The peace in the heart of an augustinian Pope

After the white smoke, in his first words to the world, Leo XIV greeted us all with the peace of the Risen Christ. In the midst of Easter, it sounded like a declaration of intent regarding what we can expect from his pontificate. Today, in the words he pronounced after his first recitation of the Regina Coeli from the central balcony of St. Peter's, he emphasized the need for peace. He explicitly stated a “no to war,” particularly for those suffering in places like Ukraine or the Gaza Strip. He also expressed joy at the cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan.

Leo XIV, echoing the Augustinian tradition that “he who sings prays twice,” sang the Marian prayer in Latin and invited us, with the same words often repeated by Saint John Paul II, not to be afraid. These words are especially meaningful in times of uncertainty, in which it feels as though we are living through a Third World War in pieces, as Pope Francis once described.

Earlier, Leo XIV had referred to the liturgy of this Fourth Sunday of Easter, in which the tenth chapter of the Gospel of John is proclaimed, where Jesus reveals Himself as the true Shepherd who knows, loves, and lays down His life for His sheep. The Church needs you! he passionately called out to priests, religious men and women, during the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, which the Church celebrates this Sunday.

"It is important," emphasized Pope Prevost, "that young people find in our communities welcome, listening, and encouragement in their vocational journey, and that they can count on credible models of generous dedication to God and their brothers and sisters. Let us make our own the invitation that Pope Francis left us in his Message for this Day, in which he urged us to welcome and accompany young people. Let us pray to the Heavenly Father to be, for each other, each according to his state, shepherds 'according to His heart' (cf. Jer 3:15), capable of helping one another walk in love and truth."

The peace to which Leo XIV has already repeatedly referred in these first days of his pontificate is not just any peace, nor merely a human peace. It is the peace that the Risen Christ brings, the one that flows from His heart. In that source, in Him, in the One, we are all one, as expressed in his pontifical motto, "In Illo Uno, Unum," taken from a commentary by Saint Augustine on Psalm 127. Unity in truth, and unity for peace, appear as Augustinian threads woven into his emerging magisterium.This is the true and fruitful peace so desperately needed in our wounded world. It is, in a way, reminiscent, albeit with due differences, of the world at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, which Pope Leo XIII had to interpret with great wisdom.