Pope Leo XIV and the Catholic Church’s Prophetic Voice

Fr. Frederick Edlefsen

In 1891, Pope Leo XIII directly addressed social justice issues affecting poor and oppressed working people in the industrial age.  In 1963, Pope John XXIIII took Catholic social teaching to another level.  In the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the problems of the post-colonial world, the Catholic Church was irrevocably confronted with a new pastoral, social, and doctrinal challenge.  Its mission was no longer just to Catholics but to “all people of goodwill”.   Beginning with John XXIII, the Church was now a moral voice in securing a global order based on international law, cooperation, and human development.   

The Church’s role in the modern world was now affirmatively prophetic, proposing a whole new outlook on how nations and their ministers conduct themselves.   The Second Vatican Council and every Pontiff since has developed Catholic social doctrine to engage the fast-evolving problems of the modern world.  In 1967, Pope St. Paul VI went even further in his encyclical "Populorum Progressio" (On the Progress of the Peoples) where he said that human development is "the new name for peace".   This new outlook became part of the Church’s social and moral doctrine.   In brief, morality is not only a personal matter, but it is also public and social. 

Contrary to what the U.S. Vice President recently said, the Pope and the Church’s teaching office does not just “stick to matters of morality”, which presumably means personal morality.   This assertion does not warrant an extended response.  Suffice it to say, the viewpoint is incorrect.  The Church’s teaching and pastoral authority is universal and global – that is, it pertains to anything that affects human rights and the Common Good, including U.S. foreign policy.   

Furthermore, the U.S. President recently made an agitated and ad hominum criticism of Pope Leo, calling him “terrible”.   “Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a great Pope, not a politician,” said the President who also said he doesn't want a Pope who criticizes him.  These accusations (which are not arguments) and public broadsides against the Pontiff, spoken openly and published on social media, are unprecedented.   “It has been centuries since such a blatant act of aggression against the Roman Pontiff was seen”, Reuters reported former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi as saying.  The Pope calmly replied that he had “no fear” of the President and of “speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel.”      

In contrast to the public insults by American heads of state, the Holy Father is building bridges in Africa, traveling to Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea.  Pope Leo is acting and teaching in the vein of Pope St. John XXIII.  “Peace on Earth - which man throughout the ages has so longed for and sought after - can never be established, never guaranteed, except by the diligent observance of the divinely established order” (Pacem in Terris 1).   

Human government must not revolt against the Creator’s Eternal Law.  That is a moral issue.  The Catholic moral teaching that there are some things we must never do – like directly and intentionally killing innocent people – has a corollary:  we must never threaten to do such a thing.  Words matter, especially when spoken by ministers of state.  The Pope is right to call out leaders who persistently speak in threatening tones. 

Catholics are called, by virtue of the Holy Spirit given them in Baptism and Confirmation, to take the “highway of holiness” (Isaiah 35:8).  All people of goodwill conform themselves to moral and social laws which are written in their hearts, which they did not put there themselves but were implanted within by their Creator.    

Of course, free discussions about honest questions and disagreements are encouraged for the sake of earnest dialogue and pursuit of solving difficult problems.  But we must ultimately conform ourselves to a moral order we have received from God and not invoke God’s name to bless our self-styled belligerence.    When a Pope says, “God does not bless any conflict” and warns against the “idolatry of self and money” and that threats to “wipe out a civilization” are unacceptable, those are not just prudential points.  They are moral imperatives to which we must conform.    

In 1963, Pope John XXIII addressed his encyclical Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) to “all people of goodwill”.  A noble head of state collaborates with all people of goodwill to solve the world’s most pressing problems.   Granted, it is difficult and painstaking work that demands a level patience that only God’s grace can provide.  Nonetheless, people of goodwill can solve problems if they, in good faith, seek to cooperate.  God blesses human collaboration.   “Where two or three are gathered in my name…”  (Matthew 18:20).   The Holy Spirit descended upon the Christ’s disciples when they were “all in one accord, in one place” (Acts 2:2).  

Together, people of goodwill can solve many of the world’s problems.   This is the Pope’s message.    And he is right.