Vatican sleuths are busy as new Pope takes the reins

The Vatican press corps is watching Leo XIV very intently for clues to the sort of pope he plans to be.

The detective work started even earlier than he appeared on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica to greet the folks of Rome and the world.

When Cardinal Dominique Mamberti revealed that the brand new pope would take the title Leo XIV, that was the primary clue to be interpreted.

Had he chosen to be Francis II, the that means would have be clear: he could be a continuity pope — ‘Francis 2.0’.

However by calling himself Leo, the Pope was reaching again to an older custom — to the Catholic social instructing related to the final Leo’s nice encyclical, Rerum Novarum (1891), which addressed the rising challenges of social and financial justice.

By the way, if this Leo lives so long as the final Leo, he will likely be retaining papal detectives busy for the subsequent 23 years.

The Vatican sleuths then set to work on the subsequent clue — how the Pope was dressed when he appeared on the central loggia of St Peter’s.

In contrast to Pope Francis, who wore a easy white cassock, Pope Leo opted for the extra conventional papal apparel.

So there he was, carrying a purple mozzetta, with a papal stole, and, below that, a white rochet and his white papal cassock.

Traditionalists have been fast to rejoice, seeing in that apparel an early signal that the brand new pope could break from the progressiveness of his quick predecessor.

I noticed one thing completely different.

Cardinal Prevost, now Pope Leo, is understood to be a liturgical centrist.

However he’s additionally identified to be progressive on problems with social and financial justice.

Consider him as ‘Francis 1.5’.

He’s additionally identified to be a peacemaker, a quietly spectacular diplomat with a missionary focus.

I believe this new pope, who dressed like Benedict on that balcony however appeared like Francis when he spoke, will discover methods to succeed in out to the assorted factions of the divided Catholic world in an effort to deliver them nearer collectively.

He could even resolve to calm down a number of the controversial restrictions imposed by Pope Francis on using the Conventional Latin Mass.

However the brand new pope’s dedication to his predecessor’s principal legacy appears clear to most.

It was on show on Friday, when the Pope addressed cardinals at a Mass within the Sistine Chapel.

At one level, he spoke in English, encouraging the cardinals to stroll with him of their new ministry collectively — that “strolling collectively” was a nod to the final Pope’s ambition to construct a “synodal” church, one the place each voice issues – not simply the bishops’ voices – in deliberating and shaping the Church’s future.

The sleuthing will proceed at midday on Sunday in Rome, when the Pope leads his first Regina Caeli, a Marian prayer typically recited throughout Easter.

Earlier popes have led that prayer, simply as they’ve recited the Angelus, from the balcony of the Apostolic Palace. Pope Leo has determined to sidestep that conference and preside from the balcony of St Peter’s.

We will anticipate every kind of claims and counter-claims, a few of them totally implausible, about what that papal choreography tells us about his method to Catholic liturgy and the way forward for the Church.

Different clues to look out for? Nicely, we nonetheless do not know the place Pope Leo will reside.

He is been staying at his condominium within the Palazzo Sant’Uffizio, the headquarters of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Religion. That is the place Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who later grew to become Pope Benedict XVI, had his places of work when he led that highly effective Vatican division.

Will Pope Leo observe Francis’s instance and reside in Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican guesthouse, queuing for breakfast with a tray in his palms?

Or will he transfer to the historic papal residence within the Apostolic Palace overlooking St Peter’s Sq.?

I would not be stunned if it is the latter. However, as with the papal apparel on the balcony, I would not learn an excessive amount of into that call.

It will be a gesture that pleases many traditionalists, who want to emphasise the centrality and uniqueness of the papal workplace, however Pope Leo clearly needs to be judged not by how he attire or the place he lives, however by what he says and does on the earth past the somewhat cryptic lexicon on Vatican politics.

In the meantime, reporters the world over are presently interrogating each facet of the brand new Pope’s life; each resolution he took, or did not take, as a priest and bishop; each homily, each tweet, each re-tweet.

They’re going to be on the lookout for papal scoops, in fact — each historic quote on points starting from the function of ladies within the church to LGBTQ+ rights is a possible downside for Vatican officers.

After which there are these on-line criticisms of the US vice-president JD Vance, re-posted by then-Cardinal Prevost final yr. How would possibly that have an effect on relations between the president and the papacy?

Per week from in the present day, on Sunday 18 Might, the brand new Pope will likely be formally put in in St Peter’s Sq. with a Mass for the start of his preach.

Worldwide delegations will likely be invited, and we’ll see if Donald Trump decides to be current to rejoice the primary Pope from the US.

But when the previous few days inform us something, he could be attending the set up of a former Peruvian bishop who sees himself because the second Latin American Pope.