The pope's roles as a teacher and preacher, as a promoter of peace and as the chief servant of Christian unity are seen clearly in the life and work of St. Leo the Great, Pope Benedict XVI said.The saint, who served as Pope Leo I from 440 to 461, was "one of the greatest popes that ever honored the Roman see, contributing much to reinforcing its authority and prestige," Pope Benedict said.
The pope spoke about St. Leo during his March 5 general audience at the Vatican.
He said that the earliest examples of papal homilies and preaching that exist today are from St. Leo, and they give a picture of a pope "who gathered the people around him."
"One spontaneously thinks of him in the context of the current weekly general audiences on Wednesdays, appointments that in the past decades have become for the bishop of Rome a customary form for encountering the faithful and many visitors coming from every part of the world," he said.
St. Leo's efforts to protect the people of Rome from barbarian invasions, particularly his famous meeting with Attila the Hun in 452 to persuade him not to destroy Rome, "increased the importance and prestige of the see of Rome," the pope said.
The meeting with Attila, he said, "remains an emblematic sign of the actions on behalf of peace undertaken by the pontiff."
His efforts to promote peace, to feed the people of Rome at a time of famine and to care for the thousands of refugees who sought safety in the city demonstrate how faith in Christ becomes concrete "in actions for peace and love for one's neighbor," the pope said.
He also said the pope saw his role as the bishop of Rome as carrying a serious responsibility for promoting the unity of all Christians.
"He was an untiring supporter and promoter of the primacy" of the bishop of Rome, "proposing himself as the authentic heir of the apostle Peter," a position recognized by the majority of the bishops participating in the Council of Chalcedon in 451, Pope Benedict said.
In the face of serious heresies, particularly those dealing with the identity of Christ, St. Leo's interventions demonstrated "how the pope saw with particular urgency the responsibilities of the successor of Peter whose role is unique in the church," he said.
"The pope knew how to exercise this responsibility in the West as well as the East, intervening in various circumstances with prudence, firmness and lucidity," he said.
"In this way, he demonstrated how the exercise of the Roman primacy was as necessary then as it is today" to promote unity effectively, the pope said.
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