Leo XIV: What sort of pontificate will it be?

Leo XIV’s work to restore traditional trappings of the papal office began almost immediately and has continued, albeit discreetly, since he stepped onto the loggia clad in the mozzetta. There are other signs of restoration about, as well.

The latest calendar of liturgical celebrations, for example, highlights that the usual Mass at St. John Lateran for Corpus Christi will return, with the consequent procession to St. Mary Major.

It is not yet a complete return to the Roman Church’s tradition of celebrating Corpus Christi on Thursday—this year Leo has kept Corpus Christi on the following Sunday—but it is still a return to tradition that should not be underestimated.

Pope Francis had first moved the feast to the following Sunday, which brought the Diocese of Rome in line with a decision of the Italian bishops throughout the rest of the country. Then, he floated the idea of celebrating in the peripheries of Rome. Covid restrictions in 2020 and 2021 made large gatherings in the city practically impossible. Ill health kept Francis from celebrating in 2022 and 2023. . There was a Mass at the Lateran and procession to St. Mary Major in 2024, in which Francis did take part, but the damage had been done and the sense was of little enthusiasm from the top.

This return to Roman traditions is an exact sign.

Leo XIV is restoring the connection with the city of Rome that Pope Francis had somehow severed. Leo will also return to live in the Apostolic Palace, and Romans are looking forward to seeing the light in the window, to their feeling the Pope’s closeness once again.

Those who see in these signals a completely traditionalist or restorationist Pope, however, should not be so precipitous. Leo XIV has a different profile. He is beyond the debates between conservatives and progressives because he grew up in another generation. He is, for now, taking on the things he considers valuable and necessary without necessarily having to operate a spoils system. He is, nonetheless, a steady pair of hands.

The first appointments of Leo XIV were all thought out before his pontificate. He approved and accepted them, but the consequences are not certain to be those expected. For example, on May 22, he appointed Sister Tiziana Merletti as secretary of the Dicastery for Religious. Merletti is a canonist, which is telling, but so far the focus has mostly been on the fact she is a woman. Leo XIV, say those who would see continuity, would be carrying forward the “pink turn” desired by Pope Francis.

For the rest, the appointments of bishops had been largely decided in advance, as was the departure of Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia from the office of Chancellor of the Pontifical Theological Institute John Paul II for the Studies on Marriage and Family. Paglia has turned 80, the age at which one ceases to hold all Curia positions. Paglia’s position as Chancellor has been given to Cardinal Baldassarre Reina, the Pope’s vicar for the diocese of Rome, and his role is still uncertain.

Are there plans to move the Institute more under the control of the vicariate? Or are there plans to move Reina to other responsibilities eventually?

It is just too soon to say.

It is early to look inside the decisions of Leo XIV, in short, certainly too soon to try to discern the direction of the pontificate by considering the few decisions that have borne Leo’s signature so far. The appointments were all decided some time ago, part of a fairly lengthy process that – it is true – the Pope could have stopped, but did not. That may be telling, but of what it tells is too soon to say.

As for the appointments of bishops, one may think that Cardinal Prevost was the one who instructed the practices that Leo XIV is now approving. It is known, however, that sometimes Pope Francis did not take the dicastery’s advice and made sudden appointments.

What can be seen so far is a Papacy of tranquility. There is no revolution concerning the past, no break with the previous pontificate, which Leo XIV does not fail to mention. The difference lies in the Pope’s style, how he approaches others, and how he shows he understands the Papal office itself.

What can we expect from the pontificate of Leo XIV?

First of all, a return to the centrality of the institution. Leo XIV asked to disappear so that only God would remain visible, and he tended to step aside from the institution he represented. Full papal regalia (the mozzetta whenever needed, now also white trousers under the cassock) tells of a Pope who does not put his personality before the institution he represents.

The return to institutional sensibility also includes a return to Romans. With the Corpus Domini procession, Leo XIV reconnects the broken knots of popular traditions. With his return to the Apostolic Palace, he characterizes his presence as the bishop of Rome. Being Roman does not only mean being bishop of the diocese. It has a deeper meaning. Romanitas implies the universality of the Church, and the universality of the Church calls for and stands as a sign of reconciliation.

Leo XIV will work to overcome the polarization created in the Church and will do so without creating conflict.

All who know him agree that Leo XIV does not listen only to make decisions but instead listens to understand situations. Reconciliation means that there will be a new way of looking at the traditionalist world and many realities of the Church that have been sanctioned. Many of Pope Francis’ reforms remained interrupted when they risked creating division, such as the one regarding the structure of Opus Dei.

Reconciliation also means justice.

Leo XIV inherited heavy Vatican dossiers, and it is still premature to understand how he will move forward with them.

There is the Rupnik case, and there is the the trial over the management of the funds of the Secretariat of State, the appellate phase of which will begin in earnest on September 22. In these two cases, in particular, the cumbersome presence of the Pope had been, if nothing else, a spur to decisions.

What direction will Leo XIV take?

Whatever direction it will prove to be, justice also requires a new organization. There is much talk about the new appointments because few know in detail what the Pope’s team will be. Some have even said that Leo XIV will call Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle to be the prefect of the Dicastery of Bishops or perhaps Cardinal Sergio Rocha from Brazil.

These names create agitation because their nomination would be seen as in ideological continuity with the previous pontificate. It should be understood that, whatever happens, this pontificate will not concern the ideological line.

There will not be a majority and an opposition. Pope Leo will do as Popes have always done, and call people of different orientations around himself in an effort to balance the various positions of the Church (and not to unbalance things). This is nothing new: Think of Cardinal Walter Kasper—the German liberal—who was a great figure of the Curia during John Paul II’s reign, or of Cardinal Claudio Hummes OFM—a Brazilian advocate of climate action and critic of global capitalism who was open to reconsidering Latin Church discipline regarding clerical celibacy— Benedict XVI’s first Prefect of Clergy, to give only two examples from recent pontificates.

It will likely take two years for Leo XIV to convene a consistory to choose new cardinals. When he does, his work will likely be of reconciliation, not fracture. The Pope has received, first and foremost, the mandate of unity. He will succeed only if he keeps the Church united despite everything.