All the saints and Church Fathers Pope Leo XIV quoted in his first week

 

Vatican City, May 15, 2025 / 15:33 pm (CNA).

The Catholic Church’s first pope from the Augustinian order is already helping to educate the faithful through his deep knowledge of the Church Fathers.

In the first week of Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate, his preaching and speeches have featured quotations from saints and Church Fathers from St. Ignatius of Antioch to St. Gregory the Great.

The Catholic Church’s first pope from the Augustinian order is already helping to educate the faithful through his deep knowledge of the Church Fathers. Here is who he has been citing in the foundation-setting first week of his pontificate.

St. Augustine (354–430)

Catholics are virtually guaranteed to be hearing a lot more great quotes from St. Augustine in the upcoming years of this pontificate.

In his first appearance on the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica on May 8, Pope Leo said: “I am an Augustinian, a son of St. Augustine, who once said, ‘With you I am a Christian, and for you I am a bishop.’”

Leo gifted us with another classic St. Augustine quote again during his speech to journalists on May 12: “Let us live well and the times will be good. We are the times (Discourse 80.8).”

His papal motto under his coat of arms also features a line from St. Augustine, “In Illo uno unum,” which means “In the One, we are one.” It comes from a discussion of Psalm 128 (127 in the Latin Vulgate) in Augustine’s “Expositions of the Psalms”: “It is not as though he were one and we many; no, we who are many are one in him, who is one.”

St. Ignatius of Antioch (second century)

In his first Mass as pope, Leo XIV identified himself as the successor of Peter with St. Ignatius of Antioch, who was famously martyred by being thrown to the lions.

In his homily in the Sistine Chapel on May 9 he reflected on a line from St. Ignatius of Antioch’s second-century “Letter to the Romans”: “Then I will truly be a disciple of Jesus Christ, when the world no longer sees my body.”

“I say this first of all to myself, as the successor of Peter, as I begin my mission as bishop of Rome and, according to the well-known expression of St. Ignatius of Antioch, am called to preside in charity over the universal Church (cf. Letter to the Romans, Prologue),” Leo said.

“St. Ignatius, who was led in chains to this city, the place of his impending sacrifice, wrote to the Christians there: ‘Then I will truly be a disciple of Jesus Christ, when the world no longer sees my body’ (Letter to the Romans, IV, 1).

“Ignatius was speaking about being devoured by wild beasts in the arena — and so it happened — but his words apply more generally to an indispensable commitment for all those in the Church who exercise a ministry of authority. It is to move aside so that Christ may remain, to make oneself small so that he may be known and glorified (cf. Jn 3:30), to spend oneself to the utmost so that all may have the opportunity to know and love him.”

St. Gregory the Great (540–604)

In Pope Leo’s first Regina Caeli address in which he sang the famous Marian prayer in Latin, he also quoted St. Gregory the Great, who he said teaches people to “respond to the love of those who love them (Homily 14:3-6).”

St. Ephrem the Syrian (306–373)

In Pope Leo XIV’s speech to the Eastern Catholic Churches, he cited the writings of several Eastern Church Fathers, among them St. Ephrem the Syrian, who is a theologian venerated in both the Catholic Church and Orthodox churches, especially in Syriac Christianity.

Pope Leo said: “Together, we can pray with St. Ephrem the Syrian and say to the Lord Jesus: ‘Glory to you, who laid your cross as a bridge over death… Glory to you who clothed yourself in the body of mortal man, and made it the source of life for all mortals’ (Homily on Our Lord, 9).”

St. Isaac of Nineveh (613–700)

Notably, Pope Leo also chose to quote St. Isaac of Nineveh, a seventh-century Assyrian bishop venerated across Christian traditions, whom Pope Francis added to the Roman Martyrology last November during a meeting with Mar Awa III, Catholicos-patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East.

Pope Leo XIV said: “We must ask, then, for the grace to see the certainty of Easter in every trial of life and not to lose heart, remembering, as another great Eastern Father wrote, that ‘the greatest sin is not to believe in the power of the Resurrection’ (St. Isaac Of Nineveh, Sermones ascetici, I, 5).”

St. Symeon the New Theologian (949–1022)

In his speech to the Eastern Churches, Pope Leo also quoted an Eastern Orthodox monk, St. Symeon the New Theologian, who is also venerated in the Byzantine Catholic Churches.

The pope said that St. Symeon used an eloquent image: “‘Just as one who throws dust on the flame of a burning furnace extinguishes it, so the cares of this life and every kind of attachment to petty and worthless things destroy the warmth of the heart that was initially kindled’ (Practical and Theological Chapters, 63).”

St. John Paul II (1920–2005)

The new pope has not limited himself only to citing early Church Fathers. Pope Leo also echoed the famous words of St. John Paul II from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica: “Do not be afraid!”

John Paul II first spoke these words during his inaugural Mass on Oct. 22, 1978, saying: “Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ. To his saving power open the boundaries of states, economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture, civilization and development. Do not be afraid. Christ knows ‘what is in man.’ He alone knows it.”

The Polish pontiff went on to repeat the phrase “Do not be afraid” many times throughout his pontificate.

Pope Leo XIV used the words in his first Regina Caeli address when discussing the need for prayer for more vocations among young people. “And to young people, I say: Do not be afraid! Accept the invitation of the Church and of Christ the Lord!” Pope Leo XIV said.

Pope Leo also quoted John Paul II in his speech to Eastern Catholic Churches, telling them: “Truly you have ‘a unique and privileged role as the original setting where the Church was born.’”

St. Paul VI (1897–1978)

In his May 10 speech to the cardinals who elected him, Pope Leo said: “Dear brothers, I would like to conclude the first part of our meeting by making my own — and proposing to you as well — the hope that St. Paul VI expressed at the inauguration of his Petrine ministry in 1963: ‘May it pass over the whole world like a great flame of faith and love kindled in all men and women of goodwill. May it shed light on paths of mutual cooperation and bless humanity abundantly, now and always, with the very strength of God, without whose help nothing is valid, nothing is holy’ (Message Qui Fausto Die addressed to the entire human family, 22 June 1963).”

St. Peter (first century)

It has been evident that Pope Leo has been doing a lot of praying and reflecting on the Petrine ministry and looking to past saint-popes for guidance.

His first homily at his first Mass as pope focused on the relationship between St. Peter and Jesus, specifically Jesus’ question to St. Peter, “Who do you say that I am?” and Peter’s response: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16).

Pope Leo XIV also made the choice to offer one of his first private Masses in the crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica at the tomb of St. Peter on May 11.

Blessed Virgin Mary

Pope Leo XIV also highlighted that he was elected on the day of the Prayer of Supplication to Our Lady of Pompeii. In his very first appearance as pope from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, the new pope asked the crowd to pray a Hail Mary together with him before giving the solemn “urbi et orbi” blessing in Latin.

He said: “Today is the day of the Prayer of Supplication to Our Lady of Pompeii. Our Mother Mary always wants to walk at our side, to remain close to us, to help us with her intercession and her love. So I would like to pray together with you. Let us pray together for this new mission, for the whole Church, for peace in the world, and let us ask Mary, our Mother, for this special grace.”

One of his first surprises as pope was making a spontaneous pilgrimage to a Marian shrine outside of Rome, the Shrine of the Mother of Good Counsel in Genazzano, Italy.

“I wanted so much to come here in these first days of the new ministry that the Church has entrusted to me, to carry out this mission as the successor of Peter,” Leo told those present.

“As the Mother never abandons her children, you must also be faithful to the Mother,” he said.