By The pontiff said he must be free to denounce injustice amid today’s challenges.
Pope Leo XIV said the successor of Peter must retain “complete freedom to speak the truth, denounce injustice, defend the rights of the weakest, promote peace,” and proclaim Jesus Christ amid “the troubled times in which we live.”
The pope made the remarks in an address Feb. 18 to members of Pro Petri Sede (“For the See of Peter”), an association that supports the work of the pope and the Holy See through prayer and financial assistance.
Leo recalled that the association traces its roots to the papal Zouaves, a 19th-century corps of Catholic volunteers who defended the Papal States against efforts to invade Rome.
Those volunteers “committed themselves unconditionally, even to the point of giving their lives, to defend the freedom of the Roman pontiff, threatened at the time,” the pope said.
Leo stressed that “the socio-historic conditions have obviously changed,” adding that “today there is no longer any question of fighting with weapons or exercising any kind of violence.”
Instead, he said, the association’s commitment is expressed through prayer, helping the faithful understand the role and action of the Holy See, and material support, “especially in favor of the least fortunate.”
Leo highlighted the group’s decision this year to support a charitable project in Chiclayo, his former diocese in Peru, where the association is helping fund the creation of a training center for people most in need.
Reflecting on the pope’s mission, Leo said: “The bishop of Rome has received from Christ the task of gathering the faithful people into unity and proclaiming the Gospel of salvation throughout the earth; and the charism of his successors implies the sovereign freedom to do so.”
He added that “the proclamation of the kingdom is hindered in many places throughout the world, and in many ways,” underscoring the importance of the pope’s freedom to carry out his mission.
“How important it is, therefore, in the troubled times in which we live, that ‘Peter’ retain his complete freedom to speak the truth, denounce injustice, defend the rights of the weakest, promote peace, and above all proclaim Jesus Christ, who died and rose again, the only possible hope for a reconciliated humanity,” he said.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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How wonderfully grounding, Pope Leo’s un-messy perspective, plus his reference to concrete history (the turbulent 19th Century) rather than to, say, the dizzy circularity of a synod-on-synodality…
In filial and responsible support, two points and a question:
FIRST, about the events of 1870—and the military confinement of the universal Catholic Church within the boundaries of the 109 acres of the Vatican—we recall how Vatican I was only “suspended,” and not adjourned. About the greater continuity and then the awaited freedom of the papal “prisoner of the Vatican,” Pope Pius IX had this to say:
“[….] Considering which lamentable state of things, finding ourselves impeded in divers ways in the exercise of the supreme authority divinely conferred upon us, and knowing, however, that these same Fathers of the Vatican Council could not, considering the present condition of affairs, have the liberty [!], security [!], and tranquility [!] necessary for them to continue treating together with us the business of the Holy Church; […] amid the dire calamities known to all under which Europe is suffering; considering all these things, we […] do suspend the same until some more convenient and appropriate time […] when all impediments shall have been finally removed, to restore to His faithful bride, as soon as possible, liberty and peace [!][….]” (Papal Bull, October 20, 1970).
SECOND, the “convenient and appropriate time” (for namely the Second Vatican Council) came in 1962-65—following collapse into World War I, following the Concordat of 1929, following carnage of World War II; and then preceding the Cold War pope (Pope St. John Paul II, 1979-2005) who was free [!] to personally visit 129 countries, and preceding much else…today the Church moves fast-forward amidst much the same kind of turbulence as in 1870!
But, also the same perennial Church: one, holy, catholic…and apostolic.
QUESTION: How better for this Church to faithfully exercise its distinct “hierarchical communion” (Lumen Gentium, Ch. 3), together with what Pope Benedict termed the “ecclesial assembly” of the “people of God” (also Lumen Gentium, Ch. 2) within the “universal call to holiness”?
I am missing something. When during the last fifty years has a pope been prevented from retaining “his complete freedom to speak the truth, denounce injustice, defend the rights of the weakest, promote peace, and above all proclaim Jesus Christ, who died and rose again, the only possible hope for a reconciliated humanity,” I cannot think of a single time any pope has been prevented from proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected. What I have observed are popes who speak words of confusion, abuse Tradition, and even abandoned the faithful.
Your question was exactly mine initially. But as I read the article it occurred to me that while such a threat seems not imminent upon the Papacy by and large, this is exactly the time to express and renew commitment to this understanding of the place of Peter’s charism holds in the Church amidst of the world, rather than waiting until there is grave threat of loosing the freedom. It is a way of signaling to the faithful what socio-political efforts we must keep working together in every nation and state to uphold, and which should be exposed, denounced, and worked to overcome. The Papacy is currently NOT FREE in China! NOT FREE in North Korea! NOT FREE in Russia! NOT FREE in most Middle Eastern nations! NOT FREE in any pro-atheist-secularism nation, state, or social educational system that espouses the lie of Communism/Collectivism, Gender Ideology, Abortion at all costs, “Gain of function” genetic-research, etc. (hence the Church is under real threat in New York City, in our own U.S. West Coast states, In Illinois where I grew up, in Harvard university, and dare we say currently even the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, for examples). We don’t wait until threats are, like the Nazi regime, at the very doorstep painting white lines to keep the Papacy controlled and hemmed in. We must espouse and proclaim the truths Christ has called us to uphold and defend always, in good seasons as well as bad. Thanks for helping me think this through!
Does this mean we are going to be free of the disingenuous term “undocumented immigrant” and start using more accurate descriptions such as illegal alien or invader?