Who are Léon XIII and Léon-le-Grand, the references of the brand new Pope Léon XIV? | EUROtoday

PArmi The robust indicators despatched with the election of Robert Prevost, there’s an important one: his pontifical surname. It is a part of the continuity of a pope who marked the historical past of the church on the finish of the nineteenth century: Léon XIII.

At his election in 1878, after the lengthy hold forth of Pius IX, the Italian Vincenzo Pecci was then unknown to the curia, and, of fragile well being, it was thought that his reign was going to final shortly. Which was not the case. On the opposite. He lasted twenty-five years, and was probably the most fruitful within the historical past of the papacy.

As the American Jesuit historian notes John O’malley (who died in 2022), in his formidable work “A History of the Popes” (Lessius), “he presided over the extraordinary expansion of the Church outside Europe” and his hold forth “was above all remarkable because of the large number of encyclics he produced: 75 for a reign of three years, ».

Léon XIII, a popular pope

Among these, a major, who relates to the working-class condition-until then, the popes were focusing on the agrarian condition-and will fix until today the social doctrine of the Church. This text is named Rerum novarum.

“It is an extended encyclical that reaffirms the condemnation of socialism and communism,” emphasizes John O’malley. The tone is nevertheless serene and posed. The letter insists that the Church cares not only about salvation but also the well-being of each in this world, these two aspects of human life cannot be dissociated. She proclaims that private property is a natural right as well as that of the worker to a fair salary and human working conditions. However, the right to property cannot flout the common, and remarkable good is the support expressed in the encyclical to the law of association of workers with a view to obtaining and guaranteeing their rights ”.

From Pius XI to François – with the exception of Pius XII and Benoît XVI – the text will be a model, even if at the time, it shakes many Catholics. Like another initiative by Léon XIII known as “rallying”, namely the adhesion of French Catholics to the Third Republic, “solely means, underlines our historian, to unravel unjust legal guidelines towards Catholics”. Léon XIII was nevertheless a popular pope, whose photographic portrait began to decorate Catholic establishments, and many private houses.

A reference to Léon le Grand

Note that, since the new Pope Leo XIV, a Augustinian religious, has a theologian profile, that his 19th century predecessor also published an encyclical who marked, “Aeterni Patris”, encouraging the study and philosophy of Aquumas of Aquinas, he is also the pope who will have raised to the rank of Cardinal the great English theologian John Henry Newman politicians.

Read too The 12 work of Pope Leon XIV
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But within the selection of Robert Prévost to be referred to as Léon XIV, there’s additionally one other reference which has not escaped the sagacity of the eminent Vaticanist Giovanni Maria Vian. “He refers to Leon the Great, the only pope to be called with Grégoire le Grand,” mentioned Point The historian, former director of the Romano Osservatore. He was the Grand Pope of Antiquity. He was a superb theologian who was acclaimed by the Orientals on the Council of Chalcedon (451), the fourth Grand Council of Antiquity. In the top, the individuals mentioned: “The apostle stone spoke through Leon’s mouth”. He is a pope whose preaching we hold, 100, a lot they have been outstanding, written in a wonderful Latin. ”

Reference to be studied carefully to present the attitude to the hold forth which opens on this 12 months 2025. “Because Léon le Grand, continues Giovanni Maria Vian, was also a very political pope who faced attracting and prevented that he devastated Rome. It is an important metaphor since Leon XIV will have to confront the new dominators of our contemporary world ”.