- A living authority, woven into the very flesh of the world
- Speech as action — a pedagogy of presence
- Peace, an absolute evangelical priority
- The strength of the poor: Dilexi te or the revelation incarnate
- The peripheries as a theological space
- A decentralized, missionary, and servant Church
- Social justice: a practice before it is a concept
- The ecumenical path as a shared witness
- Doctrinal coherence under construction
- A deliberate continuity, a distinct voice
- The "mastery of the airplane": a new form of authority
- Towards a programmatic encyclical?
- ✝ Biblical references
As the Catholic world prepares to celebrate the first anniversary of Leo XIV's election on May 8, 2026, the I.MEDIA agency has published a remarkable report: a methodical review of the major texts from this first year of his pontificate. Speeches, homilies, messages, press conferences on airplanes—all these words, spoken in specific locations, before real people, together form a doctrinal work of striking coherence. What is striking upon reading this assessment is a profound intuition that Leo XIV seems to have embraced from the very beginning: the truth of the Gospel is not demonstrated first and foremost, it is lived, shown, and embodied. The American-Peruvian pope did not wait for a major programmatic encyclical to lay the foundations of his pontificate. He laid them, stone by stone, in the very flesh of his encounters, his travels, his impromptu homilies. In this, he perhaps inaugurates a new form of magisterium — not less rigorous, but differently rooted.
A living authority, woven into the very flesh of the world
Speech as action — a pedagogy of presence
From the evening of May 8, 2025, when Leo XIV appeared on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, his first words revealed an immediate and deliberate pastoral focus. "Peace be with you all!"—this echo of the greeting of the risen Christ was not a rhetorical flourish. It constituted, in a few syllables, a program. Where other pontificates have waited for the inaugural encyclical to deliver their vision, Leo XIV chose to speak directly from the heart of the Gospel, without scholarly intermediary. It is this immediacy that characterizes his magisterial style.
Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Vatican media, was one of the first to identify this "common thread" running through all of the Pope's pronouncements. According to him, Leo XIV proposes "a model of Christian community where communion is lived, missionary and therefore capable of serving everyone, beginning with the most vulnerable, committed to fostering dialogue and peace." This formulation is not insignificant: it places communion before proclamation, life before discourse. It is a narrative ecclesiology, unfolding in the concrete space of apostolic journeys, audiences, and press conferences, and not only in official documents.
It is significant that the Vatican chose, as early as November 2025, to publish a first book compiling the texts of the new pope, entitled La forza del Vangelo. La fede cristiana in 10 lyrics — «The Power of the Gospel: The Christian Faith in Ten Words.» This volume, published by the Vatican Publishing House under the direction of Lorenzo Fazzini, organizes papal pronouncements around ten key words: Church, peace, hope, justice… This editorial choice itself is revealing: there are still no records of theses, but some words. And the words of this pope carry the weight of decades of field experience accumulated in Peru, serving the poor and marginalized communities.
Peace, an absolute evangelical priority
The theme of peace is by far the most recurrent of this first year. It is not a question of diplomatic peace or a simple call for a ceasefire: Leo XIV speaks of a theological peace, rooted in the risen Christ. In his homily delivered in Monaco—at the Louis II Stadium, during a memorable apostolic journey—he reinterpreted the Gospel of Lazarus in light of contemporary violence. The resurrection is not a past event: it is the active promise of a world delivered from death, including the death that men inflict upon one another through war.
On May 11, 2025, during the Regina Cæli In St. Peter's Square, Leo XIV explicitly reiterated Paul VI's appeal: "Never again war." This quote is not a general pacifist stance. It is part of a well-defined papal tradition—that of Paul VI at the UN in 1965, that of John Paul II in Hiroshima in 1981, that of Benedict XVI at Auschwitz in 2006—which makes peace not one value among others, but a paramount evangelical imperative. Leo XIV embraced this legacy and brought it into the present with particular urgency, in a global context marked by the proliferation of armed conflicts.
It is in this context that we must read the Beatitude on which he relied at length during his meeting with journalists accredited to the Holy See, a few days after his election: «Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.» (Mt 5:9). By invoking this verse from the Sermon on the Mount before representatives of the world press, the Pope was not simply offering a beautiful quotation. He was assigning to communication itself an evangelical vocation: to promote a culture of listening and truth, against the logic of competition and verbal aggression. Right speech is, in itself, a form of building peace.
The strength of the poor: Dilexi te or the revelation incarnate
If a single text were to summarize the first major doctrinal act of this pontificate, it would undoubtedly be the apostolic exhortation. Dilexi te — «I have loved you» — signed on October 4, 2025, the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, and published on October 9. This text constitutes the first formal magisterial document of Leo XIV, and its title is itself a program: it is borrowed from the Apocalypse (Rev 3:9), where Christ addresses a community without power or resources, exposed to violence and contempt, and simply says to them: «I have loved you.».
This choice of quotation reveals a theology of poverty that is not reducible to philanthropy. Leo XIV states it with remarkable clarity: «We are not in the realm of charity, but in that of Revelation.» In other words, attention to the poor is not an optional spiritual addition for Catholics sensitive to social issues; it is a means of knowing God himself. Dilexi te He quotes extensively from Paul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis, resolutely situating Leo XIV's pontificate within a magisterial continuity on social issues, while giving it its own Christological tone. It is by contemplating the face of Christ—himself poor among the poor—that the Church discovers its own face.
The peripheries as a theological space
A decentralized, missionary, and servant Church
The concept of "peripheries"—popularized by Pope Francis—did not disappear with the election of Leo XIV; it was reclaimed and deepened. But for Leo XIV, the peripheries were not only geographical or economic: they were also existential and spiritual. They included the poor, certainly, but also the sick, prisoners, the elderly, all those whom contemporary society tends to render invisible. In his addresses to the visiting bishops of Peru, he addressed these issues. ad limina In January 2026, he urged the Peruvian Church to meet the challenges of evangelization by drawing inspiration from Saint Toribio de Mogrovejo and by living ad instar apostolorum — in the manner of the Apostles. This reference to Toribio is revealing: this great 16th-century archbishop of Lima was known for having walked thousands of kilometers through the Andes to reach the most remote communities. It is this model of an itinerant and decentralized Church that Leo XIV proposes.
His fellow Augustinian, Father John Lydon, expressed it with disarming candor in an interview with I.MEDIA on the occasion of the first anniversary: Leo XIV «deepened social justice on the ground, not in books.» This statement deserves reflection. It means that this pope’s social thought is not primarily academic—even though he is capable of great theological rigor—but experiential. His convictions were forged in direct encounters with marginalized communities in Peru, during the decades he served there as an Augustinian priest and later as Bishop of Chiclayo. When he speaks of the poor, he speaks of faces he has met, of names he knows.
Social justice: a practice before it is a concept
It is instructive to place the social teachings of Leo XIV within the long tradition of the Church's social doctrine, the foundations of which were laid by his predecessor in name only—Leo XIII—with the encyclical Rerum Novarum in 1891. The symbolism of the choice of this papal name should not be underestimated. By calling himself Leo XIV, Robert Francis Prevost signaled from the outset a desire to inscribe his pontificate in this lineage: a Church that takes seriously the question of work, property, human dignity, not as an optional addition to its mission, but as an intrinsic dimension of the Gospel.
In Dilexi te, This continuity is carefully explained. The Pope affirms that «giving priority to the poor brings about an extraordinary renewal, both in the Church and in society, when we are able to free ourselves from self-referentiality and manage to hear their cry.» This formulation reflects a profound ecclesiological conviction: a Church turned inward, focused on its own structures and internal debates, loses something essential—the ability to hear the voice of God speaking through the least among us. The Lord himself proclaimed it: «Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.» (Lk 6:20). This Beatitude is not a consolation for the afterlife; it is a declaration about the way God dwells in the present.
The political dimension of this attention is not avoided. Secours Catholique noted, upon the publication of Dilexi te, that there is in this text «a political dimension to the concern for the poor»—not partisan, but structural: the Church cannot simply assist the poor without questioning the mechanisms that produce poverty. This is a prophetic tradition inherited from the great figures of liberation theology, but also from the social popes, from Leo XIII to John Paul II, who never separated charity and justice.
The ecumenical path as a shared witness
The ecumenical dimension of Leo XIV's pontificate was spectacularly manifested during his first international apostolic journey: to Turkey and Lebanon, from November 27 to December 2, 2025, on the occasion of the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. This symbolic journey—a pope traveling to the very sources of the common faith—has been the subject of an insightful analysis by Jean-François Colosimo, director of Éditions du Cerf and a historian of religions. According to him, in undertaking this journey, Leo XIV went "to the sources of faith, of the common faith," emphasizing that the Council of Nicaea concerns not only history but engages all Christian Churches in their deepest identity.
This choice of the first major apostolic journey is highly programmatic. It signals that, for Leo XIV, ecumenism was not a pragmatic ecclesiastical policy, but an evangelical imperative. Christian unity is first and foremost a grace to be implored and a witness to be offered to the world. It is in this sense that his papal motto should be understood: In Illo uno unum — «In Him who is One, we are One.» This phrase expresses a Trinitarian theology of unity: it is the communion of the divine Persons that grounds and makes possible communion among human beings. And the priestly prayer of Christ resonates here with all its power: «"That they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you."» (Jn 17, 21). The unity that the Pope calls for is not a diplomatic agreement between institutions, but a participation in the very life of God.
In his message for the 100th World Mission Day, Leo XIV articulated with great clarity his vision of the relationship between communion and evangelization. Quoting Paul VI—"There is no true evangelization unless the name, the teaching, the life, the promises, the Kingdom, the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, are proclaimed"—he recalled that the mission of the Church cannot be reduced to a disembodied social presence. It is the proclamation of a living Person. Ecumenism is therefore not an end in itself: it is oriented toward this common proclamation of Christ, in a world that urgently needs it.
Doctrinal coherence under construction
A deliberate continuity, a distinct voice
One of the aspects most noted by analysts is the way in which Leo XIV manages his relationship with his predecessors. In Dilexi te, He quotes extensively from Paul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis, without ever giving the impression of being diluted by any one of them. He inherits from them all, but speaks in his own name. This ability to situate himself within tradition while assuming a singular voice is the sign of a certain theological maturity. Professor Roberto de Mattei, who analyzed the first hundred days of the pontificate in a text published by Roman Correspondence, He noted that the Pope had "not yet taken any major steps" of his pontificate at that time—and yet, the coherence was already perceptible. As if Leo XIV had chosen to let words do their work before the institutions began to move.
The canonization of Bartolo Longo, founder of the shrine of Pompeii, in October 2025, is symbolically powerful in this regard. Longo is a fascinating figure: an anticlerical lawyer who converted, a Dominican tertiary, and the founder of a considerable social and Marian work. Choosing him as the first person canonized during his pontificate highlights a model of lay holiness, engaged in the world, oriented towards the poor and towards contemplation. It is no coincidence that Leo XIV chose to return to the shrine of Pompeii—founded under Leo XIII, his illustrious predecessor—on the exact day of his first anniversary as pontiff, May 8, 2026. The symbolism is eloquent: to inscribe his first anniversary under the sign of the Rosary is to confess that the power of his pontificate does not come from him, but from prayer.
The "mastery of the airplane": a new form of authority
One of the most original—and most debated—contributions of this first year of the pontificate is what might be called the «magisterium of the airplane.» Press conferences held in flight, upon returning from apostolic journeys, became an established tradition under Francis. Leo XIV not only maintained this practice but amplified it, sometimes delivering doctrinal clarifications, spiritual confessions, or pastoral pronouncements of disarming candor.
This type of pronouncement raises an interesting theological question: what is the magisterial status of a papal declaration delivered at 35,000 feet, without a prepared text, before journalists? The traditional answer would be: a limited, non-binding status, falling under the ordinary magisterium in its most informal form. But the accumulation of these situated pronouncements—travel homilies, welcoming addresses, messages addressed to specific groups—ultimately reveals a coherent thought, a recognizable theological worldview. This is precisely what the I.MEDIA dossier highlights: the doctrinal work of Leo XIV is no less real for being fragmented; it is simply constructed differently, according to a logic of presence and incarnation rather than a logic of treatise.
This form of living magisterium presents both advantages and risks. The advantage is clear: it makes the Pope immediately accessible, it grounds doctrine in real life, and it avoids the cold abstraction of overly formal texts. The risk is equally real: impromptu pronouncements can be misinterpreted, taken out of context, or exploited. Hermeneutical vigilance remains necessary, and this is one of the reasons why I.MEDIA performs a valuable service by systematically cataloging and analyzing these texts, restoring their context and scope.
📁 Special Report
Leo XIV1019 articles
Leo XIV, the first American pope, facing AI and digital technology: profile, social legacy of Leo XIII and challenges…
Access the folder →Towards a programmatic encyclical?
The question many theologians and observers are asking as this first anniversary approaches is this: Will Leo XIV soon deliver the inaugural encyclical which, traditionally since Pius XII, sets out the major directions of a pontificate? The question is legitimate, but perhaps poorly framed. It is possible that Leo XIV, consciously or unconsciously, chose to reverse the usual order: to first deliver the life, and then formulate the doctrine that flows from it.
This approach has no shortage of precedents in the Christian spiritual tradition. The great Doctors of the Church—from Augustine of Hippo to Thomas Aquinas, from Teresa of Avila to John of the Cross—often developed their theological thought in response to the concrete questions of their time, and not a priori. Doctrine arises from pastoral life; it is inductively constructed from the experience of God in history. Andrea Tornielli aptly summarized this by describing Leo XIV as a pope who refused to "confuse mission with religious marketing" and who knew how to "be leaven because he reflects the light of Another." This fundamental humility—recognizing that the light does not originate from within—is perhaps the most encouraging sign of this nascent pontificate.
While a formal encyclical is expected, the themes are already clearly announced by this first year: the dignity of the poor as a source of revelation, peace as an evangelical priority, Christian unity oriented towards evangelization, and social justice lived from within rather than proclaimed from without. These four axes form a remarkable doctrinal coherence for a one-year pontificate—a coherence all the more convincing because it was not fabricated in the offices of a dicastery, but tested in the flesh of the world.
The first anniversary of Leo XIV's encyclical, celebrated at the feet of Our Lady of the Rosary in Pompeii, will be an opportunity to reflect on what a year of incarnate words can accomplish. To believers hoping for a major encyclical, the Pope perhaps responds: look at what has already been said, look at how it has been said, and you will already find the essence. For the Gospel, as he himself reminded us, "is not an abstract ideal: it is the Gospel of God's faithful love, incarnate in the face and life of Jesus Christ.".
Sources
- I.MEDIA, The major texts of the first year of Leo XIV, special report, April 2026.
- Leo XIV, Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi te, Vatican City, October 4, 2025.
- Leo XIV, La forza del Vangelo. La fede cristiana in 10 lyrics, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, November 2025.
- Andrea Tornielli, Six months with Leo XIV: a united and open Church, a sign of peace, Vatican News / cath.ch, November 2025.
- Jean-François Colosimo, interview on ecumenism and the first apostolic journey of Leo XIV, RCF, October 2025.
- Roberto de Mattei, The first 100 days of Pope Leo XIV, Corrispondenza Romana / L'Homme Nouveau, September 2025.
- Vatican News, Prayer vigil for peace, April 2026.
- Catholic World Report, Reflections on Dilexi Te, October 2025.
✝ Biblical references
3 passages · 3 books
God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. (John 3:16)
The Gospel of the Word: a profound theology of the Incarnation and the signs of Jesus.
→ Explore the Codex John- Be vigilant! The soul awake in the heart of the world
- «I pray for them» — The intercession of Christ, the beating heart of our salvation
- The Son who came from the Father: when God speaks before creating
- Given to the Lord: the vertigo of being chosen by God
- «"Amen, Amen" — When the Definitive Word Opens a New World
- The unity that is built and the one that is broken: Leo XIV, Bartholomew and the shadow of Écône
- The broken communion: when Tradition becomes a schismatic foretold
- When the Synod searches for its compass: Cardinal Grech facing the global Church
- «You will never be abandoned» — the prophetic visit to Gaza, or the ecumenism of blood
The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost. (Luke 19:10)
The Gospel of Mercy: Jesus close to the poor, women and sinners.
→ Explore the Codex Luc
Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:20)
The Gospel of the King: Jesus, the new Moses, fulfills the Scriptures for Israel and the nations.
→ Explore the Matthew Codex- «"Let it be done according to your faith" — John Cassian and the mystery of faith that opens heaven
- «Faith is made» — Saint Caesarius of Arles and the scandal of a faith without hands
- The radical nature of the Gospel: when God refuses to grow old
- Do not fear those who kill the body: Leo XIV and the hidden victory of the martyrs
- Praying without witnesses: what secrecy reveals about God and about us
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With over 76,130 Catholics, Peru is a country deeply marked by the Catholic faith, blending colonial tradition with vibrant Andean spiritualities. Evangelization began in the 16th century with the Dominicans and the Franks…
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With over 70 million members, the United States is home to one of the world's largest Catholic communities in absolute numbers, even though Catholics represent only 21% of the population. Evangelization began...
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