bishops and govern the Church wisely, and worldwide. Equally important, he perhaps restore their fractured unity. possible candidates.

It seemed likely that several bal- served on several other dicasteries, Apparently they looked in the same lots would be needed before the car- alongside other members of the Col- direction. dinals saw a clear choice. The fact lege. In an instructive analysis for Journalists accustomed to politithat Cardinal Prevost won (at least) a Crisis, Giovanni Sadewo shows that cal campaigns may prefer to look for two-thirds majority on only the after a year as prefect in the Roman more arcane explanations: for the fourth ballot suggests that the cardi- Curia, Cardinal Prevost had served Southern voting bloc and the powernal-electors had turned their atten- alongside two-thirds of all the ful kingmaker and the top-secret tion toward him almost immediately world’s cardinals, on one Vatican meeting. after the voting began. How did that panel or another.

But when they cast their ballots, No other Vatican official matched the cardinal-electors take another happen?

One explanation — generally that level of interaction with the car- solemn oath, testifying that they are overlooked in media coverage — is dinals of the Roman Curia. Even voting for the man they consider that while Cardinal Prevost was not Cardinal Parolin, whose office coor- best suited to be Peter’s Successor. well known to the world at large, he dinated the Curia, shared assignThat is the simple straightforward was well known to the College of ments with only 53% of the other explanation of how Cardinal Prevost Cardinals. As prefect of the Dicast- cardinals. became Leo XIV.m JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 33

HABeMUS PAPAM POPe leO xIv, eleCTed MAY 8, 2025

“FOR YOU I AM A BISHOP; WITH YOU I AM A CHRISTIAN” These words Pope Leo XIV spoke, quoting his spiritual father, St. Augustine, in his first address after his May 8 election. Over the weeks since, Pope Leo has followed a busy schedule of meetings, public appearances, liturgies and visits with public figures and state dignitaries — and also members of his own order, the Augustinians, at the Augustinianum in Rome. We share those moments here.

Pope Leo waves to the crowd in St. Peter’s Square from the Popemobile during his General Audience June 4 (Galazka photo)

34 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 35

habemus papam pope leo xiv, elected may 8, 2025

36 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

Pope Leo, the Bishop of Rome, ordained 11 men as priests for his diocese on May 31, 2025, in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Inset, Pope Leo’s zucchetto is removed from his head as he says the Mass of Ordination (Galazka photos)

JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 37

habemus papam pope leo xiv, elected may 8, 2025

Pope Leo meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his wife, Olena, when they were at the Vatican for Pope Leo’s inauguration Mass on May 18

38 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance, both Catholics, meet with Pope Leo at the Vatican the weekend of his May 18 inauguration Mass

United Nations Secretary General António Guterres meets Pope Leo on June 11 at the Vatican (Vatican Media photos)

JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 39

habemus papam pope leo xiv, elected may 8, 2025 Pope Leo meets with 23-year-old, number-one-ranked tennis player Jannik Sinner, who gave the Pope, an avid amateur tennis player, a new racket. © Vatican Media/Ag.Siciliani

40 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 41

Habemus papam pope leo’S ReGINa CaeLI MeSSAGe (MAy 11, 2025)

“do not Be afRaid! aCCePt the inVitation of the ChuRCh and of ChRist the loRd” On May 11 Pope Leo XIV visited the Vatican Grottoes to celebrate Holy Mass at the altar near the tomb of Saint Peter.

The Mass was concelebrated

by Fr. Alejandro Moral Anton, Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine. The Pope’s brother from Chicago was also

in attendance.

Pope Leo then spent time in silent prayer at the tombs of his predecessors, pausing before the niche of the Pallia, the woolen stoles that symbolize the unity between the Pope and metropolitan archbishops across the world. —RM

PoPe leo XiV CeleBRates Mass in the VatiCan gRottoes

I

n his homily for what he called a particularly “significant” Sunday, the Pope—speaking first in English, then in Italian—reflected on the Gospel of the Good Shepherd.

As he begins his new Petrine ministry, he looked to the example of Jesus, “whom we depend on.” On this Mother’s Day, which he made a point of acknowledging, Pope Leo said that “one of the most wonderful expressions of the love of God is the love that is poured out by mothers, especially to their children and grandchildren.”

Addressing the theme of vocations, “All of us,” he said, “must search together. First and foremost, by giving [a] good example in our lives, with joy, living the joy of the Gospel, not discouraging others, but rather

looking for ways to encourage young people to hear the voice of the Lord and to follow it and to serve in the Church.”

Pope Leo also spoke of the universal call to proclaim the Gospel, urging the faithful: “Take heart! Don’t be afraid!”

“Listening is what allows us to enter into true dialogue,” he said, calling it the foundation for building bridges.

“We have to know how to listen—not to judge, not to shut doors as if we hold all the truth and no one else has anything to offer,” the Pope said. From this posture of humility, he added, will come greater clarity about where the Lord is calling us.

(Vatican News)

Regina Caeli PRayeR and Blessing After Pope Leo said Mass in the grottoes, he went to the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica to sing (a papal first) the Regina Caeli (“Queen of Heaven”) hymn, which is prayed instead of the Angelus from Easter until the Saturday after Pentecost.

In his noon remarks, Leo spoke passionately for 00 42 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

(Galazka photos)

peace in the world, urging all nations to beware of a developing “piecemeal World War III” and crying out “Never again war!”

Pope Leo ended by wishing a “Happy Mother's Day” to all mothers everywhere.

Below is the full text of what Pope Leo said in his first Regina Caeli message.

— RM

REGINA CAELI From the Loggia of the Blessings of St. Peter's Basilica DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS, HAPPY SUNDAY! I consider it a gift from God that the first Sunday of my service as Bishop of Rome is Good Shepherd Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Easter. On this Sunday, we always hear proclaimed at Mass a passage from the tenth chapter from the Gospel of John, where Jesus reveals himself as the true Shepherd: who knows and loves his sheep and gives his life for them.

This Sunday also marks the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, which we have celebrated for the last sixty-two years. Rome is also hosting the Jubilee of Bands and Popular Entertainment today. I greet all these pilgrims with affection and thank them because, with their music and performances, they enliven the feast of Christ the Good Shepherd: the One who guides the Church with his Holy Spirit.

In the Gospel, Jesus says that he knows his sheep and that they listen to his voice and follow him (cf. Jn 10:27). Indeed, as Pope Saint Gregory the Great teaches, people “respond to the love of those who love them” (Homily 14:3-6).

Today brothers and sisters, I therefore have the joy of praying with you and all the People of God for vocations, especially those to the priesthood and consecrated life. The Church has such a great need for them! It is important that young men and women on their vocational journey find acceptance, listening and encouragement in their communities, and that they can look up to credible models of generous dedication to God and to their brothers and sisters.

Let us take up the invitation that Pope Francis left us in his Message for today: the invitation to welcome and accompany young people. And let us ask our heavenly Father to assist us in living in service to one another, each according to his or her state of life, shepherds after his own heart (cf. Jer 3:15) capable of helping one another to walk in love and truth.

And to young people, I say: Do not be afraid! Accept the invitation of the Church and of Christ the Lord!

May the Virgin Mary, whose entire life was a response to the Lord’s call, always accompany us in following Jesus.

(Galazka photo)

After reginA CAeli prAyer sung by leo DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS, The immense tragedy of the Second World War ended eighty years ago, on May 8, after having claimed sixty million victims. In today’s dramatic scenario of a piecemeal third world war, as Pope Francis stated many times, I too address the world’s leaders, repeating the ever-timely appeal: “Never again war!”

I carry in my heart the sufferings of the beloved Ukrainian people. May everything possible be done to reach an authentic, just and lasting peace, as soon as possible. Let all the prisoners be freed and the children return to their own families.

I am deeply saddened by what is happening in the Gaza Strip: may there be an immediate ceasefire! Let humanitarian aid be provided to the stricken civil population, and let all the hostages be freed.

On the other hand, I have welcomed with satisfaction the announcement of the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, and I hope that through the upcoming negotiations, a lasting accord may be reached soon.

But how many other conflicts there are in the world! I entrust this heartfelt appeal to the Queen of Peace, so that she may present it to the Lord Jesus to obtain for us the miracle of peace.

And now I affectionately greet you all, Romans and pilgrims from various countries.

Today in Italy and in other countries we celebrate Mother’s Day. I send a fond greeting to all mothers, with a prayer for them, and for those who are already in Heaven.

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers!

Thank you all, a happy Sunday to everyone! m 00 JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 43

Habemus papam INAUGURATION OF The PONTIFICATe MAY 18, 2025

Mass in St. Peter's Square for the inauguration of the pontificate of Pope Leo XIV on May 18, 2025 (Galazka photo)

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A new pontificAte officiAlly begins n By Robert Moynihan

O

n May 18 the Inaugural Mass of Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate was celebrated. It was an occasion laden with symbolism.

One of those symbols is the Fisherman’s ring; as Pope Leo prepared to receive it, the choir in St. Peter’s Basilica chanted the nearly 500-year-old hymn set to music by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594), perhaps the greatest of all Roman composers of sacred music.

Here are the Latin words, with an English translation: Tu es Petrus (You are Peter)

et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam (and upon this rock I will build my Church) et portae inferi non praevalebunt adversus eam. (and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.)

Et tibi dabo claves regni caelorum. (And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.)

Quodcumque ligaveris super terram, erit ligatum et in caelis, (Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.) et quodcumque solveris super terram, erit solutum et in caelis. (and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.) Amen.

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Habemus papam INAUGURATION OF The PONTIFICATe MAY 18, 2025

HOMILY, MASS OF INAUGURATION OF BISHOP OF ROME’S PETRINE MINISTRY, MAY 18, 2025

D

ear Brother Cardinals, Brother Bishops and Priests, Distinguished Authorities and Members of the Diplomatic Corps, and those who traveled here for the Jubilee of Confraternities, Brothers and Sisters: I greet all of you with a heart full of gratitude at the beginning of the ministry that has been entrusted to me. St. Augustine wrote: “Lord, you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you” (Confessions, I: 1,1).

In these days, we have experienced intense emotions. The death of Pope Francis filled our hearts with sadness. In those difficult hours, we felt like the crowds that the Gospel says were “like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). Yet on Easter Sunday, we received his final blessing and, in the light of the Resurrection, we experienced the days that followed in the certainty that the Lord never abandons his people, but gathers them when they are scattered and guards them “as a shepherd guards his flock” (Jeremiah 31:10).

In this spirit of faith, the College of Cardinals met for the conclave. Coming from different backgrounds and experiences, we placed in God’s hands our desire to elect the new Successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome, a shepherd capable of preserving the rich heritage of the Christian faith and, at the same time, looking to the future, in order to confront the questions, concerns and challenges of today’s world.

Accompanied by your prayers, we could feel the working of the Holy Spirit, who was able to bring us into harmony, like musical instruments, so that our heartstrings could vibrate in a single melody. I was chosen, without any merit of my own, and now, with fear and trembling, I come to you as a brother, who desires to be the servant of your faith and your joy, walking with you on the path of God’s love, for he wants us all to be united in one family.

Love and unity: These are the two dimensions of the mission entrusted to Peter by Jesus. We see this in today’s Gospel, which takes us to the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus began the mission he received 46 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

from the Father: to be a “fisher” of humanity in order to draw it up from the waters of evil and death. Walking along the shore, he had called Peter and the other first disciples to be, like him, “fishers of men.”

Now, after the Resurrection, it is up to them to carry on this mission, to cast their nets again and again, to bring the hope of the Gospel into the “waters” of the world, to sail the seas of life so that all may experience God’s embrace.

How can Peter carry out this task? The Gospel tells us that it is possible only because his own life was touched by the infinite and unconditional love of God, even in the hour of his failure and denial.

For this reason, when Jesus addresses Peter, the Gospel uses the Greek verb agapáo, which refers to the love that God has for us, to the offering of himself without reserve and without calculation.

Whereas the verb used in Peter’s response describes the love of friendship that we have for one another.

Consequently, when Jesus asks Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”

(John 21:16), he is referring to the love of the Father. It is as if Jesus said to him, “Only if you

Pope Leo sprinkles the people with holy water at his inaugural Mass in St. Peter’s square on May 18, 2025 (Galazka photo)

have known and experienced this love of God, which never fails, will you be able to feed my lambs. Only in the love of God the Father will you be able to love your brothers and sisters with that same ‘more,’ that is, by offering your life for your brothers and sisters.”

Peter is thus entrusted with the task of “loving more” and giving his life for the flock. The ministry of Peter is distinguished precisely by this self-sacrificing love, because the Church of Rome presides in charity, and its true authority is the charity of Christ.

It is never a question of capturing others by force, by religious propaganda, or by means of power.

Instead, it is always and only a question of loving as Jesus did.

The Apostle Peter himself tells us that Jesus “is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, and has become the cornerstone” (Acts 4:11). Moreover, if the rock is Christ, Peter must shepherd the flock without ever yielding to the temptation to be an autocrat, lording it over those entrusted to him (cf.

1 Peter 5:3). On the contrary, he is called to serve the faith of his brothers and sisters and to walk alongside them, for all of us are “living stones” (1

Peter 2:5), called through our baptism to build God’s house in fraternal communion, in the harmony of the Spirit, in the coexistence of diversity. In the words of St. Augustine: “The Church consists of all those who are in harmony with their brothers and sisters and who love their neighbor” (Sermons 359, 9).

Brothers and sisters, I would like that our first great desire be for a united Church, a sign of unity and communion, which becomes a leaven for a reconciled world. In our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth’s resources and marginalizes the poorest.

For our part, we want to be a small leaven of unity, communion and fraternity within the world.

We want to say to the world, with humility and joy: Look to Christ! Come closer to him! Welcome his word that enlightens and consoles! Listen to his offer of love and become his one family: In the one Christ, we are one. This is the path to follow together, among ourselves, but also with our sister Christian churches, with those who follow other religious paths, with those who are searching for God, with all women and men of goodwill, in order to build a new world where peace reigns!

This is the missionary spirit that must animate us; not closing ourselves off in our small groups, nor feeling superior to the world. We are called to offer God’s love to everyone, in order to achieve that unity that does not cancel out differences but values the personal history of each person and the social and religious culture of every people.

Brothers and sisters, this is the hour for love! The heart of the Gospel is the love of God that makes us brothers and sisters. With my predecessor Leo XIII, we can ask ourselves today: If this criterion “were to prevail in the world, would not every conflict cease and peace return?” (Rerum Novarum, 21).

With the light and the strength of the Holy Spirit, let us build a Church founded on God’s love, a sign of unity, a missionary Church that opens its arms to the world, proclaims the word, allows itself to be made “restless” by history, and becomes a leaven of harmony for humanity. Together, as one people, as brothers and sisters, let us walk towards God and love one another.m JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 47

Habemus papam kEY SYMBOLS OF THE pETrinE OFFicE MAY 18, 2025

The FISherMan’S rIng anD The PaLLIuM During the inauguration Mass of his pontificate in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Leo XIV received two symbols of papal power n By Vatican Media

T

he Eucharistic Celebration, with which the elected Pope officially begins his ministry, emphasizes in particular the “Petrine” dimension of Pastor of the Catholic Church.

The specific value assumed by the usual episcopal insignia, the Pallium and the Ring, is therefore emphasized. In addition to their reference to Christ and the Church, for the Successor of Peter they are evocative of the task entrusted to him by the Risen Lord (Jn 21:1517).

The connection with the Apostle Peter and his martyrdom, which fertilized the nascent Church of Rome, are further emphasized by the places where the celebrations take place, first of all the Confession of Saint Peter in the Vatican Basilica.

In the solemn Eucharistic liturgy, in which the two “Petrine” episcopal insignia are imposed, the texts and signs make explicit their reference to Christ, the cornerstone of the Church (cf. Eph 2:20), and to Peter, called by him to be its “stony foundation,” the rock on which Christ the Lord builds the Church (cf. Mt 16:18).

The rite takes place in Saint Peter’s Basilica and in the square in front.

The stop at the Apostolic Confession of the Basilica underlines the close bond of the Bishop of Rome to the Apostle Peter and his martyrdom, gathering the people of God, on such a solemn day, in the same place where he confessed his 48 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

faith with his blood together with many other Christians who gave the same testimony with him.

From the central gate of the Vatican Basilica hangs the tapestry of the miraculous catch of fish (John 21:1-8), which depicts the dialogue between Jesus and Peter, to which the rite makes explicit reference, in the liturgy of the Word and in the euchological texts.

Here, the pallium is placed on Pope Leo by Cardinal Dominique Mamberti at the Pope’s inaugural Mass.

Below center, Pope Leo receives the Fisherman’s Ring from Filipino Cardinal Luis Tagle (Galazka photos)

LITURGY OF THE WORD During Easter time, the page from the book of the Acts of the Apostles (4, 8-12) is read in which Peter announces that Christ is “the stone rejected by the builders.”

The assembly takes up the theme of the “stone” in the responsorial psalm (Ps 117 [118]), with the text: “The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone.”

Peter’s vocation as the foundation of the Church (cf. Mt 16:18), is rooted in the rock that is the Lord (cf. Dt 32:4; Ps 117 [118], 22-23) and in the chosen, precious and solid stone that is Christ (cf. Is 28:16; Rm 9:33; 10:11).

The second reading (1 Pt 5:1-5, 10-11) further emphasizes the bond between Peter, the Church of Rome and the ministry of his Successor.

The Gospel of John (21:1519) is one of the texts that, together with Mt 16:13-19 and Lk 22:31-34, traditionally establish the special and personal task given to Peter in the group of the Twelve.

He receives it, like the other Apostles, from the risen Christ.

Jesus’ triple question and triple answer are accompanied in crescendo by the invitation to feed “his lambs” and “his sheep.”

INTRODUCTORY RITES The new Roman Pontiff descends, with the Patriarchs of the Eastern Churches, to the tomb of Saint Peter, the “Apostolic Trophaeum,” and pauses there in prayer before incensing it.

In the meantime, two deacons take the Pastoral Pallium, the Fisherman’s Ring and the Book of the Gospels and carry them together in procession to place them on the Altar of the celebration.

The initial procession, after the pause at the Confession of Saint Peter, sets out towards the Altar, while the Laudes Regiæ [“Royal Praises” or “Royal Acclamations”] are sung, with the invocation of the intercession of the holy pontiffs, martyrs and saints of the Roman Church.

The rite for the blessing and sprinkling of holy water folIMPOSITION OF THE PALLIUM lows, and since it is a Sunday AND DELIVERY OF THE RING in the Easter season, the Above, Pope Leo looks with emotion at the Fisherman’s After the proclamation of the singing of the Gloria and the Gospel, in Latin and Greek, Ring on his finger after it had been placed there by Cardinal Tagle. collect prayer which, recalling three Cardinals of the three the Father’s plan to build his Church on Peter and Orders (Deacons, Presbyters and Bishops) and from inspired by Lumen Gentium, asks that the Bishop, different continents approach the Holy Father, to appointed Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, impose the Pallium and give him the Fisherman’s Ring show the Christian people Peter as the “visible princiSymeon of Thessalonica in De sacris ordinationibus ple and foundation of unity in faith and of commuwrites: “The Pallium indicates the Savior who, meeting nion”in the Church. us as the lost sheep, takes it on his shoulders, and assumInheriting his service, the Pope also participates in it ing our human nature in the Incarnation, has divinized (cf. LG 18, 23 and note 30; Vatican Council I, Const. it; with his death on the cross he has offered us to the Pastor Æternus, 1).

Father and with the resurrection he has exalted us.”

JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 49

Habemus papam kEY SYMBOLS OF THE pETrinE OFFicE (MAY 18, 2025)

(Galazka photo)

Pope Leo waves from his popemobile in St. Peter's Square amid a sea of cameras before celebrating the Mass. (Galazka photo)

The Pallium therefore recalls the Good Shepherd (cf. Jn 10:11), who places the lost sheep on his shoulders (cf. Lk 15:4-7), and also the threefold loving response to the request made by the risen Jesus to Peter to feed his lambs and his sheep (cf. Jn 21:15-17).

The pallium, in its present form, is a narrow band, woven in white wool, which rests on the shoulders over the chasuble, with two black flaps hanging in front and behind, so that the vestment resembles the letter “Y”.

It is decorated with six black silk crosses, one on each end that descends to the chest and back and four on the ring that rests on the shoulders, and is decorated, in front and behind, with three pins (acicula) that represent the three

nails of the cross of Christ.

The Pallium is imposed by a Cardinal of the Order of Deacons, who in the formula used refers to Christ, “the great shepherd of the sheep,” whom God raised from the dead (Heb 13:20), and now He himself transmits it to the Pope.

After the Cardinal has imposed the Pallium, a Cardinal of the Order of Presbyters invokes with a special prayer the presence and assistance of the Lord on the Chosen One. He implores from God the blessing – which is his own Son – and the greatest gift, the Holy Spirit, so that the Pope may exercise his ministry in a way that corresponds to the charism received.

The delivery of the Fisherman’s Ring follows.

50 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

Since the first millennium, the ring has also been the proper insignia of the Bishop.

The Ring that the new Pope receives, however, has the specific value of the seal ring that radically authenticates the faith, a task entrusted to Peter to confirm his brothers (cf. Lk 22:32).

It is called the “Fisherman’s” ring because Peter is the Apostle (cf. Mt 4:18-19; Mk 1:16-17) who, having had faith in the word of Jesus (cf. Lk 5:5), hauled the nets of the miraculous catch of fish from the boat ashore (cf. Jn 21:314).

The delivery of the Ring is made by a Cardinal of the Order of Bishops.

The delivery of the Ring ends by invoking the Holy Spirit to enrich

On the left, Italy represented by the Italian President Sergio Mattarella with his daughter, and behind him the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni

(Galazka photo)

the new Pontiff with strength and gentleness in preserving the disciples of Christ in the unity of communion.

After the rite of delivery, the Holy Father blesses the assembly with the Book of the Gospels, while proclaiming “For many years!” in Greek.

CONCLUDING RITES The blessing returns again to the biblical image of the vine and the vineyard, applied to the Church (cf. LG 6), invoking that the Lord “guard” and “protect” the vine and the vineyard he has planted (cf. Ps 79 [80], 15-16), and asks that his face of salvation “shine” on all.m

From the United States, Leo XIV's country of origin, Vice President JD Vance with his wife Usha

(Galazka photo)

Left, the coat of arms and motto of Pope Leo, which says in Latin, “In the One, we are one.”

Bottom, King Philip of Spain with his wife Letizia dressed in white, a privilege allowed in the ceremony to the royals.

Behind, on the left, among dignitaries and heads of state in attendance were Ursula von der Leyen, President of the EU; and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine. (Galazka photo)

JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 51

Habemus papam pope leo takes possession of st. john lateran (May 25, 2025)

“Communion is built ‘on our knees,’ with prayer and Commitment to Conversion” n By Victoria Cardiel (CNA)

52 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

Left, Pope Leo greets the crowd in front of the St. John Lateran Basilica, the cathedral of the See of Rome. Above the larger window is a symbol of the Pope, designated by the crossed “keys to the kingdom,” as Bishop of Rome. (Galazka photos)

P

ope Leo XIV delivered his first homily as bishop of Rome at the Basilica of St. John Lateran, where he took possession of his cathedra (throne) on May 25.

The pontiff said ecclesial communion is built “on our knees, through prayer and constant commitment to conversion” as he invoked the example of the first Christians, who faced the challenges of proclaiming the Gospel to a pagan world.

Reflecting on the episode from the Acts of the Apostles, where the early Christians debated about whether Gentile converts had to follow the law of Moses, Pope Leo XIV emphasized that “this was no easy matter; it called for much patience and mutual listening.”

He referenced the Council of Jerusalem, the first great council of the early Church, in which “a dialogue was opened” that led to a fitting decision: “Recognizing the difficulties of the new converts, they agreed not to impose excessive burdens on them but rather to insist only on what was essential.”

“In this way,” he added, “what might have seemed a problem became for everyone an opportunity for reflection and growth.”

“The most important part of the entire event,” he emphasized, “was listening to God’s voice, which made everything

else possible.” This, he said, is how communion is truly built.

“For only in this way can each of us hear within the voice of the Spirit crying out ‘Abba! Father!’ and then, as a result, listen to and understand others as our brothers and sisters,” he continued.

The day’s Gospel reading reinforced this point. “It assures us that we are not alone in making our decisions in life. The Spirit sustains us and shows us the way to follow, ‘teaching’ us and ‘reminding’ us of all that Jesus said,” the Pope affirmed.

“The more we let ourselves be convinced and transformed by the Gospel — allowing the power of the Spirit to purify our heart, to make our words straightforward, our desires honest and clear, and our actions generous — the more capable we are of proclaiming its message,” he added.

For this reason, he stressed that, throughout the process — as in the Council of Jerusalem — “the most important listening” is that of listening to God’s voice.

Addressing the cardinals of the Roman Curia, bishops, priests, deacons, religious, and laity of the Diocese of Rome, the pope continued: “I would like to express my firm desire to contribute to this great ongoing process by listening to everyone as much as possible, in order to learn, understand, JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 53

habemus papam POPE LEO TAKES POSSESSION OF ST. JOHN LATERAN (MAY 25, 2025) and decide things together, as around various levels of lisSt. Augustine would say, ‘as a tening — “to the world Christian with you and a around us to respond to its bishop for you.’” challenges and listening “I would also ask you to within our communities to support me in prayer and understand needs and to procharity,” he said, “mindful of pose sage and prophetic inithe words of St. Leo the tiatives of evangelization and Great: ‘All the good we do in charity.” the exercise of our ministry is Although he acknowlthe work of Christ and not edged that this is “a challengour own, for we can do nothing, ongoing journey meant ing without him. Yet we glory to embrace a very rich and in him, from whom all the complex reality,” he said it is effectiveness of our work is Pope Leo XIV celebrates Holy Mass during his installation on worthy of the Church’s histothe Roman Cathedra in the Basilica of St. John Lateran. derived.’” ry — one that has often He recalled Blessed John shown its ability to “think Paul I, who, “with the joyful big,” giving itself fully to and serene face that had courageous projects and even already earned him the nicktaking risks in the face of name of ‘the Smiling Pope,’” new and complex scenarios. took possession of the chair He specifically highlightof the bishop of Rome in Seped the extensive work being tember 1978. done by the entire Diocese of “I too express my affection Rome for the jubilee year, for you and my desire to welcoming and caring for share with you, on our jourpilgrims and launching many ney together, our joys and other initiatives. sorrows, our struggles and “These have made the city hopes. I too offer you ‘the litof Rome appear to visitors, tle I have and am,’ entrusting some of whom have traveled it to the intercession of Sts. Peter and Paul and of all those from far away, as a wide, open and welcoming home, and other brothers and sisters of ours whose holiness has illumiabove all as a place of deep faith,” he concluded. nated the history of this Church and the streets of this city,” A gesture of communion he said.

During the liturgy, the Holy Father received the pledge of The Pope also affirmed the legacy of the Church of Rome fidelity from a representative group of the people of God in as “heir to a great history, grounded in the witness of Peter, Rome in the Rite of Obedience. This symbolic expression of Paul, and countless martyrs,” and emphasized her unique communion was not led by cardinals or members of the mission: “to be ‘Omnium Ecclesiarum Mater,’ mother of all Curia but by people from the diocese: an auxiliary bishop, a the Churches.” canon, a parish priest, a parochial vicar, a deacon, religious The Basilica of St. John Lateran bears the honorary title men and women, a family, an educator, a catechist, and two of “mother and head of all the Churches in the city of Rome young people. and the whole world.” Taking this as a metaphor, the Pope Among the participants were Cardinal Vicar Baldassare recalled that his predecessor Pope Francis invited the faithReina, Auxiliary Bishop Renato Tarantelli, and other clergy ful to reflect on the “maternal dimension” of the Church and and laypeople, including Brother Luis Martín Rodríguez, on its defining characteristics.

Sister Rebecca Nazzaro, and two young people, Mirko VenAmong these are “tenderness, self-sacrifice, and the ditti and Teresa Martellotta. Each of them represented a vital capacity to listen,” traits that, the Pope said, “enable her not dimension of the Roman Church now recognizing its new only to assist others but often to anticipate their needs and bishop as their shepherd. expectations before they are even expressed.”

Before arriving at the basilica — the first great Christian “We hope that those qualities will be increasingly present building erected in Rome after Emperor Constantine legalin the people of God everywhere, including here, in our great ized religious freedom in A.D. 313 — the Pope met with the diocesan family: in the faithful, in pastors, and, first of all, in mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri. At the foot of the stairmyself,” he added. case of the Capitoline Hill, where the main entrance to the He praised the “challenging process of listening that the historic Palazzo Senatorio (city hall) stands, the mayor paid Diocese of Rome has undertaken in these years,” structured homage to him as the new Bishop of Rome.m 54 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

ECUMENISM

PoPe francis, PoPe Leo XiV and the eastern churches Peace, unity and common Profession of faith are the themes of the young Pontificate of Leo XiV – themes which touch VitaLLy on the roman church’s reLations with the east n BY ROBERT MOYnIHAn

Above, Pope Leo XIV poses with those attending an interreligious meeting May 19 in the Clementine Hall at the Vatican.

Below, Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem, 73, with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, 85, of Constantinople

A

time for peace, for unity, and for a common profession of a shared faith in the one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Word (Logos) of God — these are the principal themes of the young pontificate of Pope Leo XIV. And now his task is to work to bring about these blessings — peace, unity, shared faith in Christ — in a pontificate which has begun well, but which will soon face a sea of storms.

As a student of St. Augustine, Pope Leo well understands the original dignity, the later wretchedness, and the final restored glory, of the human person, created in the image of God, subjected, in the Fall, to selfishness, sin and death, now, through the cross and the resurrection, redeemed.

We are at a moment in time, poised between a past that is receding, and a future that is arriving, a moment of present grace in which the preaching, and living out, of the Gospel will be

the work and mission of this good man, who is now the successor of Peter.

POPE FRAnCIS, POPE LEO, PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW, AnD THE TRIP TO nICAEA At a recent gathering in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall (May 19), Pope Leo XIV, 69, addressed a group of non-Catholic Christian leaders and religious representatives.

Present were figures such as Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, 85, of Constantinople, and Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem, 73.

In his remarks (full text of the Pope's address on the next pages), the Holy Father stated: “While we are on the journey to re-establishing full communion among all Christians, we recognize that this unity can only be unity in faith.” (emphasis added) “As Bishop of Rome, I consider JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 55

ECUMENISM

PoPE FraNCIS, PoPE LEo XIV aNd thE EaStErN ChUrChES

ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER TO REPRESENTATIVES OF OTHER CHURCHES AND ECCLESIAL COMMUNITIES, AND OTHER RELIGIONS Clementine Hall - Monday, May 19, 2025 DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS, With great joy I extend my cordial greetings to all of you, Representatives of other Churches and Ecclesial Communities, as well as of other religions, who participated in the inaugural celebration of my ministry as Bishop of Rome and Successor of Peter. I express fraternal affection to His All Holiness Bartholomew, His Beatitude Theophilos III and His Holiness Mar Awa III, and to each of you I am deeply grateful for your presence and prayers, which are a great comfort and encouragement.

One of the strong emphases of Pope Francis’ pontificate was that of universal fraternity. In this regard the Holy Spirit really “urged” him to advance with great strides the initiatives already undertaken by previous Pontiffs, especially since Saint John XXIII. The Pope of Fratelli Tutti promoted both the ecumenical path and interreligious dialogue. He did so above all by cultivating interpersonal relations, in such a way that, without taking anything away from ecclesial bonds, the human trait of the encounter was always valued. May God help us to treasure his witness!

My election has taken place during the year of the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea. That Council represents a milestone in the formulation of the Creed shared by all Churches and Eccle-

sial Communities. While we are on the journey to reestablishing full communion among all Christians, we recognize that this unity can only be unity in faith. As Bishop of Rome, I consider one of my priorities to be that of seeking the re-establishment of full and visible communion among all those who profess the same faith in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Indeed, unity has always been a constant concern of mine, as witnessed by the motto I chose for my episcopal ministry: In Illo uno unum, an expression of Saint Augustine of Hippo that reminds us how we too, although we are many, “in the One — that is Christ — we are one” (Enarr. in Ps., 127, 3).

What is more, our communion is realized to the extent that we meet in the Lord Jesus. The more faithful and obedient we are to him, the more united we are among ourselves. We Christians, then, are all called to pray and work together to reach this goal, step by step, which is and remains the work of the Holy Spirit.

Aware, moreover, that synodality and ecumenism are closely linked, I would like to assure you of my intention to continue Pope Francis’ commitment to promoting the synodal nature of the Catholic Church and developing new and concrete forms for an ever stronger synodality

one of my priorities to be that of seeking the re-establishment of full and visible communion among all those who profess the same faith in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

Therefore, for Pope Leo XIV, the goal of ecumenism is not partial or ambiguous communion, but full unity — doctrinal and visible — under the authority of the Church Christ founded.

And full communion requires adherence to the unity of faith—just as it was defined 1,700 years ago at the Council of Nicaea.

The editor of the Aeterni Patris website rightly notes: “For too long;ecumenism; has too often meant dialogue without destination — an interminable conversation that would often avoid the hard truths of doctrine and author-

ity. But Pope Leo’s words cut through this fog. Real unity doesn’t come from shared sentiment — it comes from shared faith, in full communion with the Church Christ founded. May the time of feel-good ambiguity give way to clarity, conviction, conversion, and full communion in the unity of one shared faith.”

56 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

A nEW BEGInnInG One period in the life of the Church has come to an end.

A new period is beginning.

The period we have just lived through lasted from the death of Pope Francis on April 21 to the election of Pope Leo XIV on May 8.

It was the period of “sede vacante” — of the vacancy

in ecumenical relations.

Our common path can and must also be understood in the broad sense of involving everyone, in the spirit of human fraternity that I mentioned above. Now is the time for dialogue and building bridges. I am therefore pleased and grateful for the presence of representatives of other religious traditions, who share the search for God and his will, which is always and only the will of love and life for men and women and for all creatures.

You have witnessed the remarkable efforts made by Pope Francis in favor of interreligious dialogue. Through his words and actions, he opened new avenues of encounter, to promote “the culture of dialogue as the path; mutual collaboration as the code of conduct; reciprocal understanding as the method and standard” (A Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together, Abu Dhabi, 4 February 2019). I thank the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue for the essential role it plays in this patient work of encouraging meetings and concrete exchanges aimed at building relationships based on human fraternity.

In a special way I greet our Jewish and Muslim brothers and sisters. Because of the Jewish roots of Christianity, all Christians have a special relationship with Judaism. The conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate (no. 4) emphasizes the greatness of the spiritual heritage shared by Christians and Jews, encouraging mutual knowledge and esteem.

The theological dialogue between Christians and Jews remains ever important and close to my heart.

Even in these difficult times, marked by conflicts and misunderstandings, it is necessary to continue the momentum of this precious dialogue of ours.

Relations between the Catholic Church and Muslims have been marked by a growing commitment to dialogue and fraternity, fostered by esteem for these our brothers and sisters who “worship God, who is one, living and subsistent, merciful and almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has also spoken to humanity” (ibid., 3). This approach, based on mutual respect and freedom of conscience, is a solid foundation for building bridges between our communities.

To all of you, representatives of other religious traditions, I express my gratitude for your participation in this meeting and for your contribution to peace. In a world wounded by violence and conflict, each of the communities represented here brings its own contribution of wisdom, compassion and commitment to the good of humanity and the preservation of our common home. I am convinced that if we are in agreement, and free from ideological and political conditioning, we can be effective in saying “no” to war and “yes” to peace, “no” to the arms race and “yes” to disarmament, “no” to an economy that impoverishes peoples and the Earth and “yes” to integral development.

The witness of our fraternity, which I hope we will be able to show with effective gestures, will certainly contribute to building a more peaceful world, something that all men and women of good will desire in their hearts.

Dear friends, thank you again for your closeness. Let us ask for God’s blessing in our hearts: may his infinite goodness and wisdom help us to live as his children and as brothers and sisters to each other, so that hope may grow in the world. I offer you my heartfelt gratitude.n

of the See of Peter. years of public ministry.

It has now been a Pope Leo wishes to Pope Francis' meeting with the Eastern Churches in Bari took place month since Pope Francis restore that unity, lost duron July 7, 2018 in the Basilica of San Nicola passed away on April 21, the ing the centuries. day after Easter.

And he has already taken steps toward this unity, Few recall (though it was in the intention of Pope receiving on May 19, the first morning after his inaugurFrancis) that, had Francis lived and been in good health, al Mass on May 18, the leader of the worldwide Orthohe would have traveled from Rome to Nicaea on May dox Church, which has been divided from the Catholic 25, to commemorate the 1st Ecumenical Council, which Church since 1054, following a thousand years of unity. began on May 25, 325 A.D. — 1,700 years ago on the Here below is a report on the visit to Rome of Patriday after tomorrow. arch Bartholomew, by Polish journalist Anna ArtymiThat Council brought Church unity around the agreed ak, who met with Bartholomew on Monday, May 19, definition of the consubstantiality of Jesus of Nazareth during his visit to the tomb of Pope Francis in the Basilwith the Almighty Creator God — that Jesus was truly ica of St. Mary Major, where Francis asked to be laid the Son of God, as he himself said he was during his to rest...m JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 57

ECUMENISM

PoPE FraNCIS, PoPE LEo XIV aNd thE EaStErN ChUrChES

PoPe Francis Planned to be in nicaea on May 25 n BY AnnA ARTYMIAK

May 23, 2025 n two days he would have gone to Nicaea in Turkey to celebrate the 1,700th anniversary of the first Council of Nicaea, had the Lord not called him from this life.

It was a long-awaited trip of the late Pope.

Francis already in 2014 accepted an idea of the celebration of this unique anniversary. It would have been his only trip, just a one-day trip, during the whole 2025 Jubilee Year.

Pope Francis gave a long reflection on the meaning of the Council of Nicaea during one of the last homilies before his death.

At the Vespers for the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul on January 25 this year in the Basilica of St. Paul’s Outside-the-Walls, the Holy Father said: “The Jubilee Year of Hope celebrated by the Catholic Church coincides with an anniversary of great significance for all Christians: the 1,700th anniversary of the first great ecumenical council: the Council of Nicaea.

“This Council sought to preserve the unity of the Church at a very difficult time, and the Council Fathers unanimously approved the Creed that many Christians still recite each Sunday at the celebration of the Eucharist.

“This Creed is a common profession of faith that transcends all the divisions that have riven the Body of Christ over the centuries.

“The anniversary of the Council of Nicaea is therefore a year of grace, an opportunity for all Christians who recite the same Creed and believe in the same God. “Let us rediscover the common roots of the faith; let us preserve unity! Let us always move forward! May the unity we all are searching for be found.

“What comes to mind is something that the great Orthodox theologian Ioannis Zizioulas used to say: ‘I know the date of full communion: the day after the final judgment! In the meantime, we must walk together, work together, pray together, love together. And this is something very beautiful!’

“Dear brothers and sisters, this faith we share is a precious gift, but it is also a task. The anniversary should be celebrated not only as a ‘historical memory,’ but also as a pledge to bear witness to the growing communion between us.

“We must take care not to let it slip away, but rather to

I

58 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

build solid bonds, cultivate mutual friendship, and be instruments of communion and fraternity.

“In this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, we can also draw from the anniversary of the Council of Nicaea a call to persevere in the journey towards unity.

“This year, the celebration of Easter coincides in both the Gregorian and Julian calendars, a circumstance that proves providential as we commemorate the anniversary of the Ecumenical Council.

“I renew my appeal that this coincidence may serve as an appeal to all Christians to take a decisive step forward towards unity around a common date for Easter (cf. Bull Spes Non Confundit, 17). The Catholic Church is open to accepting the date that everyone wants: a date of unity.”

Everything changed when Francis was suddenly hospitalized on February 14. Immediately it was clear the Pope was so ill that he would not be able to make the trip to Nicaea.

The trip was postponed.

This is one of the legacies of Pope Francis that the newlyelected Pope Leo XIV wishes to honor and uphold.

On the second Monday after his election, May 19, early in the morning, the Holy Father Leo received in private audience the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I of Constantinople.

The key question of their private meeting was the trip to Nicaea.

Already it was clear that there was too little time to organize a trip for the end of May. At the same time, it was clear that a one-day trip would also not be possible, as Turkish protocol requires a head of state coming to the country for the first time to visit the country’s capital city, Ankara.

Therefore, Pope Leo XIV probably will make a three-day trip to the country.

The Ecumenical Patriarch suggested he come for the Feast of St. Andrew, November 30.

Leo XIV promised the Patriarch he would come to Nicaea this year, the year of the 1700th anniversary of the first Council, but he did not promise any dates, as the Pope confessed he still needs to understand his other obligations at that time.

Opposite, the Council of Nicaea, held in 325 AD, was attended by Emperor Constantine and ended with the defeat of the Arian heresy.

Arius is represented at the feet of the assembly

Later on May 19, the Holy Father received in private audito answer too many questions, but he was willing to comence Representatives of Other Churches and Ecclesial Comment on the most important issues for us: his first private munities, as well as of other religions who came for the celmeeting with Pope Leo XIV, the upcoming trip to Nicaea, ebration of the beginning of his Petrine ministry. At his and his memories of the late Pope Francis. address Leo XIV dedicated a long passage on the first CounBartholomew made a short statement in Italian. I was cil of Nicaea, assuring he would like to continue his predeamong the correspondents, representing Inside the Vatican cessor’s path. magazine, to greet the Patriarch on behalf of our Editor-inThe Pope said, speaking in a personal tone: “My election chief, Robert Moynihan. Somehow it seemed to me like a has taken place during the year of the 1,700th anniversary of mission impossible. But the fact that Bartholomew stopped the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea. That Council repreto talk with us was a sign of hope. In a few sentences he satsents a milestone in the formulation of the Creed shared by isfied all our expectations. He said: all Churches and Ecclesial Communities.

“Pope Francis and I shared the same ideals, the same “While we are on the journey to re-establishing full comvisions for the future of the Church and for humanity. munion among all Christians, we recognize that this unity “Francis honored us with his visit to us at the beginning can only be unity in faith. As Bishop of Rome, I consider one of his pontificate in 2014. We visited Jerusalem together in of my priorities to be that of seeking the re-establishment of the same year, in May 2014. We knelt and prayed before the full and visible communion among all those who profess the tomb of Jesus for the re-establishment of the union of our same faith in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Churches and for the good and peace of all humanity.

“Indeed, unity has always been a constant concern of “While he was preparing to come to Turkey once again to mine, as witnessed by the motto I celebrate together the 1700th anniversary of the first Council of chose for my episcopal ministry: In Nicaea, the Lord called him to Illo uno unum, an expression of Saint Augustine of Hippo that Heaven, from where we are certain reminds us how we too, although and sure that he prays for us all. we are many, ‘in the One — that is, “This morning I met His Holiness Pope Leo. I saw with great Christ — we are one’ (Enarr. in Ps., 127, 3). satisfaction that we can continue “What is more, our communion on the same path for our Churches, is realized to the extent that we for Christianity as a whole, for meet in the Lord Jesus. The more peace in the world. faithful and obedient we are to He assured me that he wants to Him, the more united we are come to Turkey for the anniversary among ourselves. of Nicaea. We have not set a con“We Christians, then, are all crete date, but certainly this year.

Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (left), and the called to pray and work together to late “This is our desire, also our Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Gennadios (center), during a visit reach this goal, step by step, which of the Urbi et Orbi Foundation, led by Dr. Robert Moynihan (right) to wish, and it will be our honor to is and remains the work of the Holy the Phanar, the residence of the Patriarch, in Istanbul, in July 2014 welcome His Holiness, perhaps on Spirit.” his first trip outside the Vatican. To visit Nicaea, but also to make an official visit to the Church of Constantinople, to the BARTHOLOMEW AT THE TOMB OF FRAnCIS Ecumenical Patriarchate.”

Patriarch Bartholomew’s visit to Rome for the celebration A journalist asked Bartholomew to recall the time when of the beginning of Leo XIV’s Petrine ministry was an occahe studied in Rome, in the 1960s, at the time of the Second sion for him to come to pray at the tomb of Pope Francis.

Vatican Council.

The Patriarch, along with Metropolitan Job and Metro“I recall many good professors. The courses were in politan Polykarpos and the deacon, Evlogios, arrived at Latin. It was the Second Vatican Council that introduced ItalSaint Mary Major Basilica a few minutes after 3 pm. ian into the pontifical universities, but when I studied it was Bartholomew placed a bouquet of flowers on the tomb of Latin.

Francis and sang a psalm praying for the eternal rest of Pope “At first it was difficult for me, but little by little I manFrancis’ soul. He chanted these words in Greek: aged to understand and to pass the exams.”

“Receive, Our Lord and Savior, the soul of your servant, It was a special day for another reason. On May 19, 1984, Francis, in that place where there is no pain or suffering, 41 years ago, Robert Moynihan arrived in Rome. Probably where there is true peace.” he would never imagine how this trip would change his life.

At the exit of the basilica, the Ecumenical Patriarch was Bob — as we call him in the press office — has already covkind enough to meet a few correspondents present outside ered four Popes: John Paul II, Benedict XIV, Francis, and the Basilica, waiting for comment from him. He did not want now, Leo XIV. m JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 59

Habemus papam pope leo’S general audience (june 4, 2025)

“Looking for meaning in Life?

Turn To god” DURING HIS WEEKLY GENERAL AUDIENCE, POPE LEO XIV REMINDS THE FAITHFUL THAT GOD WAITS FOR US WITH OPEN ARMS, NO MATTER HOW LATE WE ARE IN RESPONDING TO HIS CALL. n By Deborah Castellano Lubov (Vatican News)

Pope Leo blesses a baby held up to him from the crowd which came to pray the Angelus with him in St. Peter’s Square June 4, 2025.

Facing page, above, Pope Leo passes a group of colorfully-dressed women in St. Peter’s Square; below, the Pope poses with a couple who had brought a crucifix to the General Audience.

(Galazka photos)

“G

od never gives up on us; he is always ready to accept us and give meaning and hope to our lives, however hopeless our situation may seem and however insignificant our merits may appear.”

Pope Leo XIV gave this comforting reminder during his weekly Wednesday General Audience in the Vatican as he continued his catechetical series on “Jesus Christ Our Hope” for the Jubilee Year.

This week, the Pope recalled Jesus’ Parable of the

00 60 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

workers of the last hour, in the Gospel passage according to St. Matthew, in which the landowner who gives the same wage even to the workers of the eleventh hour, to those who arrived much later than the others, illustrating the Lord's immense mercy.

In his catechesis, Pope Leo recalled how the workers hired first are disappointed and unable of seeing the beauty of the landowner’s gesture, but, the Pope explained, “He wasn’t unfair—he was simply generous.

He didn’t look only at merit, but also at need.”

GOD WAnTS TO GIVE EVERYOnE FULL LIFE The Parable, the Pope suggested, challenges us to examine what is truly just.

For the owner of the vineyard, “that is, for God," the Holy Father expressed, justice means that everyone receives what they need in order to live, while likewise observing that He called the workers personally, knows their dignity, and wants to pay them according to that dignity.

God, Pope Leo went on to marvel, wants to give everyone His Kingdom, with “a life that is full, eternal, and joyful.”

“And that,” he highlighted, “is exactly what Jesus does with us: He doesn’t rank us.” And “to anyone who opens their heart to Him," Pope Leo insisted, “He gives all of Himself.”

In light of this Parable, Pope Leo acknowledged that a Christian nowadays might be tempted to think, “Why start working right away? If the reward is the same, why work more?” observing that St. Augustine responded to these doubt, saying: “Why then do you delay to follow the one who calls you, when you are sure of the reward but uncertain of the day? Be careful not to

deprive yourself, through your delay, of what He will give you according to His promise.”

ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVES, GOD WOn'T DISAPPOInT YOU Before concluding, Pope Leo said he wished to say something to the faithful, and especially the young people.

“Don’t wait, but respond with enthusiasm to the Lord who calls us to work in His vineyard,” he underscored, adding, “Don’t postpone—roll up your sleeves, because the Lord is generous and you won’t be disappointed!”

God will answer what is the meaning of your life By working in God's “vineyard,” Pope Leo XIV underscored, “you will find an answer to that deep question you carry within you: what is the meaning of my life?”

Therefore, the Pope stressed, “let’s not be discouraged!

“Even in the dark moments of life, when time passes without giving us the answers we seek, let us ask the Lord to come out again and find us where we are waiting for Him. “He is generous, and He will come soon!”m 00 JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 61

Habemus papam

A Brief BiogrAphy of pope Leo XiV “BOB” PREVOST, NATIVE CHICAGOAN AND YOUNGEST SON OF PARENTS OF MIXED OLD-WORLD AND NEW-WORLD DESCENT, KNEW HIS VOCATION FROM YOUTH n By ITV staff Robert Prevost, left, and his brothers John and Louis pose with their mother in this undated photo. (Courtesy John Prevost) Below, he attended the parish school of St. Mary of the Assumption in nearby Riverdale; he is pictured standing, fourth from left.

P

ope Leo, the former Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, Prefect of the influential Dicastery for Bishops, is an American who spent many years as a missionary in Peru before being elected head of the Augustinians for two consecutive terms.

The new Bishop of Rome was born on September 14, 1955, in Chicago, Illinois, to Louis Marius Prevost, a World War II veteran, later educator, of African, Norman, French and Italian descent, and Mildred Martínez, a teacher and librarian of Louisiana Creole descent. He has two brothers, Louis Martín and John Joseph.

CHILDHOOD In CHICAGO Known as “Rob” to his family and “Bob” to friends as an adult, Robert Francis Prevost was raised in Dolton, Illinois, a suburb bordering the far South Side of Chicago. He grew up in the parish of St. Mary of the Assumption in nearby Riverdale, where he went to school, sang in the choir and served as an altar boy. Robert aspired to the priesthood from a young age, and would play-act the Mass at home with his brothers.

Marianna Angarola, 69, a former parochial school classmate, told CBS News that as a second-grade student memorizing the Baltimore Catechism as part of pre-Vatican II First Communion preparation, “Robert Prevost never complained.

“We used to pray with our hands, you know, our fingers pointing to heaven, and, after a while, you get tired of doing that, and you just want to fold them over,” she says. “Robert Prevost never folded his hands over. He was just godly. Not in an in-yourface way. It was part of his aura, like he was hand-selected, and he 00 62 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

embraced it. And he wasn’t weird. He was nice,” said Angarola.

Joseph Merigold, another classmate, said the young Robert Prevost also was “the smartest person in the class.

“Back in the day, they used to seat us by our classroom performance, so he always sat in the No. 1 seat, which was in the first row in the back,” says Merigold, 70, who says he was often No. 2 or 3. “He was kind of a little trickster, too. Used to poke me in the back of the head with a pencil all the time because I was a kidder. So he definitely had a sense of humor that a lot of people wouldn’t know because he wasn’t really that outgoing.”

TEEnAGER AnD YOUnG ADULT From 1969 to 1973, Prevost attended St. Augustine Seminary High School, a minor seminary near Saugatuck, Michigan; his brother John recalled how, from the end of eighth grade on, and especially after joining the Order of Saint Augustine, until their later adulthood when leave allowed them to reconnect, Prevost was hardly at home or with their family. At the Augustinian seminary, he earned a letter of commendation for academic excellence, consistently appeared on the honor roll, served as yearbook editor-inchief, and was secretary of the student council and a member of the National Honor Society. He captained the bowling team and headed the speech and debate team.

Well-liked in high school, Prevost had a reputation for helping other students. Most of his classmates at St. Augustine left the institution. Out of several dozen who entered the school with him, Prevost was one of only 13 students in his class to graduate.

His secondary educational background includes a Bachelor

Below left, photo of the young Augustinian Fr. Robert Prevost — the future Pope Leo XIV — who was sent to Peru as a missionary.

Below right, Bishop Robert Prevost at the time of his appointment to the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru in 2014

of Science in Mathematics from Villanova University in 1977, a Master of Divinity from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, and both a licentiate and doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical College of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome.

His doctoral thesis was on “The role of the local prior in the Order of Saint Augustine.”

ly had difficult relations with his administration, pointed out.

Peru, a relatively small country on the scale of Latin America but nonetheless twice the size of France, was visited by Pope Francis in January 2018. That trip therefore enabled him to meet and spot Bishop Prevost, whom he received in a private audience in 2021.

An AUGUSTInIAn PRIEST After his ordination as a priest in 1982, Prevost joined the Augustinian mission in Peru in 1985 and served as chancellor of the Territorial Prélature of Chulucanas from 1985 to 1986.

He spent the year 1987 to 1988 in the United States as pastor for vocations and director of missions for the Augustinian Province of Chicago before returning to Peru where he spent the next ten years heading the Augustinian seminary in Trujillo and teaching canon law in the diocesan seminary, where he was also prefect of studies.

In 1999, he returned to Chicago and was elected provincial Prior of the “Mother of Good Counsel” province in the archdiocese. Two and a half years later he was elected Prior General of the Augustinians and served two terms until 2013.

CARDInAL AnD CURIAL OFFICIAL Pope Francis appointed Prevost Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops in January 2023, a powerful position responsible for selecting bishops. On September 30, 2023, Pope Francis elevated Prevost to the rank of cardinal.

During his first months as prefect, then-Archbishop Prevost continued to remain characteristically discreet in the media, but was reportedly appreciated for his ability to listen and his mastery of issues. Aleteia reported that a French bishop who met him two months after he took office praised his “judicious questions” and his ability to synthesize, stressing his “good impression” of Prevost.

Pope Leo is reportedly very close to his predecessor’s vision regarding the environment, outreach to the poor and migrants, A MISSIOnARY BISHOP and meeting people where they In An UnSTABLE PERU are. He said last year “the bishop Initially apostolic adminisis not supposed to be a little trator of the Diocese of Chiprince sitting in his kingdom.” clayo, he became its full bishop As cardinal, he appeared someRobert Francis Prevost as Bishop of Chiclayo in Perù, in September 2015. According what less interested in showing where he had served as a missionary for many years. to the 2022 edition of the Ponfavor toward the LGBTQ lobby tifical Yearbook, this diocese in northern Peru has 90 incardithan Francis, but he showed some mild support for Fiducia nated priests serving a total population of 1.3 million, 83% of Supplicans. whom are Catholics. Prevost was also Apostolic AdministraPrevost has faced some controversy regarding clergy sextor of the Diocese of Callao, the major Pacific port, from ual abuse although he he has been staunchly defended in both 2020 to 2021. instances as prompt, compassionate and fair in following Within the Peruvian Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop mandated procedures. His supporters say the cases have been Prevost was vice-president and member of the permanent inaccurately and unfairly reported in the media. council from 2018 to 2023, and president of the commission Even as a priest, bishop and cardinal, the newly elected for education and culture from 2019 to 2023.

Pope Leo has remained close to his family; his older brother Peru’s bishops played an important role in ensuring instiLouis was accustomed to speaking to him every day on the tutional stability during the successive political crises that led phone. to the overthrows of presidents Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in Of his deeply-felt religious vocation, which eventually led 2018, Martín Vizcarra and Manuel Merino in 2020, and to the papacy, Leo’s brother John told CNN, “He knew at Pedro Castillo in 2022. A few days before his fall and arrest, such a young age that this is what he wanted. No one was Castillo, a radical leftist, was received by the president of the going to talk him out of it.” bishops’ conference and by Bishop Prevost. They hoped to find a peaceful solution “at this very difficult moment in (Parts of this report appeared originally on the website Peruvian democratic life,” as the bishops, who had previouscollegeofcardinalsreport.com)m 00 JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 63

habemus papam Archive

WHAT KIND OF POPE WILL LEO XIV BE? His past remarks as a priest and bishop reveal a few insights into the thought of our new Augustinian Pope n by ITV staff

Cardinal Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, made a rather rare appearance before the media last year during the 2024 Synod on Synodality (photo: Vatican News)

P

ope Leo XIV does not have a particularly long or voluminous “paper trail” of speeches, articles and other public deliveries of opinion; his positions on many issues remain inscrutable.

But he has been in prominent enough positions prior to his election as Pope to have left some indications of his general thought in the talks and interviews he did give.

For example, in 2012, as then-Father Prevost, Prior General of the Augustinian Order, Pope Leo delivered an intervention, titled “Mystery as an Antidote to Spectacle,” at the October 2012 Synod of Bishops in Rome (excerpt follows), in which he discussed some of the challenges of evangelization in the modern world.

WE MUST REDIRECT ATTENTION AWAY FROM “SPECTACLE,” INTO “MYSTERY At least in the contemporary Western world—if not throughout the entire world—the human imagination concerning both religious faith and ethics is largely shaped by mass media, especially television and cinema. Western mass media is extraordinarily effective in fostering within the general public enormous sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the Gospel; for example, abortion, the homosexual lifestyle, euthanasia.

Religion is at best tolerated by mass media as 64 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

“tame” and “quaint” when it does not actively oppose positions on ethical issues that the media have embraced as their own.

However, when religious voices are raised in opposition to these positions, mass media can target religion, labeling it as ideological and insensitive in regard to the so-called vital needs of people in the contemporary world.

In a world dominated by mass media, magisterial Church teaching can be helpful. Yet there is a great need for further development in this area. Noteworthy for its perception of the mass media context for evangelization is the post-conciliar document Aetatis Novae (1992). This document observed that modern media not only distorts reality by telling us what to think—it tells us what to think about.

The Fathers of the Church can provide eminent guidance for the Church in this aspect of the new evangelization, precisely because they were masters of the art of rhetoric. With their rhetorical formation— which, for many of them, constituted the best training available in the late ancient world—the Church Fathers offered a formidable response to those nonChristian and anti-Christian literary and rhetorical forces at work throughout the Roman Empire in shaping the religious and ethical imaginations of the day. They understood with enormous precision the techniques through which popular religious and ethi-

cal imaginations of their day were manipulated by the centers of secular power in that world.

Moreover, overt opposition to Christianity by mass media is only part of the problem. The sympathy for anti-Christian lifestyle choices that mass media fosters is so brilliantly and artfully engrained in the viewing public that, when people hear the Christian message, it often inevitably seems ideological and emotionally cruel by contrast to the ostensible humaneness of the anti-Christian perspective.

It is not sufficient for the Church to own its own television media or to sponsor religious films. The secular media will always be stronger in this field.

And while it is vital that the Church be actively engaged in and with the media, we cannot successfully compete with the secular media.

In his City of God, Augustine teaches that mystery focuses the imagination on the darkness surrounding death—specifically, on the darkness of Christ’s cruci-

fixion, which St. Augustine saw echoed in the deaths of the Christian martyrs.

Spectacle, on the other hand—with its companion features: celebrity and heroism—offers people a false comfort by distracting the mind from its instinctive fear of death. Augustine saw this false comfort present in Roman theater, sports events, secular festivals, and military honors. [...]

The Church should resist the temptation to believe that it can compete with modern mass media by turning the sacred liturgy into spectacle…

Church fathers remind us today that spectacle is the domain of the saeculum [world], and that our proper mission is to introduce people to the nature of mystery, as an antidote to spectacle. As a consequence, evangelization in the modern world must find the appropriate means for redirecting public attention away from special and into mystery. n

“CONSECRATED LIFE – POVERTY, CHASTITY, OBEDIENCE – IS A SIGN OF THE KINGDOM” Catholic News Service interviewed then-Fr. Prevost (pictured right) when he was in Rome for the 2012 Synod of Bishops. In his wideranging answers, he spoke of evangelization by example, the value of consecrated life and the role of personal experience in growing closer to God. Here are a few excerpts: here are thousands of young people who are looking for some kind of experience that will help them live their faith. And I think that has to come first anyway. Our priority needs to be living the Gospel…if we learn how to live our faith better, and invite others to live it.

Lay people have a very great role in the Church – as Pope Francis said, not to take over the clergy, but to live their baptism vocation with greater clarity.

I think we have to be open to change... but also be respectful of many wonderful traditionals that have grown up in the Church throughout the years. [...]

I would say very broadly, first of all, consecrated life, if I can use that expression, is not primarily about the work that religious do, but rather about the total consecration of one's life to God...I think quite clearly that the special gift that consecrated life is to the church is precisely who we are as reli-

T

gious in professing our lives through the evangelical councils -- poverty, chastity and obedience -- as a sign of the Kingdom, as a sign of the world to come. [...]

I would say that Augustine is one of the church fathers who very clearly spoke about experience.

Human experience, he says, is precisely where you can find God, and the humanity of Augustine is not something which leads into a kind of a personalized, egoistic, "it's all about me and only me" world, but quite the opposite.

Because of Augustine's understanding of humanity, that human experience is actually the door that leads one into discovering who God is, and then a movement that Augustine speaks of in different areas about how going into God also leads you into solidarity with other people. And that second part of living in solidarity with others is perhaps a piece of the experience that is missing nowadays.n JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 65

COMMENTARY

The papacy in a new era: from gregory Vii To leo XiV The modern papacy is acTually a producT of cenTuries of change n BY DARRICK TAYLOR, PH.D.*

T

he election of Pope Leo ry, the papacy became a RenaisXIV begins a new reign for sance court and a center of culture. the Catholic Church, and Theologically speaking, the people are naturally interested in idea of the Pope as an infallible how this Pope will deal with the interpreter of Revelation gained many challenges she faces. currency in the thirteenth century, Robert Prevost earned a bacheadding to his already considerable lor’s degree in mathematics and authority. The Counter-Reformachose the name Leo as a nod to tion bolstered the authority of the Leo XIII, who addressed the great papacy to respond to attacks on social questions of his time in his Catholic tradition, but, wisely, the encyclicals, with Artificial IntelliCouncil of Trent did not make gence in mind. Though he apparpapal authority a subject of its ently thought about retiring the deliberations. papal “X” online account, Leo has Counter-Reformation writers revived it and even has a Latin alt such as Robert Bellarmine did, for it as well. however, make popular the notion We are definitely in a new era. that the papacy’s infallibility Which is why it is an opportune extended not only to its teaching moment to reflect on the nature of but to its canonical legislation. the papacy, how it operates in the Though the Church never procontemporary world, and how it claimed this a dogma and has has changed over the centuries. since abandoned such claims, they Rome has made claims to priwere widely believed well into the macy over the whole Church since twentieth century. at least the fourth century, if not But the papacy as we know it in earlier. But the way it has exerpractice dates from the nineteenth cised this authority has changed century, when the French RevoluPope Leo XIII (r. 1873 to 1903) addressed the great over time. tion, the Risorgimento, and other social questions of his time in a series of encyclicals.

With the collapse of the West- Pope political upheavals shook the Leo XIV chose his papal name as a nod to Leo XIII ern Roman Empire, the bishop of Church to its core, bringing the Rome became the de facto ruler of the Eternal City. With Papal States to an end and forcing it to adapt to modern the rise of the Frankish Empire, this authority became de society. jure with the creation of the papal states.

The Church responded by centralizing authority in the After the collapse of Charlemagne’s Empire, the papacy in unprecedented ways, tightening control over Church found itself in dire shape, and to the minds of episcopal appointments, codifying a universal code of many, deeply corrupted by lay control. Reformers of the canon law for the first time, and of course, defining papal 11th and 12th centuries built up the papacy in order to infallibility as a dogma at the First Vatican Council. reform the Church and liberate it from subservience to feuPerhaps even more importantly, the papacy did somedal kings and nobility. It created a legal structure for the thing extraordinary: it embraced mass media for the first papacy, turning it into a sort of super-monarchy to overawe time, having shunned it since the printing press nearly medieval princes. destroyed the Church during the Protestant Reformation of In the late Middle Ages and into the seventeenth centuthe sixteenth century. Pius IX’s charm made him a natural 66

INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

for the new Catholic press to follow in the mid-nineteenth century, and Popes like Leo XIII took on the role of teacher to the world through their encyclicals. Later popes would make use of radio and television to proclaim the Church’s message to the world, most successfully Pope John Paul II, whom journalists dubbed the “Promo Pope” as a result.

Over a millennium and a half, the papacy has gone from patriarch to feudal monarch to Renaissance prince to postmodern messaging machine, one practically without parallel.

No other religious institution in the world — perhaps no secular one either — can gain the world’s attention quite like the papacy — when it wants to. These institutional adaptations allow the papacy to carry its higher purpose into the world. But this begs the question of what exactly the Pope’s purpose is.

One must admit that though the Gospel of Matthew has Jesus calling Simon Bar Jonah “the rock” on which the Church is built, this does not provide a ready blueprint for specific historical circumstances.

Throughout history, most have seen the Pope’s role as one of guarding Divine Revelation, maintaining the faith and preventing its corruption.

Which is to say, its main purpose is negative: to act, as John Henry Newman wrote of the Church of Rome, as a “remora or break in the development of doctrine.” The successor of St. Peter is a rock, not a river.

The difficulty is that the Church plays distinct roles at different periods in history, and so has the papacy.

In order to safeguard that Revelation, it has had recourse to political expedients, such as Gregory VII’s exalting the Church over kings, Bellarmine’s exaltation of the Pope as an infallible legislator, or the highly centralized media figure the modern papacy has become. All these various incarnations of papal authority were defensible in their original historical con-

Below left, Counter-Reformation theologians such as St. Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621) popularized the notion that papal infallibility extended not only to teaching but also to canonical legislation.

Below right, Pope Pius IX’s (p. 1846-1878) charm made him a natural for the new Catholic press to follow in the mid-nineteenth century.

Below left, Cardinal John Henry Newman (18011890), wrote of the Church of Rome as a “remora or break in the development of doctrine.”

Below right, Hans Urs von Bathasar (1905-1988), Swiss theogian and Catholic priest, wrote of the papacy as having Petrine, Johanine, Jacobite, Pauline and Marian dimensions

Below left, by the time of the First World War, the papacy had become an international influence, and Pope Benedict XV (p. 1914-1921) used it to try to become a peacemaker — though ultimately unsuccessfully Below right, post-Vatican II popes like Pope Benedict XVI (p. 2005-2013) wished the Church to present a more welcoming face to the world: Benedict emphasized the “yes” of Christ rather than the “no”

texts, but over time have become confused with its necessary role. Only its role as bulwark against corruption is permanent.

Everything else the papacy does must serve that end.

The problem is that these mutable expedients are confused with the permanent deposit of the Faith, and hence, with the papacy — such that people have difficulty separating them.

For someone like Blessed Pius IX, the papacy was unthinkable without the Papal States. For others, the idea that the Pope can err in his governance is simply impossible, despite the obvious historical evidence to the contrary.

A millennium of growth in papal power has left many Catholics with a tendency to view everything the Pope does as part of sacred Tradition, something that is neither intellectually defensible nor psychologically sustainable.

The theologians who paved the way for the Second Vatican Council recognized this. They wanted to move the Church from older, more hierarchical models of its authority, and for understandable reasons.

However, they also wanted the Church to present a more “welcoming” face to the world. For example, Pope Benedict emphasized the “the ‘yes’ of Christ,” rather than the “no” most people associate with Christianity and Catholicism, during his pontificate. However, this sometimes leads Catholics to overthink their defenses of papal authority.

MAKING PAPAL AUTHORITY AMENABLE TO MODERN PEOPLE

I am thinking of Hans von Balthasar’s division of the Church into Petrine, Johanine, Jacobite, Pauline and Marian dimensions, in his book The Office of Peter and the Structure of the Church. Balthasar wrote this work in 1974, during the upheavals following Vatican II, when many called papal authority into question, and he wanted to show how JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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COMMENTARY ThE PAPACY iN A NEw ERA: FROM GREGORY Vii TO LEO XiV the papacy worked in harmony with other elements of the they encountered of Catholicism on social media. My Church, rather than in a top-down, authoritarian way. worry is this will become the normal way they experience His concern to make papal authority more amenable to the Faith, if it hasn’t already. modern people who do not trust authority, and to emphaInevitably, much of what they find there will focus on size that the papacy is not the center or the whole of the the occupant of Peter’s throne. Such a continuous focus on Church’s life, were laudable. his person makes the sovereign pontiff appear as if he But I cannot help thinking that those who attacked the alone is the center of the faith, monopolizing the average Pope actually possessed a more accurate conception of Catholic’s attention on his every utterance as if he were an what the Pope does — which is to say “no” to many things oracle, making papal authority the most visible and imporpeople in the Church might want. After all, you cannot act tant aspect of the Catholic Faith. as a break on doctrinal development if you are saying “yes” I understand wanting to take papal encyclicals seriousall the time. ly, but I am always puzzled when people share the Pope’s But it is “yes” that many Catholics, and most nonAngelus speeches on social media, recommending them as Catholics, want to hear, all the time. a subject for spiritual devotions. The And this predicament is not new.

Church possesses a two-thousand Despite the challenges that AI and year old treasury of spirituality, and social media pose, we are still living it seems askew to act as if every sinthrough the era of the “media papagle occupant of the throne of Peter is cy,” albeit now in hyper-drive a saint or spiritual master. Historimode. cally speaking, most have not been It is sometimes claimed that most either, because their office mostly Catholics in the Middle Ages did not concerns governing and policing think about the Pope at all, which is doctrine. not true. What is different today is The invention of the internet has the continuous attention that is paid turned the papacy into a meme, to every gesture, speech, and movewhich can be a powerful thing in our ment a Pope makes. current era, but it also distorts our This is the genius of the papacy at understanding of its role even furwork, for after the loss of the Papal ther than it has been already.

States, the Church needed to be able That the Church needs to avoid to attract the attention of the public, this sort of “hyper-papalism” is in order to spread her Gospel mesreadily apparent. What Catholics sage. By the time of the First World need is a papacy that can make the Pope Leo XIV, elected May 8, addresses the crowd at St. Peter’s during his first Angelus appearance War, this process was complete, world pay attention to the Church at St. Peter’s on May 11 with Benedict XV acting a peacebut that the faithful do not need to maker during that horrible conflict, albeit an unsuccessful pay attention to every waking moment. This cannot be susone. tained in an age of AI and “deepfakes.”

Popes have managed ever since to insist on a role in The Church must draw upon the fullness of its Tradiinternational affairs out of all proportion to the papacy’s tion, and not merely insist upon its authority to ground the institutional strength. faithful in Christ. Its customs, its rites and ceremonies, This transformation into a “media papacy” is even prayers, sacraments, all those embodied connections with more significant in an age where attention has become a Christ in heaven and on earth, have the power to take us commodity and every entity in the world is fighting for out of the simulacrum our technology creates and ground every person’s share of it. us in true reality.

But the power of this “media papacy” is a double-edged It is these that bring us closer to God, rather than nonsword. The reason is that most people’s knowledge of the stop attention to St. Peter’s successor.

Church comes largely from its media pronouncements, In that respect, Leo XIV’s words from his inaugural serunless they are especially devout and commit themselves mon are a good start. to weekly mass attendance, spiritual devotions and There, he said, all those in authority in the Church must pious works. “move aside so that Christ may remain, to make oneself That the curious can find knowledge about small so that he may be known and glorified.”

Church teachings easily on the internet is a good thing. This Easter saw widely reported an uptick *Darrick Taylor, Ph.D., teaches at Santa Fe College of new converts coming into the Church, and it is in Gainesville, Florida and produces a podcast, possible many based their decisions upon what Controversies in Church History.m 68 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

HISTORY

AmericAn cArdinAls And the PAPAcy: historicAl Vignettes LESSER-KNOWN STORIES OF AMERICAN CARDINALS AT PAPAL CONCLAVES — BEFORE ELECTING ONE OF THEM POPE WAS IMAGINABLE n By Donald McClarey*

With the election of the first American-born cardinal, Robert Prevost, as Pope Leo XIV, the Church enters a new era. Yet American cardinals have been part of the papal conclaves since the dawn of the 20th century…

THE COnCLAVE OF 1903: JAMES CARDInAL GIBBOnS AnD POPE PIUS X James Cardinal Gibbons of the Archdiocese of Baltimore was the second American made cardinal and an enormously important figure in the history of both the American Church and the country. His championing of the rights of labor in the nineteenth century helped direct America on a more peaceful path in the relationship between labor and capital than existed in many other nations. He was the first American cardinal to participate in a papal conclave.

When Pope Leo XIII died in 1903, Cardinal Gibbons happened to be in Rome. Without that fortuitous circumstance he would most likely have not been able to participate in the subsequent conclave.

(In 1914 with the death of Pope Pius X, Cardinal Gibbons boarded a rapid steamer to cross the Atlantic but arrived too late to participate in that conclave.)

The first conclave to occur under the glare of modern media, the proceedings leaked like a sieve to eager waiting journalists, so much so that after this conclave Pope Pius decreed

that participants were to take an oath of silence as to the proceedings of all future conclaves.

The front runner was Cardinal Mariano Rampolla, Leo XIII’s Secretary of State. He would almost certainly have been chosen Pope by the conclave but for the exercise of the Austrian veto by a Polish Cardinal at the behest of Austrian Emperor Franz Josef. (Three Catholic powers had traditionally claimed a right of veto in conclaves: the King of France, the King of Spain and the Holy Roman Emperor.)

Why the veto was used remains a mystery, but it was met with outrage among the cardinals. After the election of Pope Pius, he banned the use of vetoes in any future conclaves.

After five days and seven ballots, Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, a man of humble birth who had risen to be Patriarch of Venice, was chosen Pope, and decided to reign as Pius X. He would prove to be a masterful Pope, immensely popular with the average Catholic. Fond of children, he had a wry sense of humor.

When Roman aristocrats complained that he had not made his sisters Papal countesses he responded that he had made them the sisters of a Pope and he didn’t see how he could improve on that! His piety, his wis-

dom and his leadership assured that he would become the first pope canonized since the seventeenth century, almost by popular acclaim, modernists, of course, excepted. Cardinal Gibbons and the other participants in the Conclave could be proud of their work.

THE COnCLAVE OF 1914: JOHn CARDInAL FARLEY AnD POPE BEnEDICT XV John Cardinal Farley of the Archdiocese of new York, was the only American cardinal to arrive in Rome in time to participate in the conclave of 1914, making him the second American to participate in a conclave. Farley was already in Europe at the time of the death of the Pope Pius X and was the only American cardinal to participate in the conclave.

During World War I he annoyed many of the Irish in New York for his pro-Allied stance, his contempt for Prussian militarism overcoming his ancestral antipathy for the English.

Like most Irish emigrants to America he wore his patriotism on his sleeve and helped rally Catholics to support the war effort after the US entered the War in 1917.

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HISTORY American cardinals and the Papacy: Historical Vignettes The conclave assembled on August 31, 1914 in the Sistine Chapel.

World War I had just commenced, although Italy was still neutral, and it was obvious to all that this war would probably be one of the major challenges confronting the new Pope.

There were three recognized front runners for the papal throne: Domenico Serafini, Assessor of the Holy Office, Pietro Maffi, Archbishop of Milan and Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, Archbishop of Bologna. As conclaves go, it was fairly contentious, lasting four days and taking ten ballots before the election of the Archbishop of Bologna who assumed the name of Benedict XV. He was elected on the last ballot by a single vote.

Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val, the brilliant half English and half Spanish Secretary of State under Pius, demanded that the ballots be scrutinized to make certain that Benedict had not voted for himself, which would have been a violation of conclave rules.

He had not. In a story that I very much hope is true, Benedict murmured, when Merry del Val came before him to pay his respects, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” a quotation from Psalm 117 and a reference to the unfriendliness that Merry del Val had long shown to him.

The quick-witted Merry del Val supposedly immediately responded with the next verse from the Psalm: “This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.”

Pope Benedict viewed World War I as the suicide of Europe. He proclaimed the neutrality of the Vatican, called for a Christmas truce in 1914, and was ceaseless in working for a negotiated peace throughout the war.

He nearly bankrupted the Vatican due to its humanitarian relief efforts during the war which saved millions of lives, especially those of children, who were of special concern to him.

He hammered out agreements between the warring powers allowing for exchanges of prisoners of war, better treatment for prisoners of war, and the evacuation of some civilians living in occupied territories.

On August 1, 1917, he proposed a seven-point peace plan. Great Britain responded favorably; imperial Germany rejected it out of hand. President Wilson also rejected it, but Wilson’s later 14-point proposal to end the war, made in 1918, takes much from the Pope’s proposal.

Pope Benedict died on January 22, 1922, his papacy always to be identified with the war he so much deplored.

THE COnCLAVE OF 1922: WILLIAM CARDInAL O’COnnELL AnD POPE PIUS XI The Conclave of 1922 lasted for five days and took 14 ballots before a Pope — Pius XI — was elected.

The Archbishop of Boston, William Cardinal O’Connell, had made strenuous efforts to get to the conclaves of 1914 and 1922, though arriving late on each occasion.

In 1922 he became the first Cardinal to fly, traveling by air from Boston to New York after having an ocean liner held for his boarding.

When he arrived late to the Vatican, he told the newly elected Pius XI that more time was needed between the death of a Pope and the conclave to give time for cardinals outside of Europe to get to Rome.

The Pope agreed and the time was henceforth lengthened. (Cardinal O’Connell participated in the conclave in 1939.)

Italian Cardinal Achille Ratti was an unusual combination of scholar and athlete: both a papal librarian and a mountaineer.

Born in 1857, he was ordained in 1879. A scholar, he earned three doc-

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torates. In 1911 he was made Vice-Prefect of the Vatican Library and in 1914 he was made Prefect.

Chosen as Pope by the conclave of 1922, he chose to reign as Pius XI. His reign would be dominated by his battles against Communism, Fascism and the anti-clerical regime in Mexico. This paragraph from Mit Brennender Sorge, the Papal encyclical that condemned the Nazi regime, summed up the core of Pius’ papacy: Whoever exalts race, or the people, or the State, or a particular form of State, or the depositories of power, or any other fundamental value of the human community – however necessary and honorable be their function in worldly things – whoever raises these notions above their standard value and divinizes them to an idolatrous level, distorts and perverts an order of the world planned and created by God; he is far from the true faith in God and from the concept of life which that faith upholds.

THE COnCLAVE OF 1939: GEORGE CARDInAL MUnDELEIn AnD POPE PIUS XII Thanks to the protest of Cardinal O’Connell to Pius XI after the Conclave of 1922, and the development of transoceanic air travel, all Cardinals not prevented by illness or extreme old age were able to participate in the conclave of 1939, beginning on March 1, 1939 on the eve of World War II. One of the American cardinals participating was George Cardinal Mundelein of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Born in 1872 on the lower east side in Manhattan, Mundelein broke the mold for most American Cardinals of his era in not being of Irish extraction, He was only half-Irish on his mother’s side! His father’s family was of German origin.

His introduction to Chicago was turbulent in that an anarchist dosed the chicken with arsenic at a banquet

held in his honor. An emergency emetic prepared by a doctor in attendance prevented any fatalities.

The Archbishop was made a cardinal in 1924 by Pius XI. In his day, Mundelein was viewed as a liberal, and he certainly was in his politics.

His views on other matters reveal the limitations of political classifications when applied to churchmen. He was an uncompromising foe of contraception and easy divorce, and campaigned against sexual suggestiveness in films.

The 1939 conclave was the shortest in the twentieth century, lasting only two days and electing Eugenio Pacelli, Vatican Secretary of State and fierce foe of Naziism, on the third ballot.

Perhaps betraying a certain reluctance to assume the papal office, Pacelli insisted upon a final ballot to make certain that he was elected Pope.

When his housekeepers saw him arrayed as Pope, he told them with tears in his eyes, “Look what they have done to me!”

With Europe engulfed by Fascism and Communism and the world on the brink of another Great War after only a two-decade respite, it is easy to understand Pacelli’s reluctance to step into the shoes of the Fisherman. However, reigning as Pius XII, he proved equal to all the many daunting challenges he confronted.

He proclaimed the dogma of the Assumption of Mary, he kept alive the Catholic faith behind the Iron Curtain, he prevented Italy from going Communist in 1948, he reformed the liturgy and he gave an impetus to Bible Studies.

His heroic efforts to protect as many people — Jews, Christians and the rest of humanity — as he could from the Nazi terror are crystal clear, and always have been.

THE COnCLAVE OF 1958: EDWARD CARDInAL MOOnEY AnD POPE JOHn XXIII One of the cardinals attending the conclave in 1958 was the American Archbishop of Detroit, Edward Cardinal Mooney. At the conclave he had a massive heart attack in Rome and died at age 70, just three hours before the conclave began. (The more deranged sedevacantists claim that Mooney was murdered to help deny Cardinal Siri the papal throne.)

If Cardinal Mooney had not died before the conclave, the conclave might have killed him.

It lasted four days and 11 ballots before Angelo Roncalli, Patriarch of Venice, was elected as a compromise candidate. No one was more surprised than the 77- yearold Roncalli at his election. He had purchased a round-trip ticket and hoped that the conclave would be a short one so that he could get home quickly.

He decided to reign as Pope John XXIII. Roncalli was born in 1881 to a family of peasants, the fourth child and first son, in a family that would grow to 13 children.

He was ordained a priest in 1904.

In 1905 he became secretary to the Bishop of Bergamo, working in that capacity until 1915 while lecturing at the local seminary. He served in the Italian Army during World War I as a sergeant, assigned as a stretcher bearer and a chaplain.

Of his experiences during the War he wrote: “I thank God that I served as a sergeant and army chaplain in the First World War. How much I learned about the human heart during this time, how much experience I gained, what grace I received.”

After his election as Pope, John XXIII charmed the world with his pronounced sense of humor, warmth

and his obvious love for all of humanity.

His five-year papacy, of course, was dominated by his calling of the Second Vatican Council. Pope John was a man of traditional Catholic spirituality. I can’t help but think he would have been appalled at much of the implementation of Vatican II. THE COnCLAVE OF 1963: JAMES CARDInAL MCInTYRE AnD POPE PAUL VI James Cardinal McIntyre, Archbishop Los Angeles, was very unhappy with Vatican II and spoke out about it, one of the few Cardinals who did.

McIntyre was a man who never minded swimming against the stream.

Born on June 25, 1886 in New York City, his father was a member of the mounted police and his mother an immigrant from Ireland.

To support himself and his crippled father after the death of his mother, James became a runner on the New York Stock Exchange. He was offered a junior partnership in 1914, but declined it to pursue his dream of becoming a priest.

After becoming the second Archbishop of Los Angeles in 1946, McIntyre led the successful campaign to overturn a California state law which taxed Catholic schools. He was made a cardinal in 1953 by Pius XII. McIntyre was orthodox in his religion and hard right in his politics, which put him at odds with most of the other high clergy in the Church of his day.

Vatican II met with his disfavor.

In a speech to the Council Fathers on October 23, 1962 he uttered words which proved prophetic in regard to proposed changes in the liturgy: “The schema on the Liturgy proposes confusion and complication. If it is adopted, it would be an immediate scandal for our people. The continuity of the Mass must be kept.”

He voted in the conclave of 1963.

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HISTORY American cardinals and the Papacy: Historical Vignettes He was no happier with Vatican II after the conclave than before. Until he retired in 1970, McIntyre continually butted heads with radical priests and nuns.

The conclave of 1963 opened on June 21 and lasted until June 24. Six ballots were taken. The two main candidates were Cardinal Siri of Genoa, who was known to be displeased with much that had gone on at Vatican II, and Cardinal Montini of Milan, who was supportive of Vatican II. By the fourth ballot it was clear that Montini would likely be the eventual choice, which he was, on the sixth ballot. He chose to reign under the name of Paul VI. In Milan, Montini acquired a reputation as a progressive, eager for ecumenicalism and reform. He was extremely supportive of Vatican II, although he eventually understood what a hornet’s nest was being stirred up. On June 29, 1972 he referred to the “smoke of Satan” having entered the Church.

Perhaps the finest moment of his Papacy was when he issued Humanae Vitae, restating the Church’s traditional teaching against artificial contraception.

THE FIRST COnCLAVE OF 1978: JOHn CARDInAL CARBERRY AnD POPE JOHn PAUL I John Cardinal Carberry, Archbishop of St. Louis, was one of the men who had the unique experience of attending two Papal conclaves within little more than a month of each other in 1978. He attended all the sessions of Vatican II and was an active participant.

In 1965 he was named seventh Bishop of Columbus, Ohio. At Columbus he gave active support both to the civil rights movement and ecumenicalism.

In 1968 he was appointed the fifth

Archbishop of Saint Louis. By this time the chaos within the Church that followed in the aftermath of Vatican II was well underway and Carberry did his best to oppose it.

He celebrated Humanae Vitae, established the Archdiocesan Pro-Life Commission and opposed Communion in the hand until 1977, fearing that it was irreverent and would lead to hosts being stolen for use in Black Masses.

He spoke out loudly against the sitcom “Maude,” one of Norman Lear’s television vehicles which celebrated contraception and abortion.

The first conclave of 1978 was quick, two days, August 25-26, with only four ballots. Albino Luciani, Patriarch of Venice, was chosen as a compromise candidate, and not a very willing one.

When elected his first response was, “May God forgive you for what you have done.” He chose to reign as John Paul, honoring John XXIII and Pope Paul VI. Reigning only thirtythree days, his was one of the briefest pontificates. Publicly he was noted as the Pope of Smiles, as that expression rarely left his face in public. However, he was also seen weeping in the Papal gardens.

He was a charming writer, as I can attest from having read his Illustrissimi, fictional letters to historical characters in which he deftly expressed Catholic teaching.

THE SECOnD COnCLAVE OF 1978: JOHn CARDInAL CODY AnD POPE JOHn PAUL II Born in 1907 in Saint Louis, from his earliest years John Cardinal Cody, Archbishop of Chicago, was destined for a career in the Church. After a meteoric rise through the ranks of the Church, in 1965 he was made Archbishop of Chicago, where

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he would spend the remainder of his career. He was raised to the cardinalate two years later.

These were turbulent times, and Cody’s tenure was marked with strife, including the accusation of massive financial “irregularities” by Cody, and his relationship with a divorcee who followed him for 25 years from assignment to assignment, whom he claimed at one time was his cousin.

She was not.

By this time he was considered a Church “conservative” and he often butted heads with radical priests. He attended both conclaves in 1978, dying in 1982.

Two conclaves in 1978 was an odd event in the life of the Church. Perhaps that helps explain why the conclave turned to a man from a far country.

Born in 1920 in Wadowice, Poland, Karol Wojtyla was the youngest of three children. At age 8, he lost his mother; at 11, his brother; and at 20, his father, noting, “At twenty, I had already lost all the people I loved.”

This sad experience of tragedy turned his thoughts to the priesthood. He enrolled in the clandestine seminary operated by the Archbishop of Cracow, Adam Stefan Sapieha, a titan of the Church in Poland as his country was occupied by the Third Reich.

Ordained on All Saints Day in 1946, he was sent to the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome. He earned a Doctorate in Philosophy, in addition to being a poet, a playwright and an athlete.

In 1958 Pope Pius XII appointed him auxiliary Bishop of Cracow. At 38 he was the youngest bishop in Poland and one of the youngest in the world.

In 1959 he began to say Midnight Mass on Christmas in the fields at Nowa Huta, a city near Cracow, which the Communist government planned as a model workers’ community devoid of all churches. The huge crowds that attended the Midnight masses demonstrated the futility of this at-

tempt to separate the workers from their Church.

In 1967 he was made a cardinal.

The Communist regime ruling Poland began to fear that he posed a longterm threat to their power.

Cardinal Wojtyla participated in both of the conclaves in 1978.

Initially the two strongest candidates at the second Conclave of 1978 were Cardinal Siri and Cardinal Benelli, the former being regarded as a conservative and the latter a liberal.

The initial votes determined that neither of these men had sufficient support to be elected.

Wojtyla’s name emerged as a compromise candidate and on the eighth ballot he was elected by a coalition of Siri supporters and cardinals considered moderate.

Honoring his predecessor, he took the name John Paul II. The Pope was a man’s man of unusual moral and physical courage.

Nothing fazed him: Nazis, Communists of all stripes, an almost successful assassination attempt, Parkinson’s, etc.

This is certainly not the most important feature of the Pope, but I personally found it one of the most inspiring aspects of this great man.

THE COnCLAVE OF 2005: FRAnCIS CARDInAL GEORGE AnD POPE BEnEDICT XVI Archbishop of Chicago Francis Cardinal George was born in Chicago in 1937. At the age of 13 he contracted polio which left him with a permanent limp. The limp caused him to be rejected by the Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary in Chicago.

Instead, he attended the Saint Henry Preparatory Seminary in Belleville, Illinois run by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

After being named Bishop of Yaki-

ma, Washington and Archbishop of Portland, Oregon, George returned home to the Windy City when he was made Archbishop of Chicago in 1997, then cardinal the next year.

He participated in both the 2005 and 2013 conclaves.

For a man of mild temperament, George often found himself at odds with the left-leaning government of Illinois and left-leaning clergy in Chicago.

His most famous remark was given to a group of priests worried about the secularization of the culture in 2010: “I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the church has done so often in human history.”

The Conclave of 2005 presented a challenge to the new Pope in that John Paul II was a very hard act to follow.

There was not much drama at the conclave. There were four ballots with the right hand man of John Paul II, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, leading on each ballot, and the future Pope Francis in second place.

Ratzinger chose the name of Benedict XVI, and the choice of the Conclave pleased almost all the admirers of Pope John Paul II, who looked forward to a pontificate of continuity.

Joseph Ratzinger was born in 1927 on Holy Saturday in Marktl, Bavaria, Germany. At the age of 5, after seeing a cardinal of the Church, he announced his ambition to one day be a cardinal.

After a brief conscription into the German army, he deserted in 1945 and resumed his interrupted seminary studies.

He and his brother, Georg, were both ordained in 1951 by Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber, the same cardinal Joseph had encountered when he was 5.

He was appointed to the chair of dogmatic theology at the University

of Tubingen, where one of his colleagues was Hans Kung.

Professor Ratzinger was shocked by the excesses of Leftist students and gradually perceived that movement away from traditional Catholicism was one of the sources of the chaos around him.

In 1977 Ratzinger was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising, and raised to the cardinalate later that year.

In 1981 he was appointed by Pope John Paul II as head of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly known as the Holy Office. He became known as an enforcer of orthodoxy and a champion of traditional Catholicism.

(A debate between young and old Ratzinger would have been edifying and perhaps, in parts, amusing.)

After his election as Pope, in his Urbi et Orbi blessing, Pope Benedict uttered words that somewhat foreshadowed his pontificate: “Dear brothers and sisters, after the great Pope John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me, a simple, humble laborer in the vineyard of the Lord.”

High points were the Pope’s establishment of the Anglican Ordinariate, which welcomed thousands of converts from Anglicanism into the Catholic Church — perhaps the most daring move made by a Pope in regard to Protestants since the Reformation. He also oversaw the steady increase since 2005 in ordinations worldwide; the growth of the Church in Africa and Asia; and his “reform of the reform,” aimed at correcting misuses of Vatican II. Then came his resignation on February 11, 2013.

He claimed this resignation, unprecedented for many centuries, was due to ill health and the waning of his strength with advanced old age; we may never have the full story. m *Donald McClarey is a Catholic attorney and blogger at The-American-Catholic.com.

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SCRIPTURE

The cross of peTer — and of pope leo Xiv ThaT cross involves sTrengThening his breThren – we, who, like him, are “parTakers of chrisT’s sufferings, so ThaT, when his glory is revealed, we may also be glad and rejoice wiTh greaT joy” n BY AnTHOnY ESOLEn*

Left, an icon depicting the scene in which Christ asks Peter three times, “Peter, do you love Me?” Opposite, St. Peter is crucified upside-down in this 1601 painting by Caravaggio (1571-1610) which hangs in the Cerasi chapel in the Santa Maria del Popolo church in Rome.

I

f you walk south along the Appian Way, just outside the walls of Rome, you may see a small church with the strange name, Domine Quo Vadis. Ancient legend has it that the Christians of Rome, wishing to save their beloved shepherd’s life, begged Peter to leave the city, lest Nero and his ministers seize him and put him to death, as they were doing to other Christians. So Peter was traveling away, no doubt with an uneasy conscience, when he saw Jesus approaching in the opposite direction.

“Domine, quo vadis?” asked Peter – “Lord, where are you going?”

“Because you have abandoned the flock I entrusted to your care,” Jesus replied, “I am going to Rome to be crucified a second time.” At that, Peter turned about and went back to Rome, where he suffered the death that Jesus suffered, crucifixion, though tradition has it that Peter, believing himself unworthy to die in exactly the same way the Lord died, asked that his cross be turned upside down.

Two moments in Peter’s life come to my mind here, as they apply to the Petrine ministry and that of the bishops, submitting to the authority of their chief shepherd.

The first happens just after Jesus gives a new name to Simon son of John, calling him, in Aramaic, Kephah, that is, “Rock,” in its Greek form, Petros. That is because 74

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Peter, inspired by God, has made the great confession: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt. 16:16). Jesus says he will found his Church upon this rock; and we should keep in mind what he will say about the Temple, when his disciples want to show him around the buildings: “There shall not be left here one stone upon another” (Mt. 24:2).

Peter must have kept it in mind, because the image of the stone will become crucial to him, as he cites the triumphant Psalm 118, applying the verse to Jesus, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” (1 Pt. 2:7; cf. Ps. 118:22), and he reminds his flock that they are “living stones, built up into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood” (1 Pt. 2:5).

Unlike the Temple in Jerusalem, both during the time of the prophets and the time that is approaching soon, this new house, this Church, will never be destroyed. Of it, we will not say, as the prophet said of the Jews driven into exile by the Babylonians, “All flesh is grass” (Is. 40:6), cited by Peter himself (1 Pt. 1:24). This house, the house of the good news, is imperishable.

But as soon as Peter hears Jesus say he must go to Jerusalem – for Jesus, hardly the “City of Peace” suggested by its name – to be condemned by the elders and be put to death, he takes him aside to talk him out of it.

At this, Jesus turns on Peter and cries out, “Get thee much suffering, and not if it means your death. behind me, Satan!” (Mt. 16:23), as if Peter were setting That is why, I think, once Peter has affirmed three a trap for him, placing a stumbling-stone – Greek skantimes that he does love Jesus, and has actually had his dalon – in his path. The temptation, we see, is that Jesus feelings hurt, because he cannot help but recall what he may save himself by refusing to give everything, his said three times several days before, Jesus tells Peter very life, for those he loves. It is to say, “I shall love, but about the suffering that is in store for him: “Truly, I say not to the end” (cf. Jn. 13:1). It is to reverse the prayer to you, when you were a young man, you girded yourself that Jesus will pray in Gethsemane, and to say instead, and you walked where you wanted to go, but when you “In this regard, O God, let my will be done, since I have are old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else loved you quite enough already.” will gird you and take you where you do not want to go” We feel sorry for Peter as he hears that sharp rebuke.

(Jn. 21:18).

Jesus called the Pharisees a “brood of vipers” (Mt. That, says the evangelist John, was a prophecy of the 12:34), and he called Herod Antipas “that fox” (Lk. death Peter was going to die, crucifixion. It is the only 13:32), but harshest of all is what he calls Peter, that time in the gospels that Jesus tells someone how he is great-hearted and impetuous and sometimes foolish going to die. man. Yet he singles Peter out, So we have the two and we may suppose that Jesus is moments, unlike any others. building him up to the stature of Jesus calls Peter “Satan,” and the office he is to hold.

Jesus tells Peter that he will be The way is not always gentle. crucified. Thus when he says to Here it is strenuous, and it Peter, “Follow me” (Jn. 21:19), involves suffering; not only the we can assume that to follow suffering that Peter wants to Jesus is to walk the way of love, spare Jesus, but that which Jesus which is the way of suffering himself causes Peter to feel. To and martyrdom, of witnessing follow in Peter’s shoes, then, is to Jesus by your life and death. not to set yourself above critiSince that is so, what a stagcism, and not to assume an office gering inversion it is, to hear of dignity apart from love and people talk about winning the the suffering in this life that love papacy as if it were like wininevitably demands. ning a secular election, or to That brings us to the second hear them talk about a Pope’s moment I have in mind. This teaching as if it were the work time we are on the shore of the LET OUR NEW PETER, POPE LEO XIV, GIVE of his peculiar person. Had Sea of Galilee, and the risen anyone praised Peter for innovUS THE STRENGTH OF HEART TO FOLLOW Christ has appeared, in the early ativeness, Peter would have PETER IN ACCEPTING HIS CROSS morning, to Peter and several of taken it as a mark that the perthe other apostles. They have partaken of a meal of son had not understood anything at all – or he would bread and broiled fish. Jesus says to Peter, “Simon, son have searched his conscience uneasily, praying to God of John, do you love me more than these do?” (Jn. to guard him against that temptation.

21:15).

For Peter preaches also that we must suffer, if we are Notice that he does not call him Peter. It is as if Peter to follow Christ. It is essential to our communion. has reverted to the Simon before his profession of faith.

“Rejoice,” he says, “as you are partakers of Christ’s sufThat must have struck Peter to the heart. “Yes, Lord,” ferings, so that, when his glory is revealed, you may also says Peter, “you know that I love you.” “Feed my be glad and rejoice with great joy” (1 Pt. 4:13). lambs,” says Jesus.

Let then our new Peter, Pope Leo XIV, give us the Jesus will ask the question three times, echoing the strength of heart to follow the first Peter in his accepting three-time denial by Peter, when Jesus was being tried the cross. For that is where the world will take us, in one

by Pontius Pilate, that he even knew the man (cf. Lk. way or another, if we are faithful.

22:54-62).

Peter was afraid for his life, yet not utterly afraid, *Dr. Anthony Esolen teaches at Thales College either, or he would not have lingered around at all. in North Carolina and publishes a web He wanted what any decent follower of Jesus, then magazine dedicated to language, music, poetry or now, would want: to show his love, and to love and classic films called Word and Song with indeed, but not to love to the end, not if it requires too his wife, Debra.m JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN

75

Of Books, Art and People

Caravaggio, Condemned to death, Painted his own Portrait... n By Lucy Gordan

St. Catherine of Alexandria is "Caravaggio 2025"'s logo.

(Photo credit: Museo Nacional Thyssen Bornemisza, Madrid.

I

n April 1951, in Milan’s Palazzo Reale, the scholar Roberto Longhi curated the first exhibition in history dedicated to Caravaggio, whose name had been forgotten for over three centuries.

Born in Milan in 1571, Michelangelo Merisi was five years old when he moved with his siblings and his mother to her hometown, Caravaggio, to escape the plague ravaging Milan which killed both his grandfather and father.

When his mother also died in 1574, Merisi moved back to Milan to train as a painter with Simone Peterzano, a student of Titian, before moving to Rome in c. 1591. Here he called himself “Caravaggio” so his works would not be compared with those of another Michelangelo — Buonarotti.

Hot-tempered and frequently violent, Caravaggio, after a difficult start, thanks to Costantino Spada, a secondhand dealer who sold Caravaggio’s first paintings, and then to well-connected patrons, had a successful and prolific career in Rome.

That is, until 1606, when he stabbed to death the pimp/smalltime gangster Ranuccio Tomassoni during a brawl over a courtesan in Piazza Navona. Caravaggio, who’d already had several clashes with the authorities, was sentenced to death by beheading but, protected by the noble Colonna family, he fled

Judith Beheading Holofernes was first owned by Ottavio Costa and then Cardinal Antonio Barberini. Since Barberini's purchase it has never left Palazzo Barberini. Judith is the same model as St. Catherine of Alexandria and the woman holding the mirror in Detroit's Martha and Mary Magdalene. Holofernes is a self-portrait of Caravaggio who was sentenced to death by beheading. (Photo credit:

00 76 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica, Roma-MiC)

first to Naples, then to Malta, and lastly to Sicily (Siracusa and Messina) and then back to Naples. Nonetheless, Rome was always in his heart and, promised a papal pardon, he was on his way back by felucca (a small boat), when he died, probably of malaria, in Porto Ercole in 1610.

On display until July 6 in the exhibit “Caravaggio 2025” are 24 of Caravaggio’s some 60 masterpieces (almost all painted in Rome) which scholars agree are authentic. (advance booking: www.barberini.corsini.org/caravaggio-2025; some 60,000 tickets already sold before March 7, its opening day).

It’s being held in Rome’s National Gallery of Ancient Art, better-known as Palazzo Barberini, once the home of Antonio Barberini (1569-1646), one of Caravaggio’s most important patron/collectors and the nephew of Maffeo Barberini, who became Pope Urban VIII in 1623.

Four of Barberini’s Caravaggios have never left Palazzo Barberini’s collection after Antonio’s purchases and are on display: Judith Beheading Holofernes (c.1598), St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness (c.160204), St. Francis in Meditation (1606), and Narcissus (c.1599).

(This last is the only painting of a mythological subject attributed to Caravaggio, so it is possible that it is not authentic.)

St. Francis in Ecstasy, Caravaggio’s earliest painting of a religious subject with Judith Beheading Holofernes.

Above right, Ecce Homo. (Photo: Icon Trust).

Below, St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness is one of the three St. John the Baptists exhibited here together for the first time.

(Photo Nelson-Atkins Digital Production and Preservation, Kansas).

Before Barberini, Caravaggio had two patron/collectors.

One was the refined and eclectic cardinal — also an expert on music and singing — Francesco Maria del Monte, who owned The Musicians, St. Catherine of Alexandria and The Cardsharps by Caravaggio. (At Del Monte’s death in 1627, Barberini purchased these Caravaggios, later sold by his heirs and so dispersed).

Caravaggio’s other early patron/collector was the Genovese banker Count Ottavio Costa (1554-1637), the first owner of the striking St. Francis in Ecstasy, Caravaggio’s earliest painting of a religious subject, and of Judith Beheading Holofernes, sold to Antonio Barberini and, as mentioned above, still in Palazzo Barberini.

Caravaggio’s final collector was the cutthroat Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V, and the selfappointed mediator of Caravaggio’s papal pardon, in exchange for several of his paintings. Not surprisingly, Scipione in 1613 founded the Borghese Gallery, which is now lending three of its Caravaggio canvases which have never been lent before: Young Sick Bacchus, David with the Head of Goliath and St. John the Baptist. (The Borghese’s other three: St. Jerome in his study, Madonna dei Palafrenieri and St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness aren’t displayed in “Caravaggio 2025”).

Another “Roman” Caravaggio, The Fortune Teller, originally owned by Cardinal Del Monte, is on loan from

the Capitoline Museums. The other canvases are returning to Rome, for the first time in centuries, from private collections and museums in Italy: Gallerie d’Italia (Naples), the Uffizzi (Florence), Pinacoteca di Brera (Milan) and Capodimonte (Naples). Others come from around the world: Detroit Institute of Art (Martha and Mary Magdalene); Kimball Art Museum, Fort Worth (The Cardsharps); the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (The Musicians); Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City (St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness); Wadsworth Atheneum of Art, Hartford (St. Francis in Ecstasy); Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid (St. Catherine of Alexandria); National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin (The Taking of Christ) and Royal Collection Trust, London (Boy Peeling a Fruit).

Displayed in chronological order, “Caravaggio 2025” is divided into four sections: “Making a Name in Rome” covers his arrival in Rome and his first short-lived job painting flowers for Cavalier d’Arpino through his commissions by Del Monte and Costa (1597); “Invigorating the Dark Shades” discusses his portraits, although only a few still exist; “The Sacred and the Tragic Between Rome and Naples” begins with his commissions for San Luigi dei Francesi, where he used chiaroscuro lighting for the first time, and represents a watershed in his production because from then on, Caravaggio would focus almost exclusively on religious subjects; and “End Game” includes 00 JULY-AUGUST 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN 77

Of Books, Art and People the works he painted after he Caravaggio’s earliest two left Naples in the summer of canvases painted in Rome, 1607 for Malta, where he both dating to 1596, The Boy was arrested again and again Peeling Fruit and the Young escaped, fleeing first to SiciSick Bacchus; one of The ly and then back to Naples, Musicians (1597); as Holowhere he painted The Borfernes in Judith Beheading ghese Gallery’s St. John the Holofernes (1599-1600) (he Baptist and the Martyrdom painted several versions of of St. Ursula shortly before this scene because, needless his final, tragic journey. to say, Caravaggio was terrified of being beheaded); in The exhibition’s star canvasses are three: The Taking of Christ (1602), — Ecce Homo was paintas Goliath in David with the ed in Naples and taken to Head of Goliath (1606 or Madrid by the wife of vice1609-1610), and in his last roy, Count of Castrillo, at the painting, The Martyrdom of outbreak of the 1609 plague.

St. Ursula (1610), certainly Above right, The Musicians first belonged to Cardinal Del Monte, It was only rediscovered in one of the paintings traveling then to Cardinal Antonio Barberini, and now to The Metropolitan 2021, when a Spanish pri- Museum of Art in New York. The person between the musician and the with him to pay for his parman with his back turned to the viewer is a self-portrait of Caravaggio. vate collector put it up for don and in poor condition (Photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art). auction in Madrid. because its paint was still Attributed to an insignificant artist, the suggested start- wet when he started his journey.

Besides his recurring self-portraits, Caravaggio used the ing bid was 1,500 euro, or about $1,800, but the Spanish government pulled the painting after several Italian dealers same people as his models, usually his drinking mates or and art historians identified the work as a Caravaggio. Af- courtesans, no matter what the painting’s subject.

For example, the protagonists of St. Catherine of ter an extensive restoration, the painting was bought by an anonymous Spanish client who has lent the work long- Alexandria, the woman holding the mirror in Martha and term to the Prado Museum in Madrid, which in turn has Mary Magdalene, and Judith in Judith Beheading Holofernes are the same model, possibly Fillide lent it to “Caravaggio 2025.” This is the first Melandroni, a courtesan from Siena — all time it has returned to Italy. displayed side-by-side for the first time.

— Portrait of Maffei Barberini, also in a In addition, several of his canvases depict private collection in Spain, had never been the same subject (not all displayed in “Cardisplayed in public until a few months ago avaggio 2025”): Boy Peeling Fruit, Lute when it was loaned to the Palazzo Barberini, Player, The Fortune Teller, Supper at Emits original home, which is presently negotimaus, David and Goliath, St. Francis of Asating to buy it. sisi and St. Jerome.

— The Conversion of Saul was commisHere, for example, are three paintings of sioned (1604-05) soon after Caravaggio’s St. John the Baptist that have never before cycle of works dedicated to Saint Matthew been displayed together. in San Luigi dei Francesi. This commission Not surprisingly, more of Caravaggio’s consisted of two paintings for the Cerasi many paintings are permanently displayed Chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo. Caravagin Rome than in any other city in the world. gio’s first versions of the Crucifixion of Peter and the Conversion of Saul were rejected Portrait of Maffeo Barberini, who In addition to the Villa Borghese’s three, the Pope Urban VIII in 1623.

Doria Pamphili Gallery has two not on loan because they were painted while the chapel became (Photo credit: Private Collection).

— not to omit the several in Rome’s churchwas under construction and the canvases es: San Luigi dei Francesi, Santa Maria del Popolo, and were too big for the space allotted to them.

Thus, Caravaggio repainted them both. The first version Sant’Agostino, which are not exhibited in “Caravaggio 2025” because they are easily accessible in situ. of the Crucifixion was lost.

Visitors to “Caravaggio 2025” will be able to get tickets But the first version of the Conversion is on loan from a private collection in Rome. It’s painted on a very large cy- on weekends to see his only known fresco (1597). Located press panel (237x189 cm), so far more precious than the a short walk away in the Casino Bomcompagni Ludoviso, first owned by Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte, it decanvas version in the Cerasi Chapel.

Also noteworthy is the fact that many of Caravaggio’s picts Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto. m paintings contain his self-portrait, sometimes alone, but more frequently as part of the scene. It appears alone in 00 78 INSIDE THE VATICAN JULY-AUGUST 2025

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