by Don Bruno Capparoni, Director of the Pious Union
SThe images of the election of Pope Leo XIV are fresh in our memory and we are grateful to television that allowed us to be "present" at the white smoke on the afternoon of May 8. We listened with joy and trepidation to thehabemus papam, followed by the name of Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, and we learned that the new Pope will be called Leo. Finally, again via television, we were also on the steps of St. Peter's to participate in the beginning of his pontifical service on May 18.
That Holy Mass, celebrated by the new Pope, offered extraordinary television images, among which the impressive spectacle of the "powerful" lined up at the altar, who had come from all over the world to pay homage to the Successor of Peter, was impressive. Some of the media, commenting on those images, highlighted the “power” of the Catholic Church.
Personally, rather than by the images of the “dominators” praising the Church and the Pope, I was guided by the words that resounded there, to make reflections that I would like to share with the readers.
I remember the beginning of that Mass, when Pope Leo came down to venerate the tomb of St. Peter under the altar of the Confession, and then the Pope's procession towards the parvis of the Basilica. According to the ancient ritual, the royal praises, invocations in which the word that continually returned was: «You shine with light» (Help him). The singers invoked Christ, Mary, each of the Apostles and the Roman Saints, while all the people responded: «Help him!». It was clear that this was not an affirmation of power, but an invocation in need. Faced with the immense task entrusted to a new Pope, to lead the Church of Christ, we, his brothers, invoked the help of Heaven for him. In fact, the Pope is not a superhero, but the “servant of the servants of God”, who needs divine support and the intercession of the Saints.
Moreover, Pope Leo himself showed a moving awareness of this when he said: "I have been chosen without any merit and, with fear and trembling, I come to you as a brother who wants to be a servant of your faith and your joy." And that these were not just formal words was seen at the moment he received the Fisherman's Ring, while he was crying.
Leo then invited all of us Christians to recognize the real measure of the Church, that of a “small flock”. Here are the exact words of the Pope: “We want to be within this dough [which is the world] a small leaven of unity, of communion, of fraternity. We want to say to the world, with humility and with joy: look to Christ”. With him, we too, his brothers, are aware of the greatness of the mission, but also of the smallness of our strength.
Finally, recalling the martyrdom of Saint Ignatius of Antioch in Rome, devoured by wild beasts, Leo called himself to "an indispensable commitment for anyone in the Church who exercises a ministry of authority: to disappear so that Christ remains, to make oneself small so that he may be known and glorified".
With simplicity, Pope Leo XIV reminds us of what the true “power” of the Church is: to serve Christ the Savior and offer him with meekness to the world.