In the weeks leading up to the conclave that would elect Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Prevost, the New York Times published an article with the headline: “As Cardinals Prepare to Elect a Pope, One Motto Is ‘Unity.’ That’s Divisive.”
It didn’t age well.
Unity, as it turns out, has been a master theme—arguably, the master theme—of the first year of the first American pope since his election on May 8, 2025. And the motto, which for this “Son of Saint Augustine” has deep Augustinian roots, has been anything but divisive.
Though his references to unity over the past year are far too numerous to catalog in full here, a sampling of some key moments reveals three concentric circles of unity radiating outward: unity among all Catholics, unity among all Christians, and unity among all people.
Catholic unity
While uniting fellow Catholics would seem to be the lowest hanging fruit, divisions in the Church—like divisions in a family—are, in some ways, the most stubborn and sensitive of all. And internal strife has been a worsening problem over the past decade: Pope Francis, a “pope of polarities,” was a deeply polarizing figure, and from a broader societal point of view, the Church has been badly infected by political partisanship and a “culture of contempt.” For Catholics, tribalism has become, as it has everywhere else, the new normal.
Leo stepped into this fractious environment with undeniable grace and care. Indeed, before he uttered a single word, his actions spoke volumes: His papal name hearkened to Leo XIII, a bridge figure who emphasized both the Church’s traditional foundations and its social teachings. And though the world heard the name of another New World pope—to Rome from Chicago by way of Chiclayo—Leo XIV emerged on the loggia in the traditional red mozzetta and stole bypassed by Francis. Even his episcopal motto, a line from Augustine that he carried with him into the papacy and has referenced several times since, spoke of unity: In Illo uno unum (“In that One, [we are] one”).
In his first address, Leo’s first word was “peace,” and he spoke of a “united” Church “joining together as one people, always at peace.” And in his first homily, he proclaimed, “I would like that our first great desire be for a united Church, a sign of unity and communion, which becomes a leaven for a reconciled world.” The tone set in these first days only continued in other signal “firsts.” In his first apostolic exhortation, Dilexi Te, Leo spoke of communion (expressed also in a “communion of goods”) as “the Church’s vocation.” In his first catechesis on Vatican II, he spoke of the Church as “a mystery of communion and sacrament of unity.” And on the first day of his visit to Algeria, he opened once more with the word of “peace” and spoke of believers who “thirst” for unity: “In the face of a humanity yearning for fraternity and reconciliation, it is a great gift and a sacred duty for us to declare with conviction that we are always united as brothers and sisters, children of the one God!”
Leo has gone on to emphasize Church unity not only to bishops (“Stay united and do not defend yourselves against the provocations of the Spirit”) but also to lay associations: “Seek to spread everywhere this unity that you yourselves experience. . . . Draw close to all those whom you meet, so that your charisms may ever be at the service of the unity of the Church.”
Why is this unity so close to Leo’s heart? Not only because it was likewise close to Augustine’s, but also because the one Church is, as Leo explains, the place of deepest unity with the Triune God: “The Church [is a] communion of believers, enlivened by the Holy Spirit, who enables us to enter into the perfect communion and harmony of the blessed Trinity.” And this unity with God—as members of the “whole Christ”—is, he noted in his first month, “the prerequisite for the inner unity of individuals, so necessary today, in this age of fragmentation.”
Christian unity
While divisions among Catholics are especially complex, divisions between Christians more broadly—especially since the Reformation—are especially copious. There are now, by conservative estimates, over nine thousand denominations. A Spirit-led ecumenical revival in the twentieth century that crested in the 1970s—a story traced in a new docudrama hitting theaters in May—has stalled out. But Christians seem to be drawing closer to one another again—a movement in which the pope is already very much playing a key part.
Within two weeks of his election, Leo was already naming Christian unity, which had “always been a constant concern” for him, as a priority for his papacy: “We Christians, then, are all called to pray and work together to reach this goal, step by step, which is and remains the work of the Holy Spirit.” He took one such step later that month on the commemoration, in Zurich, of 500 years of the Anabaptist movement, summoning Catholics and Mennonites to live out “the call to Christian unity”: “The more united Christians are the more effective will be our witness to Christ.”
Leo, providentially, also became pope just before the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. He seized the opportunity, continuing to build bridges with the East established by his predecessors. On November 23, he issued the apostolic letter In Unitate Fidei (In the Unity of Faith), writing, “Truly, what unites us is much greater than what divides us! . . . In order to carry out this ministry credibly, we must walk together to reach unity and reconciliation among all Christians. The Nicene Creed can be the basis and reference point for this journey.”
Days later, Leo undertook his first apostolic journey to Turkey to commemorate Nicaea together with Patriarch Bartholomew. The two issued a joint declaration affirming the “hoped-for restoration of full communion between our sister Churches.” This significant anniversary, the two proclaimed, might also “inspire new and courageous steps on the path towards unity,” including working toward celebrating Easter on the same day.
At the start of 2026, opening the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Leo invited all Catholics “to deepen their prayers for the full, visible unity of all Christians.” And at its close, reflecting on Saint Paul’s repeated invocation of the oneness of Christian life (Eph. 4:4–6), he called for action: “We are one! We already are! Let us recognize it, experience it, and make it visible!”
Human unity
This drive toward Christian unity goes back, of course, to Jesus’s own prayer the night before he died: that his followers might “be one,” as he and the Father are one (John 17:11, 21, 22). But the whole purpose of this unity, Jesus added, was the conversion of the world: Christians must be one “so that the world may believe”—indeed, that the world may know—that God sent his Son for our salvation (21, 23).
Thus, these three concentric circles—while distinct from a historical standpoint—are, in the mind of the Church, ultimately meant to merge into one great circle: the gathering of all people to Christ’s body (John 12:32). Thus, the Church also reaches out to the wider world to draw it into the rhythm of God’s unity—and this, too, has already been part of Leo’s program.
In October, marking the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, Vatican II’s declaration on non-Christian religions, Leo spoke of interreligious unity to representatives of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism: “More than ever, our world needs our unity. . . . If we are united, everything is possible. Let us ensure that nothing divides us.” During his visit to Algiers this past month, Leo emphasized especially Christian dialogue with Muslims: “This very basilica is a sign of our desire for peace and unity. It symbolizes a Church of living stones, where communion between Christians and Muslims takes shape under the mantle of Our Lady of Africa.”
Leo has also called the wider secular world to social unity—a human harmony that reflects, however incompletely, the harmony of the city of God. Nostra Aetate, he also said, “reminds us that humanity is drawing closer together, and that it is the task of the Church to promote unity and love among men and women, and among nations.” And in his January “state of the world” address to diplomats, he called on the United Nations to pursue policies “aimed at the unity of the human family instead of ideologies.”
In this social arena, artificial intelligence—given its unique power both to address and aggravate social and political divisions—will undoubtedly be a key battleground for Leo. Early in his papacy, he indicated that one of his key motivators for his papal name was a desire to tackle, like Leo XIII before him, the unique social upheavals of our time—in particular, AI.
Indeed, it’s expected to be a key theme of his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, which will reportedly release next week on May 15, the anniversary of Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum.
More than words
Are all of these documents, addresses, and statements by Pope Leo XIV just empty talk? Hardly—the pope has also been eager to embody the drive toward unity, principally through in-person meetings and dialogues. Leo, shaped by his years in the Order of Saint Augustine, not only has a great passion for unity but also for the drivers of unity—friendship, dialogue, and attentive listening. Thus, he’s met, unassumingly and even-handedly, with Catholic figures from across the theological spectrum; with Christians of various denominational backgrounds; and with public figures of every sort, from Hollywood stars to heads of state. Much of this, of course, is typical of the papal office, but Leo—also a veritable polyglot—clearly brings a tenor of peaceful, measured bridge-building to these encounters.
Nevertheless, as the honeymoon period of Leo’s first year comes to a close, a question lingers: What happens now? While the inspiring statements and cordial greetings will no doubt continue—and have to if unity is to be achieved—hard decisions abound.
Within the Church itself, Leo’s episcopal appointments have been seen as balanced and steady, but a wave of major sees will need to be filled in the coming years; advocates of the Traditional Latin Mass, still reeling from Traditionis Custodes, are increasingly antsy for greater recognition; and the planned consecrations of new bishops by the SSPX and the ongoing resistance of the German bishops to the Church’s sexual teachings threaten fresh fractures.
Within the broader Christian community, dramatic splits in both the Orthodox and Anglican communions have left some sounding the death knells of Christian unity. In his meeting with Sarah Mullally, the first female archbishop of Canterbury, Leo emphasized, as is his wont, “the need for unity,” but also confessed that new problems have made the path to full communion “more difficult to discern”—a characterization that could well apply to any number of Christian bodies. All the goodwill in the world, it seems, isn’t enough to overcome the deep theological and historical issues that keep the brethren separated.
And within the global community, uncertainty and fragmentation continue to be the warp and woof of the new roaring twenties. The growing prominence of digital life, the radical reshaping of the economic and social realities, and a Middle Eastern conflict with global implications all pose formidable challenges, on all levels, to Leo’s quest for unity and peace.
This “Son of Saint Augustine” was the right man for this moment—a spiritually charged time in which any future seems possible. But seizing that moment for unity will require not just the kindness of the Augustinian heart but also the boldness of the Augustinian mind. Can authentic communion be reached without leading the Church head-first into difficult conversations, theological precisions, and decisive actions—in a word, into great sacrifice? We very well might be standing on the threshold of a wave of new unities—a domino effect of the Spirit renewing the face of the earth.
But what has to be left behind to cross it? And what has to be clung to mightily in the crossing, lest we fall for a counterfeit communion?
These are big questions. Heavy is the head that wears the papal crown—all the more so in such a tensive time in world history. But while we cannot say what the Pope will do next, we can certainly pray for him in his mission of unity, and join him in his prayer to the Holy Spirit:
Holy Spirit of God, you guide believers along the path of history.
We thank you for inspiring the Symbols of Faith and for stirring in our hearts the joy of professing our salvation in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, consubstantial with the Father. Without him, we can do nothing.
Eternal Spirit of God, rejuvenate the faith of the Church from age to age. Help us to deepen it and to return always to the essentials in order to proclaim it.
So that our witness in the world may not be futile, come, Holy Spirit, with your fire of grace, to revive our faith, to enkindle us with hope, to inflame us with charity.
Come, divine Comforter, source of harmony, unite the hearts and minds of believers. Come and grant us to taste the beauty of communion.
Come, Love of the Father and the Son, gather us into the one flock of Christ.
Show us the ways to follow, so that with your wisdom, we become once again what we are in Christ: one, so that the world may believe. Amen.
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The Church Establishment has revealed itself as a leftist political entity serving the will of David Axelrod, Chairman Xi, and the European Union.
Unity with the above is adultery.
I remain united with the faithful shepherds through 28 February 2013. I recognized their voices.
Since that time, I do not hear any familiar voices, except for those they have pushed aside: such as Cardinal Zen, Cardinal Sarah, Cardinal Pell, Cardinal Mueller, Cardinal Burke, and Cardinal Caffarra.
I am united with men and women of faith like them.
I was very disappointed when Cardinal Sarah was not chosen for the position of pope. And I am more disappointed with Pope Leo every time he opens his mouth in his tiff with Donald Trump. Unity?? After that little pronouncement on Easter Sunday about an “unjust war”, Catholics have been at each other’s throats. I’ve had to go to confession twice because of my anger over this. Christ may have instructed him to say that, but it sounded personal and still sounds personal.
I am fully in favor of what he says in his disagreements with Trump.
David Axelrod? He’s a nobody media type. You seem to think that he is an evil genius. He’s not that important.
But you repeat yourself. Genius? No. Evil, yes.
He was important enough to command the Pope’s attention and have friends who can navigate the Vatican bureaucracy. He’s a non-Catholic private citizen. Can I get an audience with the Pope? I have subject matter experience in financial and economic matters the Pope clearly lacks.
Popes have limited time like everybody else. Unless Leo was performing an exorcism, to relieve Axlerod of a life-long political obsession, complete waste of time or a very obvious political signal.
Do try to respond with something other than arguments from personality incredulity. Such posts betray your complete lack of reason and objectivity.
Since you don’t know what they talked about, it’s pretty well all moot. The Pope meets with many non-Catholics. No, he’s not going to meet me, since I’m not important. Axelrod might be on the wrong side of almost everything, but he’s close to Obama, who remains important, and both have strong ties to Chicago. I would hope the Pope would talk to people with whom he disagrees — it’s how you get perspective and learn about things outside your experience.
More personal insults, as usual. I don’t insult you. Are you compensating for some personal “shortcomings?” I wish you would say this to my face.
“In his meeting with Sarah Mullally, the first female archbishop of Canterbury, Leo emphasized, as is his wont, “the need for unity,” but also confessed that new problems have made the path to full communion “more difficult to discern”
Perhaps the path to “union” is more difficult to discern because it does not exist. Perhaps there are sheep and there are goats. Perhaps those who believe will be saved and those who do not believe will be lost. Perhaps there are true shepherds and there are wolves among the sheep pretending to be shepherds, even nice British-polite female ones, like the new “Archbishop” of Canterbury. Perhaps it is not unity but truth which should be emphasized, for any true, enduring unity can only be around the fullness of truth, and any unity which lacks that is a pretend, faux unity, a worldly peace, that will allow untold numbers of souls to continue to be misled, whether by Islam, or Sarah Mullaly or the likes of James Martin. Speak the truth about everything, Pope Leo, persistently, relentlessly, for the sake of anyone with ears to hear. Not all have such ears, not all ever had, but those who do deserve to hear the truth clearly, and not have it muffled with platitudes and soft evasions for the sake of pleasing a disbelieving crowd.
Kudoes to you, Mark and Elizabeth above. You echo my thoughts on this papacy.
“Perhaps the path to “union” is more difficult to discern because it does not exist.”
Bingo. After Leo elevated the status of cosplay Sarah- where intended or not she appeared as a peer-she launched a tirade that not having women priests is an “injustice”.
Unless one believes in spiritual quantum superposition, the position of female ordination cannot both be unauthorized by Christ as posited by Pope St. John Paul in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis as well as clearly disallowed by Scripture or a mere matter of ecclesial administrative volition.
Now perhaps formal condemnation of her ministerial impersonation is a bridge too far for Leo and he might have concern for English Catholics who still enjoy second-class status and prejudice, but there is the alternative of benign indifference.
“Unless one believes in spiritual quantum superposition”
One cannot be with Christ if one does not desire to Abide In His Word.
“You cannot be My Disciples if you do not Abide In My Word.”- The Charitable Anathema Of Jesus The Christ, the measure that allows us to remain in communion. One cannot be for Christ and against Christ simultaneously. One cannot be affirming The Word Of God, while denying The Divinity Of Christ.
Becklo reports a mission of both “PRECISION” and “DIALOGUE with Muslims (“…where communion between Christians and Muslims takes shape under the mantle of Our Lady of Africa.”
Precisely proposed….the dialogue is between individual witnesses-to-Christ and individual Muslims as followers-of-Islam, not between Christianity and Islam as if there is some kind of an equivalence between supernatural faith in the person of Christ and natural belief under the religion of Islam.
In short, and about “the mantle of Our Lady of Africa,” Muslims might consider with clarity the binary choice:
(a) between their revered Mary (the humility of the Mother of God) OR their revered Muhammad (the substitute and warrior messenger of the Qur’an);
(b) between Christ (“the Word made flesh”) OR the substitute and “uncreated” Qur’an (“the word made book”);
(c) between the unity of the Triune One (incarnate within universal human history) OR a totally distant, inscrutable and monolithic monotheism (assembled from Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian and tribal bits and pieces scattered across 7th-century Arabia); and
(d) between the “fraternity” of the universal natural law OR the “fitrah” of the Islamic umma (fitrah as the “germ” of Islam—our original orientation toward God. But lacking the mystery of gifted human free will; and a “sin” original to ourselves, rather than to a deterministic, arbitrary, and non-redemptive Allah).
Where the Qur’anic refrain is “the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful,” Christians affirm that this “mercy” IS the Incarnation, and has a real name and face. At nearly the same time that Muhammad was conquering peninsular Arabia, St. Columbanus was evangelizing peninsular Europe:
“It is no God dwelling far off [!] from us that we seek, whom if we merit it we have within us [!]. For he resides in us like soul in body, if only we are sound members of him, if we are not dead in sins, if we are uninfected by the taint of a corrupt will [free will?]; then truly does he reside in us who said, ‘And I will reside in them and walk in their midst.’”
SUMMARY: The riddle of both UNITY and PRECISION in the 21st century is twofold: how to re-evangelize agnostic secular-ISM in the individualistic West; while at the same time leavening the kernel of Christian “fraternity” among individual Muslims where (truncated) “fitrah” is the germ of Islam.
In addition to “unity,” the Augustinian Pope Leo also evangelizes the graced “interiority” of true unity.
Becklo makes a sharp contrast in God’s call for world conversion and Leo’s Human Unity achieved by peace, social integration rather than the spiritual interests or lack of that divides us.
We cannot achieve the 2nd and 3rd ‘concentric targets’ for unity if we fail to first achieve the unity of Catholic Christianity.
Noted in my response to Amy Welborn’s essay #Blessed “tossing of Summorum Pontificum underscores an agenda. To date there doesn’t appear that Leo XIV is going to dramatically change course from his predecessor except in style and finish. Unity will continue to be an irresolvable challenge”.
As it stands what we are left with in this pontificate’s approach [to date] is an emphasis on humanism rather than the steel hard, icy cold Apostolic doctrines that alone light the fires in men’s souls to achieve unity.
Yes, about “concentric targets” with the primacy and priority of internal unity…
Are we living more in a time of “grief and anxiety” rather than “hopes and joys,” all mentioned in Gaudium et Spes? If the former, then we might also reflect on the difference between the three synoptic gospels versus John’s Gospel–where Christ admonishes us to “love one another, as I have loved you.” This, at a time like John’s, when the Christians are isolated and by A.D. 65-70 and the Jewish rebellion are no longer a sect within what Rome formerly tolerated as the Jewish religion. Christ doesn’t explicitly mention loving our neighbors or our enemies—he does not NOT mention it either—but the moment is more stark than in the dewy-eyed early 1960s.
It is the love first for one another within the Mystical Body of Christ that eventually converted and replaced the Roman Empire. (I summarize poorly a recent homily by a local Dominican priest).
The question here is, “what are the real signs of the times?” And then might we consider that rather than a facile Francis II, Leo is really trying to navigate a new path through our again very rudimentary apostolic moment, a path yet to be invented one step at a time? Almost a time for the Benedict Option—not with drawbridges closed, but also not with wide bridges as naïve doormats.
We notice that in Africa Leo invited (individual) Christians to dialogue with “Muslims” as persons—not for Christianity to merge with “Islam” as such—and “under the mantle of Our Lady of Africa.”
Maybe the angels are in the details.
True.
Chris in Maryland above (4:06 a.m.)
Why so negative? This gets a little tiresome.
Just sayin’.
Cleo,
Agreed. When hate and distrust, judgmentalism and ego are the habitual lenses through which one sees the world, there is and can be nothing but negativity, and certainly no hope for unity. Maybe a rigorous reading and prayerful contemplation of the 14th Chapter of John’s Gospel might help us consider the unity that Christ desires of us and that Pope Leo XIV might be trying to promote. Referencing another Gospel passage: we all certainly need to practice the fine art of removing the planks from our own eyes and learn to pause and think long and hard before we judge the supposed, even imagined, splinters in our brother’s eyes.
”When hate and distrust, judgmentalism and ego are the habitual lenses through which one sees the world, there is and can be nothing but negativity, and certainly no hope for unity….Referencing another Gospel passage: we all certainly need to practice the fine art of removing the planks from our own eyes and learn to pause and think long and hard before we judge the supposed, even imagined, splinters in our brother’s eyes.”
What a hateful sounding comment directed towards legitimate, honest criticism of misplaced sentiment over substance. Do you not consider the removing of planks from your own eyes?
Today’s word, boys and girls is:
H A G I O G R A P H Y.
O God, shepherd and ruler of all the faithful,
look favorably on your servant Leo,
whom you have set at the head of your Church as her shepherd;
grant, we pray, that by word and example
he may be of service to those over whom he presides
so that, together with the flock entrusted to his care,
he may come to everlasting life.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Unity may be a topic of Pope Leo’s conversations, but words are meaningless; actions are all that matter. The Pope stands at the nexus of creating unity among the Church and Christianity. As long as he continues to carry Francis’ water, I cannot hear him because his works speak so loudly.
Paragraph above More than words –
“Indeed . . . his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, reportedly to release next week . . .”
Release what? Wisdom? Hot air?
I would have hoped the thirst would be for love of Christ rather than a thirst for unity. The thirst for unity sounds very political. Unity in authentic love of Christ which results in love of neighbor makes more sense. Christ did not come to be a political savior.
How do you think the pope understands Jesus’ at Luke 12:51: “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division,”
With ba[i]ted breath, I wait.
John 12:20 et seq., Jesus distinguishes Himself from the Greeks and making a lesson of it but it is not to say He wasn’t interested bringing Greeks to salvation.
One of the compelling aspects of the Gospel in all the 4 accounts, is the timing of things, a sort of imbued Revelation of the working of the Divine Providence.
Consider that not everything to do would be sudden division. Here is Jesus as a boy commanding the attention of learned elders. Here is Jesus at the start of ministry bringing wine from water for all present. Here is Jesus taking a tour of the 10 Cities, on a wide great circuit of healing. Here is Jesus leading the disciples aside for rest and instruction. Here is Jesus on the Mount of Beatitude addressing everyone with the most upbraiding manner of kindness in His sharing of wisdom. Here is Jesus in repose among friends at the house of Lazarus. Here is Jesus multiplying loaves.
I am praying for His Holiness meiron. There was an English Pontiff one time and he was a sturdy man. Now we have an American whose good qualities we want to gain Divine notice!
The English Pope Adrian IV is in a controversy for being ambiguous in a right outcome for Ireland. It could be a lesson for our Leo, to study some things to their depths and rule on them with clarity; be wary of influences that can distort real mission.
I’m glad that you pray for the pope. Every Mass includes prayer for him and the diocesan bishop. Every Rosary (before Sunday Mass at my parish) includes prayer at its end for the pope’s intentions.
A partial indulgence has traditionally been granted to persons who offer prayers for the pope. The Church does not require that one agree or be mindful of the pope’s specific intentions which change each month. Your mention of not side-tracking mission is important.
Traditionally, the Church defined the intentions of prayer for the pope:
1) The exaltation of the Church (its freedom, ability to clearly preach the Gospel, its holiness, protection from error and persecution);
2) The propagation of the Faith (evangelization, missionary work, conversion, renewal of lukewarm Christians);
3) The extirpation of heresy and schism (unity of Christians, healing of divisions, clarity of doctrine, fidelity to apostolic faith);
4) The good of Christian rulers and the peace of nations (that civil authorities govern justly, that society protect the vulnerable, that nations live in peace, that the common good is upheld).
In 1967, Pope Paul VI updated and delineated indulgences in the apostolic constition Indulgentiarum Doctrina.
This early paragraph reminds of God’s justice:
“2. It is a divinely revealed truth that sins bring punishments inflicted by God’s sanctity and justice. These must be expiated either on this earth through the sorrows, miseries and calamities of this life and above all through death,3 or else in the life beyond through fire and torments or “purifying” punishments.4 Therefore it has always been the conviction of the faithful that the paths of evil are fraught with many stumbling blocks and bring adversities, bitterness and harm to those who follow them.”
You can preach unity until the cows come home. But, if what you do and do not do what you should, and what results is a departure from Church teaching and disunity, you are like St. Paul says, “a clanging gong.” In the end, if you preach cheap sentimentality, the faithful will stop listening altogether. “Let your yes mean yes and your no mean no.”
When we reach the Pearly Gates, St. Peter will ask us how much we were united to Christ. “Did you love Him and obey His Commandments?” (c.f., the Bible)
Traditional prayer for the Pope from an old Catholic Vade Mecum:
‘ O GOD, the Pastor and Governor of all the faithful, mercifully look upon Thy servant Leo, Whom Thou hast been pleased to appoint Pastor of They Church; Grant we beseech Thee, that both by word and example he may edify those over whom is set, so that together with the flock committed to his care, may himself attain everlasting life.
ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, Who alone dost great marvels, send down upon They servants, the Bishops of Thy Church, and all congregations committed into them, the Spirit of Thy saving grace; and so that they may truly please Thee, pour out upon them continual dew of Thy blessing.
DEFEND O Lord Thy servants we beseech Thee, from all dangers both body and soul; and by the intercession of the blessed and glorious Virgin Mary Mother of God, of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, of blessed Paul, Pio and John Paul, and of all Thy saints, mercifully grant us the blessings of peace and safety, that all adversity and error being removed, Thy Church may freely and securely serve Thee.
DEFEND O LORD by the intercession of the blessed Mary ever Virgin, this Thy family and protect it in Thy great mercy, now prostrate before Thee with our whole hearts, from all the snares of our enemies.
Through her perpetual help, glory of the Christian people, joy of the Universal Church, Salvation of the whole world, our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, sustain in us faithful true devotion to Thee in the Most Holy Eucharist so we may be worthy to receive Holy Communion daily.
Through They Beloved Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen ‘
The Head of my Catholic Church is Jesus Christ. Him and no other. Those in the hierarchy who only offer up plaitudinous comments about unity and cheap sentimentality as a poor substitute for Christ I ignore.
Fits with “redux” and I find it rotty as in going to rot. The Lord had the time for the faults of the disciples you ahould ask Him for some of that. They could be questioning, incredulous, overly-cautious, doubting, even misleading, staying back and watching, argumentative. I wonder where in the Gospel one of them was cynical and defiant.
You left out this perhaps because the Pope has, the first and most important unity, Unity to our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ.
There is no other unity that matters. Being unfaithful to our Lord to court the world is a shame and a sham.
Would it be too obvious to state that Unity as a principle is something demons understand, as they are unfreely united around Satan?
Catholic Unity is chosen around the deposit of Faith in Jesus Christ.
Affirming unity as the principle to be defended – rather than the Deposit of Faith – is thus rather a subversion of the role of Peter?
Otherwise put, disunity with Judas has been normal Catholic life – normality being from ad33 to ad1962 – in order to preserve the deposit of Faith through time. Explaining that deposit of faith in such a manner as to convince those in disunity to seek to embrace the fulness of Catholic Truth is Peter’s Mission.
Encyclicals which address points of divergence between Catholic Truth and Heresy would be the Catholic way towards Unity in Charity and Truth. Teach the Faith !