A steady light: Pope Leo XIV’s top five moments of 2025

“Lebanon needed this embrace.”

The words went out over a social media platform, made more poignant for the accompanying image of Pope Leo XIV consoling a weeping Lebanese woman.

I couldn’t help thinking “perhaps the whole world needed it, and needs this pope, for this time.”
Leo’s papacy, of nine months gestation, has revealed itself slowly — full of hope but also hidden, as though the first pope from the United States meant to show himself in small, unhurried measures.

The office into which he had been thrust might quickly make its demands known, but this new pontiff seemed to be considering everything placed before him with care. The punditry, who had barely counted Cardinal Robert Prevost among the papabile going into the conclave, have been chomping at the bit to define the man, quickly comparing him to his predecessor or trying to label the new pontiff according to their preferences.

Barely had we met him before one head-spinningly swift headline blared: “With Leo, there’s no going back from Francis,” while another editorial declared Prevost would be no “Francis 2.0 or even 1.5.” More thoughtful publications watched and waited to see what the first steps of this newborn pontificate would show — would he be cautious or take off running?

Our new Peter came with a papal name of both historic greatness and clear-minded engagement with changing times and trends, and that seemed to please everyone.

As societies are roiled by the still-evolving, barely studied effects of techno-addiction on our minds and souls, increased government surveillance on our trust, mysterious use of bitcoin on economies and the thoughtless embrace of artificial intelligence on everything, there seemed to be a consensus of hope that this new Leo might be nodding toward Leo XIII, whose encyclical “Rerum Novarum” helped to define the moral concerns and rights of laborers during the Industrial Revolution.

When the new pope admitted as much, expectations grew that he would quickly address all of it, especially bringing Catholic sensibility to bear on the powers and problems inherent to AI. Meanwhile, the Augustinian who appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s last May 8 kept his initial thoughts to himself. Making his first popemobile forays into the crowds attending his audiences, he greeted babies and made several spectacular catches as all manner of “Pope Leo” dolls came his way.

“He seems quietly centered, and comfortable in his own skin,” I wrote to a friend. “But I wish he’d do something spectacular, already. I mean, why the reticence? He’s from Chicago!”

“By way of the missions in Chiclayo, Peru,” I was reminded. “Be patient. Honestly, I like that Leo is taking his time and leaving a lot to the imagination. Showing an ankle, so to speak, not the whole leg.”

As the Holy Father’s papacy progressed, I realized that what I’d thought of as “reticence” was instead an Augustine-rooted habit of careful thought. After the dramatic pipe organ of Pope John Paul II, the quiet piano of Benedict XVI, and the larger-than-life brass band that was Pope Francis (a man unfiltered while speaking off-the-cuff but capable of real elegance on paper), Prevost presented more like an acoustic guitar tuned by the master: soothing, inviting, complex and capable of great surprise.

Here are my top 5 “Pope Leo Moments” for 2025.

1) His first interview — and the messages contained in it

In his first interview, Leo spoke clearly of his concerns for socio-economic issues, wealth inequality, the marginalized, environmental concerns, immigration, war and governmental overreach but also surprised many by insisting, “I don’t see my primary role as trying to be the solver of the world’s problems.”

Rather, the new pope means to root the voice of the church firmly to its source: “The values that the church will promote in dealing with some of these world crises don’t come out of the blue, they come out of the Gospel.” It goes back, he added “to the very basic things of respecting one another, respecting human dignity …”

And so, month by month Pope Leo began to show us what he meant — by issuing a beautiful and moving exhortation on love of the poor; by praying with the leader of a historic persecutor of the church; by addressing the marginalized, both outside and within the church through Gospel lenses and with an eye toward bridging what has become polarized. He’s used digital encounters to stay in touch with young Catholics, to excellent effect.

All of that added up to a great beginning for this infant papacy, but Leo’s slow revelation ended in Lebanon, where we saw a candle of steady light, burning with a full and compassionate heart for the suffering, a vigorous and deep uplifting faith and a humble yet firm sense of occasion.

2) Visit to Turkey and, especially, Lebanon

In considering the top five moments of this papacy thus far, Pope Leo’s visit to Turkey and Lebanon is an obvious standout. The photos from Leo’s pilgrimage to Iznik were breathtaking: standing above the submerged ruins of the ancient Basilica of Saint Neophytos, the bishop of Rome joined in prayer with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople and representatives of Eastern churches, both Catholic and other Orthodox, and helped the one, apostolic church breathe with both lungs.

In Istanbul he made a respectful visit to the famous Blue Mosque, leaving his shoes outside but — in a departure from his three predecessors — politely declining to pray with an innately American demurral, “that’s OK.”

After that, Leo’s focus was Lebanon, Lebanon, Lebanon, with that beleaguered nation’s estimated 1.3 million Catholics demonstrably overjoyed to meet their new Papa. The Holy Father seemed similarly enthused, becoming the first pontiff to visit and pray before the shrine of St. Charbel Makhlouf, the great Melkite monk held in deep reverence by Catholic and even some Muslim Lebanese. Indeed, Pope Leo later acknowledged “the enduring truth that Christians, Muslims, Druze and countless others can live together and build a country united by respect and dialogue.”

From there Pope Leo met with an enthusiastic group of young people, his stirring address spelling out the challenges of balancing technology and interpersonal relationships; he also consoled the families of those lost in a devastating 2020 explosion that killed hundreds — the “embrace Lebanon needed” — closing the trip with a Mass attended by an estimated 150,000 Catholics. There, he preached with forceful beauty: “Lebanon, stand up,” he said. “Be a home of justice and fraternity! Be a prophetic sign of peace for the whole of the Levant.”

3) Meeting — and praying with — an earthly king

Precedent setting as it was, Pope Leo’s Apostolic Journey was not the first historic moment of his papacy. A month earlier he had welcomed Britain’s King Charles III, Supreme Governor of the Church of England, to St. Peter’s and for the first time since the Reformation, a pope and a British monarch prayed together, and in the Sistine Chapel, no less!

There are still plenty of issues keeping us apart but Leo is demonstrating that Christians praying together, in every part of the world, must always be the beginning dialogue for peace.

4) “Dilexi te”: Continuity and unity

It was a beautiful sign of papal continuance when Pope Francis picked up Benedict XVI’s unfinished encyclical and completed it, issuing “Lumen Fidei” and graciously writing “I have taken up his fine work and added a few contributions of my own.” Likewise, “Dilexi te,” the apostolic exhortation Pope Francis was preparing before his death was finished by Leo XIV, who wrote, “I am happy to make this document my own … since I share the desire of my beloved predecessor that all Christians come to appreciate the close connection between Christ’s love and his summons to care for the poor.”

While notions of papal continuance too frequently rest upon shallow externals (“Will he eschew a mozzetta? Will he wear a camauro?”) in this cooperation of popes working as brothers toward the same end, we see the continued presence of the Holy Spirit, who upholds the institutional church, whether she is at her best or her worst. What a heartening thing.

5) Plaintalk for the plane presser

Leo’s three most recent predecessors agreed to in-flight press conferences, which are informal and can sometimes yield answers requiring later follow-up or clarification. On the return to Rome, the Holy Father, while doubtlessly still processing all that he had experienced in the Levant, covered an array of topics with clarity, discernment and discretion — no follow-ups required — and he even shared something of his personal prayer life.

Perhaps in keeping with his stated belief that he is not meant to be “the solver of the world’s problems,” he refused to go into detail about delicate socio-politico issues. Asked about a letter from Hezbollah, Leo delicately sidestepped the details saying only, “Clearly, on the part of the church there is the proposal that they lay down their arms and that we seek dialogue. But beyond this, I prefer not to comment at this time.”

Responding to a query as to his state of mind when the possibility of his election became clear in conclave, the pontiff was natural and instructive. “I resigned myself to the fact … I took a deep breath, and said ‘here we go Lord, you’re in charge, you lead the way.'”

A prayer of surrender to an unimaginable change in life and station, “here we go, Lord, you’re in charge.” By word and example, perhaps the best and most succinct example of lived and intimate prayer that a pope can make, unceremoniously offered as instruction to us all.

Read More Commentary

Theologian explores modern society’s manipulation of body and identity

Corridors of gratitude

Encountering Christ in neighbors facing detention, deportation and loss

The Immaculate Conception and the evolution of dogma

Immigrants, refugees and the Holy Family

Finding peace amid Christmas season in ‘big city’

Copyright © 2025 OSV News

 Print