Leo XIV: Towards a turning point?

With a shrewd and thoughtful statement, Leo XIV simultaneously refocused and relativized the issue of the use of the ancient rite.

In a message to the French bishops gathered in Lourdes for their periodic plenary assembly, the Pope expressed his hope that the Holy Spirit would move the bishops to find “concrete solutions that will allow the generous inclusion of those who sincerely adhere to the Vetus Ordo,” i.e., the older rites, “according to the guidelines established by the Second Vatican Council regarding the liturgy.”

This is a clever statement for a couple of reasons, not least because it cites the guidelines for reform established by the Second Vatican Council, which created space for the bishops to operate without breaking with Pope Francis’s stated goals for restricting the Traditional Latin Mass in 2021, while also conspicuously omitting mention of Francis’s highly unpopular Traditiones custodes, the motu proprio by which he restricted the old Mass.

Leo XIV demonstrated his desire to go beyond Pope Francis, in other words, seeking a “liturgical peace” that would be of great service to the Church today. Leo also acknowledged – though without laying blame – that Pope Francis, with Traditiones custodes, had created a rift that would be very difficult to heal.

Leo XIV, faced with a Church in France questioning the ever-increasing number of adult baptisms in a generally traditional faith, emphasized that no, those faithful who feel closest to the ancient rite cannot be sidelined.

The Pope’s move is interesting, because it suggests that the issue could be overcome. Moreover, in France, even a non-traditionalist bishop like Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, now president of the French bishops, celebrated in the ancient rite precisely to avoid losing a significant group of faithful who nevertheless remain within the fold of Catholic tradition.

The topic is broad. In the face of growing secularization, we are seeing an ever-increasing interest in the Church’s tradition, also reflected in the use of the ancient rite. The return to the Church and to faith is also being observed in countries like Switzerland, where the bishops’ portal catt.ch has dedicated a major survey to the return of faith and the growth in adult baptisms.

The achievement of liturgical peace would be a great one for Leo XIV and for the Church.

Since the Second Vatican Council, the topic of liturgy has become heated, creating divisions and placing Christians in a before-and-after situation, either on one side or the other. Leo XIV wants to absorb these divisions and restore them to unity. He wants to do so—as the letter demonstrates—starting from a local perspective, resolving each case individually, without changing Pope Francis’s provisions, but simply not fully implementing them.

It is a wise decision, which also marks a turning point in the pontificate.

Leo XIV meets and listens to everyone. The audience granted to Gareth Gore, author of a highly critical book on Opus Dei, caused a stir, but was really apart of Leo’s “listening campaign” and of a piece with the pontiff’s practice of maintaining contacts with journalists he knew in Peru.

He is a Pope attentive to public opinion, but not for this reason a slave to it. Gore has asked the Pope to establish a commission of inquiry into Opus Dei, but it is not a given that the Pope will follow up on the request, especially since the Church has the resources to understand situations within religious organizations.

Listening, however, does not mean subservience. The Pope gathers information and weighs before making decisions.

The topic of liturgy is crucial, and indeed, a first test was the dialogue with the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X when it announced its intention to ordain new bishops without a papal mandate. Even before that, Leo XIV had sent a message to the Paris-Chartres pilgrimage last summer, which was significant, considering that the pilgrimage was launched by an association of TLM devotées.

Across the board, Leo XIV is working to harmonize the Church’s government.

In this sense, Leo XIV is seeking profiles with very specific characteristics. The Curia’s latest appointment is that of Australian Bishop Anthony Randazzo as Prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts.

Randazzo comes from far enough away not to become a slave to Roman procedures, but he has lived in Rome long enough to understand how the Curia operates. Randazzo was, among other things, an official of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as prefect. Randazzo therefore brings a traditional mindset rooted in the ways of the Curia in the late 1990s, as well as the pastoral experience of a bishop from the other side of the world and a certain ability to address major challenges without too much fanfare or visibility. This is what Leo XIV sought.

Renzo Pegoraro, Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy for Life, was highly visible. Leo XIV granted him the title of archbishop, effectively reinstating the principle that heads of dicasteries and pontifical academies should be archbishops, in collegiality with the Pope.

All eyes are now on the Dicastery of Communication, especially since it would make sense to replace a layman like the current prefect, Paolo Ruffini, with a cleric. It would demonstrate how this pontificate is taking a clear direction: No break with the previous pontificate, but a clear return to a pontificate that is “Roman” in form (with all dicastery heads at least archbishops, i.e., in collegiality with the Pope) and institutional in its ways.

In the meantime, it seems that the Pope will also finally starting the reshuffle of the Secretariat of State: according to rumors, Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra will be nuncio to Italy,  Archbishop Paolo Rudelli will be the new sostituto,  Archbishop Petar Rajić will be the new Prefect of the Pontifical Household. These appointments might be effective after Easter, while it is also possible that the Pope will promote archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, currently the Vatican’s “foreign minister”, and will then have a new minister for relations with the States.

Leo’s pontificate, in short, is increasingly appearing as one that does not seek a break, but rather seeks the opportunity to lead the Church into the middle of the 21st century and beyond.

For Leo XIV, a generational change is needed.  But above all, people must be brought back to the faith and nurtured in it. Liturgical peace will help to do this. Institutional adjustments will allow the Pope to act as Pope.