On Thursday, Cardinal Robert F. Prevost was introduced to the world as the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church and the first American pope, taking the name Leo XIV.
For Catholic theologians, the significance of the name was evident, with the new pope tying himself to one of the foundational figures of modern Catholic social teaching, Pope Leo XIII, who advocated for the rights of the poor and working class amid profound economic change.
Leo XIII served as pontiff from 1878 to 1903, encompassing the Gilded Age in the U.S. and the Second Industrial Revolution across the globe. It was a time of labor abuses and exploitation — before minimum wages, attention to workplace safety or mandated days off.
Workers, particularly in Europe, were becoming disillusioned with the church and the perception that it sided with the rich and the elite, said Father Kenneth Himes, a retired Boston College theology professor who wrote and edited numerous books on Catholic social teaching.
“Leo heard from American bishops that if he were to come out in opposition to labor unions and raise questions about the rights of workers, that could also turn [American Catholics] into disillusioned members of the church,” Himes said.
To bridge the chasm, Leo XIII in 1891 used the platform of the papacy to offer a spirited defense of union organizing and the rights of workers in his seminal encyclical, “Rerum Novarum.”
In it, he condemned “wealthy owners and all masters” who sought to profit off “the indigent and destitute.” His writing launched a latter-day focus by successive popes on the underclasses, capitalism and the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the few.
“One pope after another did an encyclical to mark further the rights of the poor,” said James F. Keenan, S.J., a Jesuit priest and professor of theology at Boston College. “We always had a long social tradition of the church … but it wasn’t until Pope Leo XIII who started the tradition of how popes needed to address the conditions of the poor and the worker.”
While Leo was motivated by a moral stance around social justice, Himes said, it was also “pastoral,” aimed at ensuring that the Catholic church was attuned to social currents.
“Leo was concerned that the church would become a church of the elites, not a church of the working class,” Himes said, and wanted to avoid a repeat of the French Revolution, when the church was viewed as siding with aristocrats and monarchs.
“If it came across that we hadn’t learned anything,” Himes said, “Leo was afraid that the church would not recover.”
Several popes have explicitly paid homage to Leo XIII’s writings.
In 1931, Pope Pius XI issued his encyclical “Quadragesimo Anno,” or “40th Anniversary,” commemorating Rerum Novarum’s release with expanded teachings on labor and how “the worker’s human dignity in it must be recognized.”
Pope Paul VI’s 1971 “Octogesima adveniens,” or “80th Anniversary,” advocates for equality and addresses youth and women. Legislation, he wrote, should recognize women’s “independence as a person, and her equal rights to participate in cultural, economic, social and political life.”
In 1991, Pope John Paul II issued “Centesimus Annus,” or “100th Anniversary,” writing about devastating poverty in developing countries along with worldwide economic, cultural and spiritual poverty caused by forces such as “consumerism.”
To Keenan, the choice of “Leo” parallels and complements the previous pope’s choice of “Francis.” When he was elected in 2013, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio said he was honoring St. Francis of Assisi, known for dedication to the destitute.
“Francis was someone who took care of the poor, ministered to them, he raised money for them, visited and anointed them,” while Leo “advocated for their rights,” said Keenan.
And thus, the new pope was signifying his desire to build upon Francis’ legacy.
“He’s picked what he’s been — an advocate — and someone who doesn’t just want to be with the poor, but advocate for them,” Keenan added.
In his first address Thursday, standing on a balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City, Pope Leo XIV honored his immediate predecessor, speaking of building bridges and of being “a church that always seeks peace, that always seeks charity, that always seeks to be close especially to those who suffer.”
“He talked about a way of proceeding that was completely collective,” said Keenan, who viewed the new pope’s background as an asset.
In addition to serving as bishop in Peru, the Chicago-born Prevost was elected by his fellow priests to run the Augustinian religious order. In 2023, Francis appointed him Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, which oversees the selection of bishops around the world and monitors the performance of bishops.
“This administrative capability of the new pope is very important — and it brings some of the order that people were looking for, and doesn’t remove Pope Francis’ legacy but makes it more palpable,” Keenan said.
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