From the Principal

OUR WONDERFUL POPE LEO XIV

The Catholic Church has indeed been blest with the election in 2025 of Cardinal Robert Prevost as pontiff.  Now we know him and call him Leo XIV, a name he adopted inspired by Pope Leo X111, a great reforming pope committed to social justice.

I urge Monicans to spend time reading the life story of our ‘new’ Pope, a man born in Chicago, spending missionary years in Peru, serving as leader of the Augustine friars worldwide, and based at the Vatican prior to his election.  He is a man of the modern world, rooted in contemporary issues, able to relate the Gospel meaningfully to the matters of today, and yet always remaining pastoral in his approach to leadership.

Our Church has been blest by strong and faith-filled Popes in recent times.  I am old enough to remember the election of Saint Pope John X111, an unexpected choice indeed yet he inaugurated the second Vatican Council and wrought great and needed change to the Church.  They say he figuratively ‘opened the windows and allowed fresh air to flow through’.

Saint Pope John Paul 11 was a long serving leader of the Church and his influence, his doctrinal teachings, his involvement in world affairs, and the length of his reign was at a time when uncertainty was threatening world peace.  He was conservative in his views, but all he said and did was infused with love and devotion to God.  He is still revered by people throughout the world.

All rejoiced when Pope Francis was elected, a man who took his papal name from Saint Francis of Assisi.  From that decision onwards, the Church was endowed with a leader who was intelligent, gentle yet steely in his teachings involving the Christian way of life, outgoing, practical, and consequently he was so much loved.  At SMC we refer often to his encyclicals especially Laudato Si, on the environment and God’s creation.

Then, stepping into the shoes of Saint Peter, our first Pope, was the first American, a man at the time who was still in his sixties, a man like most popes who is multilingual, but unusually his native language is English, the first Pope ever for that to be the case.  He has a dignified and calm manner, a beautiful smile, he will be no radical but already Leo has called out violence, war, and questioned leaders who pursue that approach to leadership.

Most recently he has visited Africa where he preached and pleaded for love and service, and against poverty being allowed to exist, racial hatreds, dictatorships, and elitism.  His has been the call for people to be respected, for all followers of Jesus to undertake their personal and spiritual mission, and to love God and His mother, Mary.

Just this month Pope Leo XIV was in Spain, a great Catholic nation, and he was mobbed by millions of adoring Catholics.  Again, his message for peace and love was crystal clear, and his visit to the Canary Islands exemplified his message of just treatment for refugees. This Pope can mix it with royalty, common folk, and the dispossessed, all in the course of one day and always he himself is authentic and acclaimed!

The Pope’s first encyclical where the Pope proclaims a message to the world is entitled ‘Magnifica Humanitas’ meaning Magnificent Humanity. The two core messages in this document are the importance of human dignity and this always being at the forefront of one’s own life and how humans are to be treated, and the other message highlights how crucial it is that humans are protected in this age where Artificial Intelligence (AI) seems to have the potential to somehow ‘take over the world’, however that is defined. 

We are in the early stage in this pontiff’s reign as Supreme Leader of the Catholic Church, servant of the servants of God.  Leo XIV depends on our prayers, our loyalty, our fidelity and our practical support.  Certainly, all Monicans ought rejoice under the spiritual leadership of this wonderful Pope of faith.

Mr Brian Hanley OAM 

Principal