A month has passed since we received the gift of a new Pope on May 8th.
Under the name Leo XIV, Robert Prevost assumed the responsibility of continuing a long-standing and tension-filled legacy, as well as being a model for Christians of our time.
A man, like all of us, is called to holiness.
Since that day, he has been advancing cautiously but resolutely through the corridors of the Apostolic Palace and the headquarters of the various ministries, learning, understanding, reflecting, and praying.
His discernment has already been tracing some clues that give us an idea of his spiritual and pastoral journey, although still in a very incipient way.
At least, we can outline three central themes:
Overcoming Fear
He said it in his inaugural message: “Do not be afraid.” He, like Jesus to his disciples the night the storm raged on the Sea of Galilee, invites us to overcome fear, and I say overcome because not having it seems impossible.
Our humanity, made of clay, is fragile, and fragility frightens, for it confronts us with the possibility of nonexistence and the profound and irreversible impact of materiality.
However, knowing that, despite fear, we can continue because it is overcome by the All-Powerful, not only consoles but strengthens us, in fact, to overcome it.
Pope Leo XIV is not naive about the events of today’s fractured world, nor about the difficulties that exist in human relationships, from the micro-levels of relationships to global geopolitics.
However, he invites us to overcome the fear of overcoming our differences, of finding one another even if we believe ourselves to be opposites, the fear of stepping outside our everyday lives and allowing ourselves to be disturbed by the reality that imposes itself, of abandoning our certainties and trusting.
What conquers fear is trust, not a blind and snatched trust, but rather one that is formed in silence and prayer, and with the absolute certainty that Another awaits us and cares for us.
There will be many moments when fear appears in our lives. Avoiding it does not lead to a healthy attitude.
Instead, facing it head-on, recognizing it, and not letting it paralyze us, but rather continuing to move forward with it, is the invitation to inhabit the world we have today and to do so with compassion and courage.
Peace as conviction, not as an itinerary
In addition to the powerful initial message about not being afraid, the invitation to Peace is something very important because, when he calls us to let Peace be with each one of us, Leo XIV does not think of a Peace that will come unexpectedly one day among many, but rather to walk a path that begins within and is translated on the outside.
Making peace a part of us means investing in it and taking ownership of it, not letting anything or anyone take it away from us.
It means fighting for it, which often involves battling our own inner demons rather than those of others.
Peace, then, is not an ideal or a goal; it is an internal path that cleanses and liberates, but it requires commitment and perseverance.
Peace, then, is not something negotiable; it is not something that is or will be on sale; it is something worth giving one’s life for, and something we cannot allow to be broken, nor can we wait for someone else to give it to us or build it overnight.
Making and striving for peace to be a part of each person means delving into reality and allowing ourselves to be affected by it, but then returning to the Cross and to shared prayer among brothers and sisters.
It’s not about forgetting differences, but about turning them into a source of enrichment. It’s not about letting them go by, but about addressing what is pressing. It’s not about letting things cool down, but about nourishing them through charity and fraternity.
Peace for Leo XV is more than an agenda, it’s a conviction.
Building community
We have already seen him go out “spontaneously” to visit his fellow community members and celebrate Holy Mass with them, then eat with them.
This gesture, though small and seemingly “expected,” speaks volumes. It speaks to the importance of building community.
Community is that place from which one begins and where one arrives, where one can be oneself and, at the same time, allow oneself to be shaped by others, where sharing is the most effective form of organization, and where the spirit of fraternity is lived most intensely through daily coexistence.
Just as Francis invited us to create a Church where everyone fits in, Leo XIV invites us to create a community where everyone can be as they are and be loved in their uniqueness and, at the same time, have enough space and freedom to respond with freedom and generosity to what God asks and wants of them.
A community that suffocates its members is not a community, nor is one that allows so much laxity where there is no spirit of care and mutual support.
As where there is room for all, we must know how to be and build community by sharing and supporting one another, in our strengths and weaknesses, as brothers and sisters.
There is still much to be done, led by a Pope who came from a place where poverty is understood as a scourge, but also as a place that gives truth.
Let us trust that, through him, new personal and communal paths will be forged to interpret the signs of the times in a key of hope.