Vatican journalist: Pope Leo continues course of his predecessor
Pope Leo could stop synodality - but he won't. The new Pope is actively tackling the transformation of the Church and focussing on participation.
Pope Leo XIV made a conscious decision in favour of the World Synod project, says Italian Vatican journalist Marco Politi. He commented on the Italian internet portal ilfattoquotidiano.it on Tuesday that the new Pope could have dropped the synodality project of his predecessor Pope Francis. Instead, however, he decided to "make it his own".
The ecclesial assembly envisaged by Pope Francis in 2028 will therefore take place - according to Politi, "a kind of mini-conciliar". The journalist sees this as an "important step in the process of the Catholic Church's transition from an absolutist monarchy to a participatory community" that reflects the full diversity of world Catholicism.
Protection from abuse
According to Politi, Pope Leo is also focussing on the fight against abuse. This is shown by a recent personnel decision: The Pope has made French Bishop Thibault Verny President of the Commission for the Protection of Minors. "A very significant choice," says the journalist. This is because the French episcopate is one of the few episcopates in the world that wanted an independent commission to investigate sexual abuse in the Church between 1950 and 2020.
In addition, the new president of the Vatican commission brings experience from leading the French episcopal commission to combat abuse. With the election of Verny, Pope Leo is sending a clear signal with regard to the Universal Guidelines that the Vatican Commission is working on in order to lead bishops worldwide to uniform behaviour.
According to Politi, Leo XIV is also trying to speed up the opening of the canonical trial against the mosaic priest Marko Rupnik. He has also ordered that all images of Rupnik's mosaics be removed from the Vatican's websites. "A clear signal," said the journalist. Several nuns had levelled serious accusations against the former Jesuit Rupnik. In essence, it was about the exploitation of the clerical office for sexual seduction.
Credit:KNA