In his first official address to the Roman Catholic cardinals, Pope Leo XIV said on Saturday that he would continue the work of Pope Francis to direct the church in a more missionary direction, with greater cooperation between church leaders and proximity to the marginalized.
Leo said he was determined to follow a modernization path and cited a major document that Francis published in 2013. From this document, Leo underlined several objectives, including “growth of collegiality”, “popular piety”, “affectionate care at least and least” and “courageous and confident dialogue with the contemporary world”.
“Francis stated it masterfully and concretely,” said Leo, referring to the document, Called “Evangelii Gaudium”.
The new Pope also explained the choice of his name. The previous pope with his name, Leo XIII, published a document entitled “Rerum Novarum”, known in English under the name of “Rights and duties of capital and labor”, at the end of the 19th century when he stressed the right of the Church to make affirmations on social issues as they related to moral questions.
The document “addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution”, explained Leo.
Now added the Pope, another industrial revolution took place in the field of artificial intelligence. That, he said, “would pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and work”.
The Church, he said, “offers everyone the treasure of its social education in response.”
The reference to Francis’s document was not the only approval that the new Pope gave his predecessor. Francis, noted Leo, was a “humble servant of God and his brothers and sisters” who gave an “example of a complete dedication to the sober service and simplicity of life”.
After the Pope’s address, some of the cardinals also made speeches. Dominik Duka, Cardinal de Prague, said that the subject of certain speeches was the theme of “synodality” – referring to the process of dialogue between church chiefs and lay people who was one of the signature inheritances of Pope Francis.
Cardinal Duka said he was also mentioned Vatican relations with China. During its papacy, Francis concluded an agreement with Beijing in the hope of strengthening the presence of the church there.
The cardinals seemed to have noted the message on the maintenance of the direction defined by the Papacy of Francis.
Leaving the meeting, Cardinal Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo from Venezuela said that the pope “was talking about the continuity of François’s pontificate, then he asked us questions.” These questions concerned “mainly the training of priests and bishops,” added the cardinal.
Leaving the meeting, Cardinal Sean Brady of Ireland said that Leo was “greeting everyone now, which is very pleasant”.
On Saturday, after the meeting, Leo made an unexpected visit to Notre-Dame of good advice in Genazzano, an Augustin sanctuary outside Rome. An enthusiastic crowd praised him by leaving the passenger headquarters of a black mini-dinner. City residents windows To take a picture of the pope while Leo hugged his hand and beckoned to those who gathered.
Jason Horowitz And Elizabeth Dias Contributed reports of the Vatican City.
