Unpacking Pope Leo XIV’s Speeches, Blessings and Writings

Mike Gormley and Dave VanVickle breakdown Pope Leo XIV’s blessings, speeches, and writings thus far. They analyze the popes and saints the pope has quoted, the poetic nature of Pope Leo XIV and approach his words and actions with excitement and curiosity. 

Snippet from the Show

“I know a lot of you had problems with Pope Francis. I know others of you had problems with Pope Benedict and Pope John Paul II and Vatican II. Well I’m taking it all on because he was a valid successor of Pope Peter and now I am and so I’m standing in this tradition. Let’s go.”

Shownotes

Quotes

• “Peace be with you! It is the peace of the risen Christ.  A peace that is unarmed and disarming, humble and persevering.  A peace that comes from God, the God who loves us all, unconditionally… Help us also, and then help each other to build bridges, with dialogue, with encounter, uniting us all to be one people always at peace. Thank you Pope Francis!.. I am a son of St. Augustine, an Augustinian, who said, ‘For you I am a bishop, with you, I am a Christian.’ In this sense we can all walk together toward that homeland that God has prepared…” (“Urbi et orbi” blessing given by Pope Leo XIV after his election May 8, 2025)
• “In the first part of this meeting, there will be a short talk with some reflections that I would like to share with you. But then there will be a second part, a bit like the opportunity that many of you had asked for: a sort of dialogue with the College of Cardinals to hear what advice, suggestions, proposals, concrete things, which have already been discussed in the days leading up to the Conclave… You, dear Cardinals, are the closest collaborators of the Pope. This has proved a great comfort to me in accepting a yoke clearly far beyond my own limited powers, as it would be for any of us… Beginning with Saint Peter and up to myself, his unworthy Successor, the Pope has been a humble servant of God and of his brothers and sisters, and nothing more than this. It has been clearly seen in the example of so many of my Predecessors, and most recently by Pope Francis himself, with his example of complete dedication to service and to sober simplicity of life, his abandonment to God throughout his ministry and his serene trust at the moment of his return to the Father’s house. Let us take up this precious legacy and continue on the journey, inspired by the same hope that is born of faith. It is the Risen Lord, present among us, who protects and guides the Church, and continues to fill her with hope through the love ‘poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us’ (Rom 5:5)... It is up to us to be docile listeners to his voice and faithful ministers of his plan of salvation, mindful that God loves to communicate himself, not in the roar of thunder and earthquakes, but in the ‘whisper of a gentle breeze’ (1 Kings 19:12) or, as some translate it, in a “sound of sheer silence.” It is this essential and important encounter to which we must guide and accompany all the holy People of God entrusted to our care. In these days, we have been able to see the beauty and feel the strength of this immense community, which with such affection and devotion has greeted and mourned its Shepherd, accompanying him with faith and prayer at the time of his final encounter with the Lord. We have seen the true grandeur of the Church, which is alive in the rich variety of her members in union with her one Head, Christ, ‘the shepherd and guardian’ (1 Peter 2:25) of our souls. She is the womb from which we were born and at the same time the flock (Jn 21:15-17), the field (Mk 4:1-20) entrusted to us to protect and cultivate, to nourish with the sacraments of salvation and to make fruitful by our sowing the seed of the Word, so that, steadfast in one accord and enthusiastic in mission, she may press forward, like the Israelites in the desert, in the shadow of the cloud and in the light of God’s fire (Ex 13:21).In this regard, I would like us to renew together today our complete commitment to the path that the universal Church has now followed for decades in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. Pope Francis masterfully and concretely set it forth in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, from which I would like to highlight several fundamental points: the return to the primacy of Christ in proclamation (No. 11); the missionary conversion of the entire Christian community (No. 9); growth in collegiality and synodality (No. 33); attention to the sensus fidei (Nos. 119-120), especially in its most authentic and inclusive forms, such as popular piety (cf. No. 123); loving care for the least and the rejected (cf. No. 53); courageous and trusting dialogue with the contemporary world in its various components and realities (No. 84; Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 1-2). These are evangelical principles that have always inspired and guided the life and activity of God’s Family… Sensing myself called to continue in this same path, I chose to take the name Leo XIV. There are different reasons for this, but mainly because Pope Leo XIII in his historic Encyclical Rerum Novarum addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution. In our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defence of human dignity, justice and labour...” (Address of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV to the College of Cardinals)
• “Dear Brothers in Christ, I am especially happy to welcome, for the first time after my election as Bishop of Rome and successor of the Apostle Peter, this Delegation representing the sister Church of Constantinople as we celebrate the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, Patrons of the Church of Rome. This traditional exchange of Delegations between the two Churches on the occasion of the respective feasts of their Patron Saints is a sign of the profound communion already existing between us, and a reflection of the fraternal bond that united the Apostles Peter and Andrew. After centuries of disagreements and misunderstanding, the resumption of genuine dialogue between the sister Churches of Rome and Constantinople was made possible through courageous and farsighted steps taken by Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras. Their venerable successors to the Sees of Rome and Constantinople have pursued with conviction the same path of reconciliation, thus further strengthening our close relations. Here I would like to mention the witness of sincere closeness to the Catholic Church given by the Ecumenical Patriarch, His All Holiness Bartholomew, by his personal participation in the funeral of the late Pope Francis, and again at the Mass inaugurating my Pontificate. As I think back with gratitude on the progress made thus far, I assure you of my desire to persevere in the effort to restore full visible communion between our Churches. The attainment of this goal can only come about, with God’s help, through a continued commitment to respectful listening and fraternal dialogue. For this reason, I am open to any suggestions that you may offer in this regard, always in consultation with my brother Bishops of the Catholic Church who, each in his own way, share with me the responsibility for the complete and visible unity of the Church.  (cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, 23)...” (Address of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV To The Delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate On the Occasion of the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul)