WE HAVE ENTERED A NEW ERA .... A NEW ERA!! I will share from time to time, videos that speaks to my heart as I come across them ..Hope you and I can contemplate their meaning for us today ...
Thursday, May 8, 2025
Who is POPE LEO XIV & How Will He CHANGE the CHURCH?
.
..
The world watched as white smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel—announcing the election of a new pope: Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost. But who is he really? In this deep and reflective documentary, we explore his inspiring journey—from the streets of Chicago to the missions of Peru, and finally to the heart of the Vatican. Discover the quiet strength, spiritual depth, and powerful vision shaping the future of the Catholic Church under Pope Leo XIV. What does he believe? What does he hope for the Church? And why are so many calling his papacy a return to the essentials of faith?
as the sun dipped behind the dome of St Peter's Basilica on the evening of May 8th 2025 a quiet anticipation gripped
0:08
the thousands gathered in Vatican City All eyes were fixed on the narrow chimney protruding from the Systeine
0:14
Chapel For hours the world had watched and waited Then with no announcement
0:20
only smoke the message was clear A white plume rose into the sky curling upward
0:25
in the fading light The cardinals had decided A new pope had been chosen
0:30
Moments later the great bells of St Peter's rang out their sound cascading over the rooftops of Rome like a wave of
0:38
revelation And soon after a figure stepped onto the balcony clothed in white hands steady eyes calm The name
0:45
that followed took many by surprise Robert Francis Provost An American a
0:51
missionary a scholar a man little known to the general public but deeply
0:56
respected within the church From that moment on he would be called Leo I 14th Born on September 14th 1955
1:05
in Chicago Illinois Robert Provost grew up in a city known for its vibrant Catholic communities and long immigrant
1:12
traditions He was raised in a workingclass neighborhood the son of a devout family that prioritized faith
1:19
discipline and service Even as a child he was drawn to the quiet sanctity of
1:24
the church captivated by the sense of mystery and mission it carried His vocation did not arise suddenly It
1:31
unfolded like the slow turn of a page through years of study reflection and
1:36
personal surrender After joining the Augustinian order a path dedicated to communal life and teaching Pvost pursued
1:43
higher theological education in Rome But it was in Peru far from the comfort of
1:49
academic halls and familiar streets that his pastoral identity was shaped He
1:54
spent decades living among the poor and the marginalized serving as a missionary in a region marked by both spiritual
2:00
hunger and economic hardship In the dusty towns of northern Peru he did not
2:06
just preach the gospel he lived it He taught healed listened and led His
2:11
fluency in Spanish and deep cultural sensitivity allowed him to build lasting trust within communities often
2:18
overlooked by the institutional church Over time Pvost rose quietly through the
2:23
ranks known more for his integrity than ambition In 2014 he was appointed bishop
2:29
of Chichlio a DOC's in northern Peru There he became known not for lofty
2:34
pronouncements but for walking alongside his people visiting parishes by foot sitting with grieving families
2:41
advocating for the poor His leadership was marked by humility but also by
2:46
courage He was unafraid to confront corruption or speak plainly when truth was needed In 2023 Pope Francis
2:54
recognized his gift for leadership and theological balance calling him back to Rome to serve as prefect of the
3:00
dicastery for bishops one of the most influential positions in the Vatican As head of the office responsible for
3:07
choosing bishops around the world Provost became a gatekeeper of pastoral integrity His decisions often reflected
3:14
a preference for shepherds who were close to their people spiritually grounded and doctrinally sound not
3:20
political figures but servants Still despite this powerful role Provost kept
3:26
a remarkably low profile He rarely gave interviews and was seldom in the media
3:31
spotlight His strength lay in quiet discernment and a deep prayer life qualities that stood out even more as
3:37
the church entered a time of transition after the death of Pope Francis When the
3:43
conclave began his name was not among the most frequently mentioned by journalists Yet within the walls of the
3:49
cyine chapel where the future of the church is decided through prayer silence and deliberation his name began to echo
3:56
with growing clarity For many cardinals Pvost represented continuity without rigidity Someone who could uphold the
4:03
reforms of Pope Francis while restoring a sense of spiritual depth and moral clarity to the papacy His American
4:11
background was less important than his global experience He had lived far from centers of power and had served where
4:18
faith is tested not by debate but by poverty injustice and spiritual despair
4:24
When he emerged on the balcony of St Peter there was a moment of collective awe Leo I 14th a name that had not been
4:32
used in centuries The choice was not accidental The last pope to bear that
4:37
name Leo Roman 13 was a reformer and philosopher a man who sought to bridge
4:42
tradition and modernity who defended the rights of workers while calling the church to intellectual renewal In
4:49
choosing the name Leo Roman 14 Provost signaled a desire to continue that same spirit fidelity to doctrine openness to
4:57
dialogue and a deep care for the human soul From his first words it was clear
5:02
that this would be a papacy shaped less by spectacle and more by substance He
5:08
did not begin with bold declarations Instead he asked for prayers He bowed And in that moment the
5:15
crowds did not see a ruler They saw a shepherd A man who had spent his life in service now called to serve in the
5:22
greatest role of all The world took notice Not only because Leo Roman 14 was
5:28
the first American pope in history but because of what he represented a return to quiet authority pastoral wisdom and a
5:36
deep sense of mission For many Catholics especially in regions where faith is
5:41
growing and communities face serious challenges his election was not just symbolic it was providential A pope from
5:48
the Americas who understood the pain of the margins the importance of listening and the quiet strength of holiness And
5:55
yet for all the headlines and historic firsts Leo Roman 14 remains deeply
6:00
grounded He has spoken of the papacy not as a throne but as a cross not as power
6:06
but as responsibility His vision for the church is rooted in scripture forged in
6:12
the crucible of missionary life and refined by years of discernment in the heart of the Vatican The journey ahead
6:18
will not be easy but in the eyes of many the church has found a leader who will walk it faithfully step by step with
6:26
prayer patience and a steady hand The first days of a new papacy are always thick with symbolism Every gesture every
6:34
word every silence is interpreted through the lens of history and expectation But for Pope Leo Roman 14
6:41
there was no rush to define his reign with bold proclamations Instead he chose to begin quietly true
6:48
to the life he had always lived Behind the grand marble corridors of the apostolic palace a simple man was
6:54
unpacking few belongings A well-worn brevery a rosary that had passed through
7:00
his hands thousands of times and a collection of handwritten letters from his time in Peru notes from parishioners
7:07
school children and lay leaders reminders of the church that formed him far from Rome's splendor The man who
7:13
once walked the dirt roads of Chiklio now walked the polished halls of the Vatican But his steps had not changed
7:20
His posture remained bowed in prayer Inside the Doma Sancti Mari the Vatican
7:26
guest house where he chose to continue living instead of moving into the papal apartments He continued his early
7:31
morning rhythm He would rise long before dawn not to prepare speeches or study
7:37
diplomatic briefs but to pray alone in the small chapel where candle light
7:42
flickered and silence rained There the new pontiff would kneel not as a public
7:47
figure but as a son of the church entrusting the immense burden now resting on his shoulders to the Lord he
7:53
had served all his life Those who encountered him in these early days remarked on a striking presence not
7:59
commanding in volume but in stillness His voice was soft but carried a weight
8:04
that made listeners pause His eyes though tired were attentive In meetings
8:10
with Vatican officials he listened more than he spoke He asked questions no one expected Not about administration or
8:18
statistics but about people about forgotten deioes about seminary
8:23
formation in war torn regions about how the church could remain close to the wounded the poor the unseen One of his
8:31
first private audiences was not with a head of state or a world leader but with a group of disabled pilgrims from Latin
8:38
America When he stepped into the room he did not go to the podium He knelt beside
8:43
a young boy in a wheelchair placed his hand on the child's shoulder and smiled
8:48
No photos were taken No headlines followed But for those present it was a
8:54
moment that said everything Observers from across the globe soon began drawing comparisons between Leo Roman 14 and his
9:02
predecessor While Pope Francis had often spoken off the cuff with a pastoral spontaneity Leo Roman 14 carried himself
9:09
with contemplative restraint His words were carefully chosen sometimes even
9:14
poetic but always anchored in scripture His approach was not flashy but firm He
9:20
did not aim to inspire through novelty but through depth The choice of his first public message set the tone Rather
9:28
than addressing politics economics or even church reforms he reflected on the gospel of the day The story of the
9:35
disciples on the road to Imos two followers walking in grief uncertain of what comes next until a stranger joins
9:42
them breaking open the scriptures and their hearts For Leo this story was not
9:47
just biblical it was prophetic The church he said is walking through an mouse moment disoriented divided weighed
9:56
down by scandal confusion and fatigue But the answer he insisted was not in
10:01
strategies or slogans It was in walking with Christ again In rediscovering the
10:07
scriptures in breaking bread together in letting the fire of faith be rekindled
10:12
not by force but by encounter This message resonated deeply Across
10:18
continents bishops and lay people alike heard in his words "A call to return to the essentials prayer scripture
10:26
sacrament silence and service not as nostalgic ideals but as living realities
10:32
Yet behind this spiritual clarity was also a man deeply attuned to the challenges of the modern world Leo Roman
10:40
14 was no stranger to complexity During his time as prefect of the dicastery for
10:45
bishops he had seen firsthand how polarizations both inside and outside the church threatened to reduce theology
10:52
to ideology and disciplehip to division He had quietly worked to appoint leaders
10:57
who could rise above factionalism men and women who could build bridges without compromising truth
11:04
Now as pope he carried that same vision He did not pretend that unity could be
11:09
achieved easily But he believed it could be pursued faithfully In his own words
11:15
"The church is not called to be a fortress nor a battlefield She is called to be a home a place of conversion of
11:23
courage and of communion To many it was this balance that made Leo Zivs leadership so compelling
11:30
He was not naive about the threats facing the church be they secularism abuse scandals or doctrinal confusion
11:38
But neither was he cynical He believed in the enduring power of grace And he
11:43
believed that the renewal the church longed for would not come through power struggles but through holiness Within
11:49
weeks of his election he began meeting with theologians missionaries and lay leaders from parts of the world often
11:55
overlooked in church planning From the Congo to Cambodia from remote Alaskan
12:01
parishes to Syrian refugee camps he wanted to hear the voices of those living at the edge These weren't just
12:07
symbolic meetings they were foundational For Leo Roman 14 the peripheries were
12:13
not marginal they were central He often repeated a line he once preached in Peru
12:18
The edge of the church is the heart of Christ His emphasis on listening extended even to the youth In a private
12:26
encounter with a group of young Catholics he asked no questions about social media trends or church attendance
12:32
stats Instead he looked at them and simply asked "Where do you feel seen
12:38
Where do you feel lost And how can we walk together?" It was a question that caught them off guard but one that
12:45
stayed with them long after the meeting ended In the months to come Leo Roman 14
12:50
would begin to chart the direction of his papacy more clearly But those first few weeks marked by silence presence and
12:57
deep reflection were already speaking louder than any policy document They were revealing the heart of a man who
13:04
believed that the strength of the church would not be found in asserting itself more loudly but in becoming more
13:09
faithful As the dust of the conclave settled and the cameras turned to other headlines something quieter began to
13:16
unfold something less visible but far more enduring Pope Leo Roman 14 still in
13:22
his early days as bishop of Rome was preparing to offer his first major public address to the world The moment
13:29
would not come in a stadium or during a major global event Instead it would
13:34
arrive during the Regina Kali the traditional Sunday reflection and prayer offered from the window of the apostolic
13:40
palace overlooking the faithful gathered in St Peter's Square There was a quiet intensity in the air that day It was his
13:48
first appearance in this role since his election a moment when the eyes of Catholics skeptics and journalists alike
13:54
turned toward the Vatican wondering what kind of message this new pope would offer Would he address the church's
14:01
political standing Would he speak of social unrest or perhaps global tensions
14:07
But when Pope Leo Roman 14 stepped forward there was no grand performance
14:12
no dramatic buildup only the gospel a reflection and the gentle rhythm of
14:17
prayer He spoke softly but clearly meditating on the words of Christ after the resurrection Peace be with you For
14:25
Leo Roman 14 these words were not a polite greeting They were a mission He
14:30
explained that true peace cannot be manufactured by governments enforced by law or bought by comfort It is the fruit
14:37
of reconciliation of humility of mercy extended even when it is undeserved If
14:43
the church is not a place of peace he said then it is not yet the church of the risen Christ In just a few minutes
14:51
without naming any controversies or political events he had delivered a spiritual reset He was not calling for
14:58
the church to withdraw from the world but to re-enter it with a different posture Not as a defender of ideology
15:05
but as a witness of mercy not as a judge but as a healer This tone began to
15:10
define his papacy early on He saw the church not as an institution in crisis
15:16
but as a family in need of healing and healing he knew would take time It would
15:21
take truth spoken in love It would take bishops who listened parishes that welcomed and families who forgave one
15:29
another That first address was not filled with commands It was an invitation And like so many invitations
15:35
in the gospel it came quietly Yet with the full weight of heaven behind it In the days that followed the ripples of
15:42
his words began to spread across deoses and religious orders His pastoral tone
15:48
resonated A bishop in Southeast Asia described the message as a mirror to our
15:53
conscience A missionary in Angola called it a call to begin again Even in regions
16:00
where Catholicism had waned media outlets took note not because he had said something controversial but because
16:06
he had not In a world that often rewards provocation his restraint was
16:11
revolutionary But that did not mean he avoided difficult truths In a private meeting with members of the Roman Curia
16:18
shortly after that first address Pope Leo Roman 14 spoke with rare clarity He
16:24
reminded them that service in the church is not a privilege but a responsibility that titles mean little in the eyes of
16:31
God That credibility is not built through strategies but through personal holiness and institutional
16:38
transparency Those present described the meeting not as harsh but deeply convicting He spoke not to shame but to
16:45
awaken He continued this pattern in every setting In each audience each
16:50
speech he avoided extremes He did not lean left or right but upward His words
16:56
often echoed the writings of the early church fathers clear firm but never cruel He frequently quoted St Augustine
17:04
reminding the faithful that the truth is like a lion You don't have to defend it
17:09
Let it loose It will defend itself But he also quoted modern saints like Mother
17:15
Teresa and Pope John Paulman too Weaving a tapestry of tradition that felt both
17:20
rooted and relevant His decision to make his first apostolic trip as Pope a visit
17:25
to a refugee community outside Rome shocked some observers Many expected a
17:30
global tour A symbolic journey to a prominent Catholic country But Leo Roman
17:36
14 chose instead to begin with the forgotten He visited a humble center run by a small group of nuns and lay
17:43
volunteers who cared for displaced families from North Africa and the Middle East There were no press
17:50
conferences no diplomatic entouragees He arrived quietly sat with mothers holding
17:55
infants listened to teenagers who had lost their parents at sea and prayed silently with men who had no home When
18:03
asked later why he chose this place he simply said "Because Christ lives here."
18:08
For him the margins were not detours from papal responsibility They were the road itself He saw every human being not
18:16
as a category but as a reflection of God And it was this conviction that began to
18:21
redefine how people saw him not just as the head of a global church but as a man bearing witness to something deeper Soon
18:29
Catholic media began calling his papacy a slow revolution a quiet turning back
18:34
toward holiness clarity and depth He was not dismantling tradition nor was he
18:40
clinging to it in fear He was living it In one interview a theologian remarked
18:46
"Leo Roman 14 doesn't shout." He echoes As months passed Leo Roman 14 began
18:52
gathering a team of spiritual advisers not celebrities or political players but men and women who had spent decades in
18:59
monastic life missionary work and contemplative prayer He often invited
19:05
them to dine with him in simple surroundings asking their thoughts on how the church could become more
19:10
eucharistic not just in liturgy but in lifestyle What if he asked them our
19:16
daily actions mirrored the humility of the host It was this kind of thinking that slowly began shaping a new
19:22
atmosphere within the Vatican Less spectacle more silence less noise more
19:29
discernment The world continued to spin Crises continued to rise but within the
19:34
heart of Rome something steadier was taking root A leadership not built on headlines but on hope And so in the eyes
19:42
of millions a question quietly emerged Could Leo Roman 14 be the pope not of
19:48
eras but of essence Not one who defined his time by what he opposed but by what
19:53
he revealed A church not reacting to chaos but rediscovering its center That
19:59
journey was only beginning and the world perhaps without realizing it was beginning to follow Within the first 100
20:06
days of his papacy Pope Leo Roman 14 had already begun to reshape the heart of church leadership not with sweeping
20:13
edicts but through a subtle return to the roots of disciplehip He did not call
20:18
for structural revolutions He called for spiritual renewal And it began not with
20:24
the faithful in the pews but with the shepherds themselves In private meetings with bishops and cardinals Pope Leo
20:31
Roman 14 made one thing unmistakably clear Holiness must return to the center
20:36
of authority The church he said does not need more managers It needs fathers men
20:43
of silence integrity and sacrifice who carry the smell of their flocks not the scent of ambition These were not harsh
20:51
words but they were unshakable He spoke them as one who had lived among the poor
20:56
who had washed the feet of prisoners who had broken bread not at banquetss but in village chapels with leaking roofs To
21:03
begin this renewal Leo Roman 14 initiated what he called spiritual audits not of dios and finances or
21:10
building projects but of formation houses and seminaries He invited trusted
21:15
spiritual directors monastics and seasoned missionaries to visit training institutions across the globe Their task
21:22
was not to inspect but to observe What kind of men were being formed Were they
21:28
learning to pray or merely to preach Were they being taught to serve or to control Did they leave their formation
21:35
with burning hearts or only sharpened intellects What these audits revealed was not a crisis of doctrine but of
21:41
depth Too many future priests were being shaped by efficiency performance and
21:47
external success while their interior lives remained neglected And so Leo
21:52
Roman 14 responded with something that stunned many in the curer silence He
21:58
asked every bishop regardless of country or position to personally take part in a retreat of at least 5 days led not by
22:05
administrators or lecturers but by contemplatives The retreat would not focus on church governance public
22:12
speaking or canon law It would focus on the gospels on prayer on the heart of a
22:18
man who must become a shepherd not of systems but of souls The response was mixed Some welcomed it with gratitude
22:27
Others saw it as disruptive but none could ignore it Leo Roman 14 was not
22:33
seeking popularity He was seeking purification In one retreat held at a
22:38
remote Benedictine monastery in Austria a group of bishops were guided through meditations on the wounds of Christ No
22:45
one spoke during meals Phones were left behind There was no access to news or
22:51
emails Only scripture silence and the sound of Gregorian chant drifting through ancient stone halls One
22:59
archbishop later described the experience as the most painful and necessary stripping away he had ever
23:05
undergone I had forgotten he admitted how to simply be with Christ without performing for him That was exactly what
23:13
Pope Leo Roman 14 hoped would happen Not guilt but clarity not institutional
23:20
shame but spiritual awakening He understood that the renewal of the church could never begin with policies
23:26
alone It had to begin with men and women whose hearts had been reentered in the eukarist in the cross in the love of
23:34
Christ that does not seek applause but simply seeks to love in return His approach extended beyond the clergy Leo
23:42
Roman 14 quietly encouraged religious communities to re-examine their charisms not with suspicion but with honesty Were
23:50
they still bearing fruit Were their founding visions alive or preserved only in archives To a group of nuns in
23:57
northern Spain he wrote a personal letter thanking them for their commitment to silence and prayer In a
24:04
world of performance he wrote "Your hiddenness speaks most loudly Do not be
24:09
tempted to become more visible Become more faithful." These kinds of gestures
24:14
simple sincere and theologically rich became a hallmark of his leadership He
24:19
was not interested in centralizing power He was interested in redistributing holiness The center of the church for
24:26
him was not the Vatican It was the tabernacle Wherever Christ was present
24:32
adored and followed that was the center To support this vision Leo quietly launched what insiders called the Mouse
24:40
Project It was not announced at a press conference It had no social media campaign Instead it began with
24:47
handwritten invitations sent to spiritual leaders across continents men and women known not for their visibility
24:54
but for their fidelity Each was asked a question How can the church walk with
24:59
the discouraged today The answers that returned formed a mosaic of witness From
25:04
a hermit in the Scottish Highlands to a catechist in the jungles of Papua New Guinea they spoke of the need for
25:10
accompaniment not strategy They wrote of spiritual fathers and mothers of
25:16
confession lines that had grown long when hearts were truly listened to of communities reborn not through funding
25:23
but through intercession Leo compiled these reflections into a document unlike any recent church publication It was not
25:30
a theological thesis or a dogmatic clarification It was more like a spiritual map a collection of
25:37
testimonies prayers and guidance for a world weary of noise He called it in
25:42
Camino Conristo Walking with Christ And rather than distribute it through bishops conferences he asked that it be
25:49
read aloud in parish communities small groups and even prisons not studied
25:54
academically but shared prayerfully One passage read around the world in dozens
26:00
of languages seemed to capture his entire vision in a single line The church will shine again not when she
26:06
defends herself louder but when she kneels lower This posture began transforming how Catholics both inside
26:14
and outside the church viewed the papacy Leo was not staging a comeback for
26:19
Christendom He was not reviving a golden age He was walking into the present moment with open hands a bowed head and
26:27
eyes fixed on the crucified one And for many that was precisely the leadership the world needed In Dioeses from Manila
26:34
to Madrid bishops began organizing local versions of the retreats encouraged by the Holy Father Young seminarians were
26:42
given access not only to lectures but to spiritual mentors Vocations were no
26:47
longer measured only by enrollment numbers but by depth of character Some feared this slower pace would cost the
26:54
church momentum But Leo reminded them Christ built the church on Peter's faith
27:00
not his efficiency The world Pope Leo Roman 14 inherited is no longer shaped
27:06
merely by books pulpits and town squares It is molded in algorithms trending
27:11
topics and 24-hour screens that never blink From Rome to Rio Manila to
27:17
Montreal human attention is the new currency And in this landscape the church's voice risks being drowned out
27:24
not by persecution but by distraction Yet Leo Roman 14 has not met this
27:29
reality with fear or retreat He has chosen instead to listen and to learn
27:35
One of the earliest signs of his approach came quietly through a simple decision He instructed the Vatican's
27:42
communication office not to rebrand his papacy with slogans or modern marketing
27:47
language There would be no catchy hashtags no logo design with fanfare His
27:53
reasoning was clear The gospel does not need packaging It needs presence But
27:59
presence he knew must still find a way into the digital rhythms of daily life
28:04
And so he began gathering not consultants but missionaries men and women who understood the world of
28:10
screens but also lived in silence and prayer These were not influencers They
28:16
were servants Some ran small Catholic YouTube channels Others created short
28:21
films on the lives of saints One was a cloistered nun who wrote reflections on Instagram from behind monastery walls To
28:29
each of them Leo Roman 14 posed the same question How do we speak to hearts that
28:35
no longer know silence What emerged was not a campaign but a philosophy The
28:41
church must enter the digital world not as a consumer of trends but as a witness to truth Its purpose was not to go viral
28:48
but to go deep The Pope knew that algorithms reward emotion and urgency
28:54
but souls are changed by grace not noise He began encouraging bishops to invest
28:59
in young Catholic creatives not to entertain but to evangelize not to
29:04
perform but to plant seeds One bishop in Ghana used this council to fund a local
29:10
studio where seminarians could create short prayerful videos in native languages A doc's in Poland launched a
29:17
project where teenagers created podcasts on the gospels recorded in their school library with borrowed microphones None
29:24
of it was glamorous But Leo Roman 14 believed such mustard seeds sewn quietly
29:30
would bear fruit in time His vision did not stop with content creation He urged
29:36
every parish to consider its digital doorway as sacred space If someone's first encounter with the church is a
29:43
live stream or a homepage he said "Let it feel like an invitation into something holy not just a bulletin
29:49
board." He insisted that websites should be simple beautiful and focused on
29:55
encounter Not overloaded with information but centered on invitation mass times confession hours pastoral
30:02
care In a world driven by instant updates he challenged Catholic media to slow down Do not be first to speak he
30:10
said Be first to pray He encouraged journalists covering church affairs to
30:15
cultivate interior lives to sit before the tabernacle before sitting before the keyboard He once remarked to a young
30:22
reporter from Argentina If we want to speak the truth in a storm we must first become still He even issued a letter
30:30
specifically for digital missionaries those ordinary lay people creating Catholic blogs reels and posts around
30:37
the world In it he wrote "You are on the front lines of the new Aropagus Do not be
30:43
afraid of your small reach One soul encountered through beauty and truth is a victory for heaven." This pastoral
30:51
attentiveness extended to how he himself engaged with technology While he used
30:56
social platforms sparingly every word he allowed to be posted in his name was treated with the care of a handwritten
31:02
letter No post was approved without prayer No video was released without
31:08
purpose He often quoted St Paul's words I have become all things to all people
31:14
so that by all possible means I might save some But Leo Roman 14 added "We
31:20
must never lose who we are in trying to reach where they are." One of his most memorable digital gestures came
31:27
unexpectedly A short video was released from the Domus Sancti Mafi Chapel Just the Pope kneeling in silence before the
31:34
Eucharist No words spoken for over 5 minutes Nothing moved no soundtrack no
31:41
lighting effects just silence It was watched by millions That one video said
31:46
more than a thousand sermons It reminded the world that stillness is not emptiness and that even in the digital
31:53
space Christ speaks most clearly through quiet presence Beyond the screen Leo
31:58
Roman 14 also encouraged reflection on the ethics of technology In a global
32:04
address streamed live he invited developers engineers and tech leaders to consider the moral responsibilities of
32:11
innovation Do your tools make us more human or less Do they heal or do they
32:16
hollow He asked He did not condemn technology but he pleaded for conscience
32:22
He later called for an annual day of digital Sabbath a time when Catholics
32:27
worldwide would be encouraged to step away from devices for one full day and instead spend time with their families
32:34
the poor the elderly or the lonely It was not a rule but a rhythm and act of
32:39
spiritual resistance against a culture of constant noise In his papal encyclical on evangelization in the
32:46
modern world titled Lux silenti the light of silence he wrote the world is
32:51
full of voices but short of vision The church must learn again to speak not just with her mouth but with her life
32:59
This teaching resonated deeply with young Catholics Many were tired of polarization and spectacle even within
33:06
the church What they longed for was authenticity not performance but
33:11
presence Leo Ziv's digital vision offered a different model It didn't promise clicks It invited conversion His
33:19
careful stewardship of media has since inspired a new wave of initiatives Silent retreats for
33:25
influencers monastic training and filmmaking even apps designed not to track habits but to guide users in
33:33
examine prayers and daily scripture reflection Under his leadership the digital age was not seen as a threat but
33:40
as an uncharted vineyard a place where seeds of holiness could still be planted
33:45
if done with discernment Because in the end Leo Roman 14 believed that even through screens Christ still walks
33:52
beside us waiting to be recognized heartburning in the breaking of the word and the stillness that follows As the
33:59
months unfolded and the initial shock of a new papacy began to settle the world turned its attention to a deeper
34:05
question What future does Pope Leo Roman 14 envision for the Catholic Church He
34:11
never answered this with a grand vision statement or a 5-year strategic plan
34:16
Instead he answered it the same way he lived patiently prayerfully one deliberate word at a time And what began
34:24
to emerge from his homalies his letters and his quiet gestures was not a road map of reforms but something richer a
34:31
prophetic imagination Leo Roman 14 did not speak of rebuilding the church's
34:36
power He spoke of recovering its soul To him the future church would not be the
34:42
largest It would not be the loudest but it must become the most faithful We are
34:48
not called to be admired he once said but to be converted again and again In
34:54
his eyes the church's mission was not to keep up with the world but to stay anchored in Christ and in doing so
35:00
become a beacon for a world a drift One of his core convictions was that the church of the future must be smaller in
35:07
size but deeper in spirit He did not lament the decline in numbers in the West He saw it as an opportunity to
35:15
purify what remains A tree pruned bears fruit he said Let us not fear the
35:21
pruning He believed the church must let go of the temptation to be accepted at all costs Instead it should focus on
35:29
becoming a sign of contradiction again just as Christ was In his private conversations with young priests he
35:36
often urged them not to chase relevance but to cultivate holiness The world does
35:41
not need another opinion he told them It needs witnesses His view of the future
35:47
was marked by three themes Interior renewal ecclesial communion and missionary simplicity Interior renewal
35:55
meant that every baptized Catholic must become serious about personal transformation In one homaly he said
36:02
"The church of tomorrow depends on the hearts we surrender today." He called on the faithful to return to the basics
36:08
daily prayer frequent confession scripture fasting and works of mercy Not
36:14
as pious habits but as lifelines He envisioned a generation of Catholics whose lives were so rooted in Christ
36:21
that even in a hostile world they would not bend The saints of this century he
36:26
said will not be performers They will be hidden torches Ecclesial communion for
36:32
Leo Roman 14 was not about uniformity but unity through love He was deeply
36:38
aware of the ideological divides that fractured deioizes and even religious orders but he refused to take sides in
36:45
cultural wars Instead he kept pointing to the cross We do not win souls by
36:52
conquering debates He warned We win them by laying down our lives He dreamed of a
36:58
church where bishops defended truth boldly but also wept with those in pain
37:03
Where ley were not consumers of religion but collaborators in mission Where theologians did not seek applause but
37:10
insight born in prayer Where parishes did not become event halls but sanctuaries of adoration and healing He
37:18
believed the future of church governance lay not in bureaucracy but in spiritual fatherhood
37:24
The structures of the church he once said will only matter if they protect grace Otherwise they are noise And so he
37:32
began to encourage deoses to simplify to reduce redundant offices to eliminate
37:38
positions that served institutional self-preservation rather than souls In
37:43
one private audience with an overworked bishop he said gently "Your people need a shepherd not a CEO Go visit your sick
37:51
Close the spreadsheet." Missionary simplicity the third pillar of his vision was perhaps the most
37:57
radical Leo Roman 14 dreamed of a church that could move lightly unencumbered by
38:02
prestige free to go where the spirit led He reminded clergy that the first
38:08
apostles carried no bags of gold no policies no plans only sandals scripture
38:14
and fire in their hearts In a world tangled in systems he believed the most powerful thing the church could offer
38:20
was a community that lived differently Not controlled by technology or fame or
38:26
wealth but by love real love The kind that kneels to wash feet the kind that
38:32
visits prisons the kind that adopts the abandoned The kind that walks beside the
38:37
doubting without trying to fix them For him missionary work was no longer about conquering continents It was about
38:45
bringing light into the smallest rooms There is no corner he once whispered during eucharistic adoration where
38:52
Christ does not want to dwell but he waits for us to carry him there He also
38:57
understood that persecution would grow not through violence but through indifference and mockery Yet he never
39:04
encouraged fear Instead he pointed to the early church saying "They had no
39:09
cathedrals no legal protections but they had joy That joy changed the world That
39:16
joy he believed must return To make space for that future Leo Roman 14 began
39:22
calling upon the global church to rembbrace beauty not as luxury but as necessity He insisted that even the
39:29
simplest parish should strive for reverence that the liturgy should never become performance and that sacred music
39:36
should lift the soul A faith that does not sing he said has forgotten it is
39:41
loved And in his quiet way he warned of the danger of a faith reduced to activism or moralism He reminded
39:49
Catholics that their mission was not to fix the world but to love it with the heart of Christ Let our courage be
39:56
eucharistic He said broken offered real The church of the future in his eyes
40:03
would be built not by institutions but by intimacy with God It would be led by
40:08
saints not strategists And it would grow not by force but by fire by small
40:14
communities ablaze with truth and love carrying the gospel like a lantern through the darkness In one of his
40:20
lesserknown writings composed during a retreat before his election he wrote "If
40:25
the church is to survive this century she must learn again how to love as if for the first time not to win not to
40:33
impress but to love and be crucified for it." That in the end is Pope Leo Ziv's
40:39
vision for the church to come Not a church of status but of sanctity Not a
40:45
church admired but a church alive By the end of the first year of his papacy Pope
40:50
Leo I 14th had quietly sparked something few had anticipated a growing movement
40:55
among young people Not through flashy conferences not through massive
41:01
campaigns but through something much rarer authenticity In a world where so much is curated performed and filtered
41:08
the sincerity of Leo the 14th began to echo in places where the church had long been dismissed as irrelevant or distant
41:16
His words did not seek applause They asked questions His presence did not demand attention It invited reflection
41:23
And the youth often mischaracterized as shallow or disengaged began to respond
41:29
It began slowly A small group of university students in Lisbon started gathering once a week to pray the rosary
41:36
not because they were told to but because they felt drawn to the silence that Leo I 14th spoke of so often A
41:43
young seminarian in the Philippines began writing letters to fellow students sharing his reflections on the Pope's
41:49
homalies In Montreal a group of Catholic artists started painting icons inspired
41:55
by the Pope's call to restore beauty in sacred places What connected them was not a program It was a person Pope Leo I
42:04
14th had become a quiet father to a generation searching for something that could not be downloaded Truth that cost
42:10
something In one of his most intimate addresses delivered not from a balcony but in a closed door gathering with
42:16
youth leaders from across the continents he spoke without notes You are not the
42:21
future of the church He said you are her heart right now If the flame does not
42:27
burn in you we will have no tomorrow He did not sugarcoat the challenges He
42:33
acknowledged the wounds many young Catholics carried scandals Hypocrisy A culture that offers everything yet
42:39
satisfies nothing But he didn't offer them entertainment He offered them purpose "You were not made to drift," he
42:47
told them You were made to blaze It was this fire that began to reignite the
42:52
question of vocation not only to the priesthood or religious life but to holiness in every form Suddenly in
42:59
seminaries long burdened by decline new inquiries began arriving Not in
43:05
overwhelming numbers but in sincere thoughtful letters applicants were no longer asking how to climb church ranks
43:12
They were asking how to pray how to live hidden how to love Christ more than
43:18
success In convents across Italy and France postulants began appearing again
43:23
often quiet young women who had first encountered the faith not through catechism but through watching the Holy
43:29
Father kneel before the blessed sacrament with a reverence that said more than any document ever could One
43:35
novice wrote in her journal "I saw in him the man I want to marry but he's already given his heart to Christ so I
43:42
will do the same." Leo I 14th had not launched a vocations campaign He had
43:48
simply lived his and it was contagious To support this new stirring of vocations the pope began revitalizing
43:56
the ancient model of spiritual mentorship He called on bishops to identify not the most eloquent but the
44:02
most holy priests and sisters in their dioceses and to ask them to become mentors available not to lecture but to
44:09
walk with the young You do not teach prayer he told them you show it He also
44:15
revived the practice of lectio deina the slow prayerful reading of scripture as a core habit for anyone discerning their
44:22
path He asked parishes to create quiet spaces where young adults could gather
44:27
not to debate or argue but to read the word of God together in silence with candles lit and hearts open In one DOC's
44:35
in Uganda young people began spending entire nights in adoration taking turns
44:40
through the hours They did not post about it They did not live stream it
44:45
They simply came in shifts and knelt One priest who had nearly left his vocation
44:51
said "I saw these kids kneeling longer than I ever had and I thought what
44:56
excuse do I have left?" Leo I 14th also encouraged communities to tell stories
45:01
again not as entertainment but as testimony He began collecting short handwritten letters from young people
45:08
who had found their callings in unexpected ways and publishing them anonymously in a Vatican bulletin titled
45:14
Vocare In each letter a different path emerged Some to the priesthood some to
45:19
marriage some to consecrated virginity and others to the simple heroic call to be light in a dark profession I was
45:27
going to quit teaching one letter said But I read that the church needs witnesses not just workers So I stayed I
45:35
now begin every class with silent prayer No one stops me and something is
45:41
changing This quiet revolution of purpose began spreading not through promotion but through presence Catholic
45:48
youth groups once reduced to activity nights began integrating the liturgy of the hours Retreats included guided
45:56
silence Confession lines grew not out of obligation but desire And all the while
46:01
Pope Leo I 14th remained the same steady quiet and deeply present to the
46:07
movements of the spirit In a letter addressed to the youth of a distracted world he wrote "You were born into a
46:14
time of noise but do not mistake that for purpose Your hunger is not for
46:19
entertainment It is for eternity You may be tired but Christ is not tired of
46:25
calling you." He understood that young people today are not afraid of challenge
46:30
They are afraid of being lied to And so he never pretended that following Christ would be easy It will cost everything he
46:38
said But you will gain everything Through his example the church was beginning to see that the future is not
46:45
about trends It is about testimony Not about being louder but about being light As vocations quietly
46:52
rose and spiritual fervor began returning in places long thought lost one truth stood clear It was not because
47:00
Leo I 14th demanded it It was because he knelt first As the world watched the
47:05
quiet but steady unfolding of Pope Leo I 14th's papacy one of the most unexpected
47:11
transformations began to take shape not through doctrinal declarations but through bridges built between hearts
47:17
that had long stood divided From the beginning Leo I 14th made it clear that unity was not just an aspiration It was
47:24
a command Before he died he reminded the faithful Christ did not pray for
47:30
influence He prayed that we may be one In an era marked by fragmentation
47:35
political ideological religious Leo the 14th stepped into the breach with a presence that neither compromised nor
47:43
condemned He understood that unity could never mean uniformity and that genuine dialogue did not begin at a microphone
47:50
but in a moment of listening One of his earliest international gestures was a visit to the house of Abraham a
47:56
multiffaith center on the outskirts of Jerusalem where Christians Jews and Muslims gathered not to argue but to
48:03
serve the poor together There was no global press conference no list of
48:09
objectives He arrived quietly removed his shoes at the door and sat with an
48:14
imam and a rabbi at a bare table They shared bread and then silence Later when
48:20
asked what was said during the meeting Leo I 14th replied "We did not speak to
48:25
be heard We sat to be human." It was this disarming humility that allowed him
48:30
to reach across religious boundaries with grace Leaders from Eastern Orthodox
48:35
churches often cautious in dealings with Rome found in him not a negotiator but a
48:41
brother In his first meeting with the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople he did not speak first He asked to pray
48:49
Side by side they recited the Lord's prayer in their native tongues Latin and Greek echoes of a
48:54
unity older than division He would later call this the ache of separated love
49:00
describing the wounds of division not as accusations but as shared grief We have
49:05
been apart too long he said in a homaly at the Basilica of St Paul outside the walls and the world suffers from our
49:13
silence within the Catholic Church itself His call for unity went deeper than structures It touched the soul He
49:20
invited traditionalist communities to meet with him not to be scolded or flattered but to pray together He walked
49:27
with their leaders through old closters speaking in Latin and listening to their fears about the erosion of beauty and
49:34
reverence He did not dismiss them He held their hands and said "There is room
49:39
at this table for your love." Equally he sat with charismatic groups kneeling
49:45
amid spontaneous praise his eyes closed in wordless participation He did not
49:50
tell them to tone it down He only asked "Is Christ the center of your fire?" For
49:56
Leo I 14th it was never about forms It was about fidelity In Rome he gathered
50:01
artists and theologians monks and mothers bishops and barristers inviting them to dream together what a unified
50:08
church might look like not someday but now Let the world see he told them that
50:14
we do not need to agree on every expression to agree on every grace His efforts began to bear fruit not in
50:21
dramatic headlines but in renewed relationships Deiosizes began forming
50:26
twinning projects pairing monasteries with inner city schools rural parishes with immigrant communities Suddenly
50:34
Catholics were rediscovering one another not through conferences but through coffee confession and common meals Leo I
50:41
14th was not building a machine He was healing a family When asked once about
50:47
divisions within the church he responded with a parable A house divided is not
50:52
doomed because it is imperfect It is doomed when it forgets the table where it once ate together Set the table again
51:00
Light the candles Wait Love always comes back He also extended this spirit of
51:06
welcome beyond Christian borders In Morocco he stood in silence before the tomb of a Muslim child killed in war In
51:14
India he visited a seek gadara bowing low and receiving a cloth of peace In
51:20
Japan he met with Buddhist monks on the slopes of Mount Hi where they shared tea and recited prayers for harmony Each
51:28
time his message was the same We do not worship the same way but we are all
51:33
being watched by the poor the wounded and the children Let us not teach them despair He understood that
51:40
evangelization in the 21st century would not be about winning arguments It would be about becoming credible again and
51:47
credibility he often said is born from love Within the Vatican he began
51:52
reorganizing the pontipical councils related to interreligious dialogue placing not diplomats at the helm but
51:59
those with lived experience in mission His appointments included bishops who had lost friends to religious violence
52:06
and sisters who had spent decades in service within non-Christian communities
52:11
These were not theorists They were bridgebuilders Yet through it all Leo I
52:16
14th never diluted the identity of the church He never apologized for her truth
52:22
nor traded it for comfort He often reminded his listeners "The gospel does
52:27
not change." But the hands that carry it must be washed again This unwavering
52:32
balance truth without arrogance dialogue without dilution became the defining thread of his leadership on the world
52:39
stage In a time when public discourse was marked by outrage and suspicion he
52:44
chose gentleness He chose the narrow path He chose the slow work of love and
52:50
the world began to notice Secular publications long cynical toward religion described his demeanor as a
52:58
moral stillness in a time of panic Young atheists who stumbled across his messages online wrote to him not with
53:05
conversion stories but with curiosity I don't believe yet one wrote but I've
53:11
started listening again And this perhaps was his great gift Not that he changed
53:16
every heart but that he made space for hearts to return In this space the church began to breathe again not with
53:24
triumph but with tenderness And as this breath deepened the world quietly wondered not whether Pope Leo I 14th
53:31
would change the church but whether his church rebuilt on silence sacrifice and
53:36
grace might just change the world As the second year of his papacy unfolded Pope
53:42
Leo I 14th continued walking the path he had chosen from the very first day not toward a throne but toward a cross There
53:50
were no applause lines no carefully staged moments of legacy building He did
53:55
not chase history He chased Christ And slowly almost invisibly the church began
54:01
to follow It was not a revolution of banners or institutions It was something deeper a quiet renewal of conscience a
54:09
rediscovery of the sacred Parish's long quiet began to fill not with noise but
54:14
with prayer Seminaries once doubting their mission found themselves filled not with candidates but with vocations
54:22
not crowds but disciples There were no metrics to chart this transformation No headlines could
54:29
capture it But it was real In the countryside of Vietnam a group of young
54:34
Catholics rebuilt a wooden chapel destroyed by storms without funding without attention because they had
54:39
watched a video of Leo the 14th praying in silence and wanted to create a place like that In Argentina prisoners began
54:48
reading his homalies aloud in their cells marking the margins with pencil where his words struck something raw and
54:54
true In Germany a former atheist lit a candle in a cathedral and whispered a
54:59
prayer for the first time in 20 years not because she was certain but because the stillness she saw in him made her
55:05
want to try The man in white had become more than a leader He had become a sign
55:11
not of perfection not of power but of presence And it is this perhaps that
55:17
will define the legacy of Leo I 14th He will not be remembered for the size of his crowds nor the boldness of his
55:24
decrees He will be remembered for reminding the church that it was never meant to impress It was meant to love He
55:31
never claimed to have all the answers In fact he often told the world "We do not
55:36
need more answers We need more faithfulness." And through that simple conviction he
55:42
drew souls not by force but by fidelity He stood in the ancient light of Peter
55:47
not to cast a shadow but to reflect the one who had called him by name And so the church today finds itself standing
55:54
on a threshold not of a new political era or theological program but of
55:59
something older and more eternal the threshold of holiness Leo I 14th did not
56:04
ask us to be louder He asked us to be smaller to become like the mustard seed
56:10
again to return to the silence that speaks louder than any crowd To remember
56:15
that the church is not built on movements It is built on martyrs mothers missionaries and monks On the quiet
56:22
saints whose names will never be known but whose prayers hold up the world He once said "The true test of a pope is
56:30
not what he leaves behind in stone but what he plants in the soul." And in that
56:35
sense perhaps his papacy has only just begun For the seeds are everywhere now in villages and cities deserts and
56:42
islands hospitals and monasteries In the hearts of those who heard his whisper
56:47
above the world's noise in the lives of those who knelt again because he knelt first these seeds will grow not because
56:55
of strategy but because God is faithful And if Leo I 14th taught the church
57:00
anything it is this When we make space for God he fills it When we choose
57:05
silence he speaks When we carry the cross he carries us And so the bells of
57:10
St Peter's still ringing not for the triumph of a man but for the enduring mercy of a savior And somewhere behind
57:17
the windows of a simple Vatican room a pope in white finishes his day not with applause but with prayer Because for Leo
57:25
I 14th it was never about being seen It was always about being faithful And in
57:30
that faithfulness the church will rise again not in glory but in grace
No comments:
Post a Comment