When the Spirit ignites hope, goodness opens the way
There are moments in history that taste of spring. The beginning of this new pontificate is one of them. With hearts aflame and eyes open, we recognize that the Holy Spirit has once again surprised us. He has lifted up the Church, set us on our journey, and revealed that hope is not a naive dream, but a force that uplifts peoples, keeps the weary moving forward, and lights the light in the midst of darkness.
This pope arrives as a sign of this hope. A simple, approachable, deeply evangelical man, he humbly and firmly follows the paths blazed by Pope Francis. But he does so in his own style: with his heart on the peripheries, with his feet in the mud of history, and with his hands open to all, excluding no one. The beginning of his ministry has been marked by a powerful message: the world is changed not by force, but by kindness; not by arrogance, but by service; not by violence, but by peace.
His name, Leo, resonates strongly in the Church's memory. It refers us to Leo XIII, the Pope of the Rerum novarum, father of the Church's social thought, defender of workers' rights, and prophetic herald of a Church committed to justice and peace. Taking that name is no coincidence: it is a declaration of principles, an alliance with the living tradition of social doctrine that places human dignity and the common good at its center.
This Pope has embraced synodality as a style of governing and living. A Church that walks together, that listens, that does not impose, but accompanies. He has sought to show from the very beginning that communion is not uniformity but the richness of embracing differences with love. He insisted on being missionaries without fear, going out without calculation, loving unconditionally. And he does so with the friendly face of the Gospel, with the smile of a God who draws near and walks with his people.
We live in times of instability, of wars that bleed entire peoples, of discourses that exclude, of systems that trample on the weakest. But this Pope, like a new Francis—and accompanied by Francis himself from heaven—reminds us that goodness can be a counterweight to the brutal weight of injustice. That peace is not a utopia, but a path. That the little ones can be a light in the night.
We ask the Holy Spirit to guide and sustain him. And we also invoke the presence of Brother Leo, the faithful friend of Saint Francis, to be the silent companion on this new journey: one from heaven, the other from earth, uniting history and eternity in a single mission of love. May they together make possible a Church that beats with one heart and one soul, as Saint Augustine dreamed. A Church that welcomes, that listens, that accompanies, and makes the Kingdom possible here and now.
This is the time of goodness. This is the time of the Spirit. And we, as a people, say forcefully: here we are, send us!
