Almost one year in, Pope Leo’s vision for his pontificate is still coming into focus. But there are a few key characteristics that are worth noting. First, and most obviously, Leo is not Francis II. For much of Francis’s pontificate, the air around the Vatican was polluted with ecclesiastical fear. Francis, for all his talk of synodality, consolidated power not just around himself, but in himself. With the election of Robert Prevost to the Chair of St. Peter, the culture of fear disappeared overnight. Pope Leo clearly wants to move beyond these divisions, but he also seems committed to doing so with as much continuity with Francis (and previous popes) as possible. It is not healthy for the Church to simply be a reflection of the current pope’s particular preferences.
