The New Pope Leo XIV
By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
The Conclave of Cardinals, in a secret ballot, behind closed doors, elected the new Pope, the American Cardinal Robert Prevost, who belongs to the Order of Saint Augustine.
In the Latin tradition, there are various orders, which were founded in the West. These are organized monastic communities of Roman Catholics and have the purpose of spreading Christianity, combating heresies, organizing education, missionary work, etc. The well-known monastic orders are the Benedictines, the Franciscans, the Dominicans, the Jesuits, the Augustinians, the Cistercians, the Trappists, etc.
These monastic orders were created in an effort to support the “Church” from heresies, that is, they were used against heresies, just as the Dominicans were instruments in the Holy Inquisition. They were not created to save their members, living within the Church, but to “save” the Church, as if the Church needed saviors!
The Order of Saint Augustine, to which Pope Leo XIV belongs, was founded in 1244 by decree of Pope Innocent IV, by uniting various hermit monks who followed the rule of Saint Augustine of Hippo, who lived in the 4th-5th century AD. Those who adopted the rule of Saint Augustine were a devout movement, and they tried to bring monastic life to the urban environment.
It should be noted that Saint Augustine was considered the foundation for Scholasticism, the theology that developed between the 11th and 13th centuries and used rationalism to understand theological issues with the basic principle "credo ut intelligum" (I believe in order to understand), that we first accept a truth and then process it logically in order to understand it.
This theological tradition was followed by Barlaam of Calabria, who was condemned by the Orthodox Church in the struggles of Saint Gregory Palamas. Barlaam, following Saint Augustine, considered the understanding of God through philosophy to be superior and the knowledge of God that comes from God’s revelation to the Prophets, Apostles, and Saints to be inferior.
The Order of Saint Augustine has practical purposes, is open and not too strict. Those who belong to this Order are dedicated to missionary work and exercise pastoral ministry to the laity.
Another interesting point is that Cardinal Robert Prevost, who was elected as the new Pope, according to Vatican custom, preferred to take the name Leo XIV, which means that so far there have been 13 Popes with the name Leo.
In the history of the Papal throne, of those who had the name Leo, the most important were: Leo I (440-461), who played an important role in the decision of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod on the two natures of Christ; Leo III (795-816), who on Christmas 800 AD crowned the Frank Charlemagne Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in Rome, but reacted to the introduction of the Filioque in the Creed; and the last one, Leo XIII (1878-1903).
Apparently, the new Pope chose the name Leo in honor of the last Pope Leo XIII, whom he values for the work he did as Pope and for this reason he has him as a model in his life and wishes to follow the ways of his papacy. It is, therefore, necessary to see what was the work of Pope Leo XIII, whom the new Pope esteems and chose his name.
Pope Leo XIII had intense intellectual qualities, as a layman he was pious, coming from a noble family. He received a brilliant education, and was used in the diplomatic branch. As is known, the Clergy of the Vatican are called upon when they are ordained to choose which branch they will follow, the priestly-pastoral or the diplomatic, because the Vatican has two characteristics, religious and political. During his tenure as Pope, he promoted the education of the clergy and the missions, sought to improve the political relations of the Vatican with the various States, and generally tried to further consolidate "Roman Catholicism" throughout the world.
It has been written that Pope Leo XIII issued the Encyclical "Rerum Novarum" ("On New Things"), "in which he discusses the rights of workers and the capitalism of the industrial age and is considered the first social encyclical of the Catholic Church, founding modern Catholic social thought."
Pope Leo XIII "influenced Catholic Mariology", that is, the Roman Catholic teaching on the Virgin Mary, which emphasizes exaggerated theological views on her work as the redeemer of mankind, and issued ten Encyclicals on the rosary, for which he was called "the Pope of the Rosary".
Pope Leo XIII was also the first to conceive the idea of returning scholastic studies to Thomas Aquinas, and his successor Pope Pius X followed more systematically. This is a movement called neo-Scholasticism or neo-Thomism.
Leo XIII lived in an era dominated by a degradation of the basic principles of the dogmatic system of the "Roman Catholics", the well-known scholasticism that had been systematized in the 13th century by Thomas Aquinas. This era of Pope Leo XIII was dominated by the ideas of the Enlightenment and Modernism, which undermine the foundations of "Roman Catholicism".
In 1870, the First Vatican Council was convened, which tried to stem the tide of doubting the faith and dogmatized on the infallibility of the Pope, because the Papacy “is being violently tortured and the bonds of unity are being severely and daily loosened. The divine authority of the Church is being fought over and its rights are being violated.” In other words, the Enlightenment principles are attacking the faith of Roman Catholics. In addition to the Enlightenment, Protestant principles, as well as the existentialist quests of Western people, are internally undermining the structure of the Vatican.
Pope Leo XIII undertook the task of supporting Roman Catholicism in the movement of Modernism and issued the Encyclical "Aeterni Patris" on August 4, 1879, on "the correct use of philosophy by Christians, with the entire body of writings of Thomas Aquinas as its epicenter."
Let me remind you that Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) was the greatest of the Scholastic theologians, who in his writings, mainly in the "Summa Theologiae", attempted to establish the doctrines of Roman Catholicism based on the teaching of Saint Augustine (354-430 AD) in combination with Aristotelian philosophy; in reality he united Aristotle with Neoplatonism.
However, the Scholastic philosophy based on rationalism and developed mainly by Thomas Aquinas was greatly criticized by the Nominalism of the 14th century, and later by the Renaissance, Protestantism, the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Existentialism. Thus, the foundations of Thomas Aquinas and the foundations of the Roman Catholic faith were shaken, which means that all of Roman Catholicism was found to be in a great weakness.
Precisely at that moment then Leo XIII issued his aforementioned Encyclical with the aim of establishing "the correct use of philosophy" with texts by Thomas Aquinas with a new research reading, as did his successor Pius X with another Encyclical issued on September 8, 1907.
However, the Encyclical of Leo XIII emphasizes the usefulness of philosophy in defending sacred dogmas against Modernism, while the Orthodox theology of the Fathers is based on the theoptic experience of the Prophets, Apostles and Fathers, which is expressed in the terms of the philosophers of the time.
The Encyclical mentions some ancient common Fathers, such as Saint Gregory the Theologian, Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Basil the Great, etc., but considers that the "summary of all" is Saint Augustine and the scholastic teachers, such as Bonaventure and Thomas Aquinas.
Thus, emphasis is placed on the study of the works of Thomas Aquinas in confronting Modernism as expressed in the Reformation and the Enlightenment. It proposed "the reception of every science, through the scholastic spirit, so that revelation and human reason are complemented as the invincible bulwark of faith."
This movement of Leo XIII was called neo-Scholasticism or neo-Thomism, which means that it is a reinterpretation of some principles of Thomas Aquinas, who was based on Saint Augustine and Aristotle, and was placed at the center of theological studies, in the life of Monastic Centers and in modern theology in general, as a response to the new philosophical movements.
Whether the new Pope Leo XIV, who admires Pope Leo XIII, whose name he took, follows this trend of neo-Thomism/neo-Scholasticism, in combination with missionary work, that is, whether he moves between conservatism and modernity, or whether for other reasons he preferred this name, we will see in the future with the relevant decisions he will make.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
