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By choosing his papal name, Robert Francis Prevost had already claimed Leo XIII’s social legacy.
On the very day of his election, the Holy See explained that this choice underscored the modern Church’s need to respond to societal transformations in the age of artificial intelligence.
A lifeline for the Augustinians
However, the connection uniting Pope Leo XIV with his distant predecessor goes far beyond Rerum Novarum. As a former prior general of the Order of St. Augustine (OSA), the new pontiff knows the essential role Leo XIII played in reviving his religious family.
By the late 19th century, the order was dying out. It had been banned in France after the Revolution, and in Italy during the Risorgimento, which ended in 1870 with the capture of Rome.
In Paris, the old convents were soon reduced to mere street and plaza names — like the Rue des Grands-Augustins and Place des Petits-Pères — or converted buildings, such as the National School of Fine Arts.
The same was true in Italy’s new capital, where the Angelica Library, a cultural treasure of the Augustinians, was turned into a state library.
Witnessing this collapse, Leo XIII personally took matters into his own hands. He recalled Father Anthony Pacifico Neno from the United States, entrusting him with the leadership and reform of the order.
The Pope also ordered the construction of a new general curia, which still stands just steps from the Vatican, significantly boosting the institution’s global reach.
Restoring Augustinian shrines
Leo XIII also worked to restore several major shrines managed by the Augustinians. This included the shrine in his hometown of Carpineto Romano, where he funded the construction of a new convent out of his own pocket. Today, it serves as the order’s novitiate.
He also financed renovations at the Basilica of San Pietro in Ciel d’Oro in Pavia, which houses the tomb of St. Augustine. Pope Leo XIV has just visited this basilica, last Saturday, June 20.
Interestingly, his predecessor supported the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Genazzano. In the book De Roberto a León ("From Robert to Leo"), by Armando Jesús Lovera Vásquez (a close friend of the Pope from his days in Peru), Robert Prevost became devoted to Our Lady of Good Counsel starting in his first years as an Augustinian. "His province had her as its patroness. The image accompanied him always," Lovera writes.
Seemingly in confirmation of this, Leo XIV chose this shrine in Genezzano for his first trip outside Rome on Saturday, May 10, 2025. In fact, he had visited it already in 2001 after his election as prior general of the Augustinians.
There is also an image of Our Lady of Good Counsel in the Pauline Chapel, which played an important part in the ceremonies opening the conclave in 2025. The name of Leo XIII, who had the image placed there, appears below it.
Leo XIII’s work for this spiritual family didn’t stop there. He canonized two major figures of the order: St. Clare of Montefalco in 1881, and St. Rita of Cascia in 1900. Furthermore, he elevated several Augustinians to the College of Cardinals.
This included Cardinal Sebastiano Martinelli, who, much like Leo XIV, served as the order’s prior general before becoming the apostolic delegate to the United States from 1896 to 1902.
The creation of this delegation — with the first delegate appointed just three years prior — marked a massive diplomatic leap forward in relations between the Holy See and Washington, D.C. However, these relations were not formally established until 1984.
A shared love for America and Newman
Leo XIII took a special interest in his successor’s home country. His pontificate was notably marked by the “Americanism” crisis, a theological drift that the Pope firmly combated.
He also published an encyclical specifically dedicated to the Church across the Atlantic, Longinqua Oceani. In it, he praised the fervor of American Catholics and the respect for the Church’s freedom guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
Leo XIII also created another important cardinal: John Henry Newman, an Anglican convert to Catholicism who had previously been viewed with great suspicion in Rome.
“My cardinal,” the Italian pope used to say, emphasizing his admiration for the man who became one of the inspirations for his pontificate.
On November 1 of last year, Leo XIV declared St. John Henry Newman a Doctor of the Church, confirming his predecessor’s personal convictions. He also named the Englishman the co-patron of the Church’s educational mission.
The missionary connection
In De Roberto a León, Armando Jesús Lovera Vásquez points to another connection: Leo XIII supported the Augustinians in their missionary efforts.
In fact, it was Leo XIII who entrusted the evangelization of northern Peru to the Augustinians in the early 20th century, establishing the apostolic prefecture of Saint Leo of the Amazon.
United by the Rosary
Finally, Leo XIII is sometimes called the “Pope of the Rosary” because he was such a zealous promoter of this popular devotion, dedicating 11 encyclicals to it.
The pontiff found an important ally in Italy in the person of St. Bartolo Longo, founder of the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompei, whom he protected and encouraged.
Pope Leo XIV was elected on May 8, the day of the Supplication to Our Lady of Pompeii, a major popular solemnity established by St. Bartolo.
It was a coincidence the new pope made sure to point out during his very first public address. So it was once again in the footsteps of Leo XIII that he decided to visit Pompeii on Friday, May 8, to commemorate the first anniversary of his pontificate.