A pope marked by the figure of the great Doctor of the Church
From the very first days of his pontificate, Leo XIV repeatedly evoked the figure of Saint Augustine, the great bishop of Hippo, Doctor of the Church, philosopher of grace and spiritual father of the Christian West. This is no coincidence. Even before acceding to the throne of Peter, Leo XIV had been trained in a religious order inspired by the Rule of Saint Augustine, and his first homilies, readings and public meditations reveal a deep affinity with Augustinian thought and spirituality.
In a world in search of landmarks, Pope Leo XIV drew a common thread from the thought of Saint Augustine: the human soul in tension, the infinite desire for God, the search for truth and the inner struggle between shadow and light. This inspiration gave his pontificate a rare theological and existential depth.
The restless heart of man, according to Augustine
St. Augustine wrote: "You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you." This emblematic phrase, taken from the Confessions, often recurs in the speeches of Leo XIV. He sees it as a key to reading the contemporary world: a world that is restless, tired, often disappointed, but always inhabited by a thirst for meaning.
The Pope insists on this "fruitful restlessness" as a spiritual driving force. He invites young people, seekers of God, hesitant believers, not to stifle this thirst, but to honour it, to follow it, to dig into it. Like Augustine, he does not propose closed certainties, but a path of interiority, where faith is not primarily an intellectual adherence, but a living encounter with the One who transforms the heart.
A Church that listens, dialogues and converts
In the thought of Saint Augustine, conversion is not a one-off event, but an ongoing process. Leo XIV takes up this dynamic in his way of governing: he calls on the Church to convert itself, to abandon the logics of power, prestige or withdrawal, to become once again humble, servant, joyful and fraternal.
He also insists on the importance of dialogue, not as a communication strategy, but as an Augustinian attitude: Augustine dialogued with pagans, Manichaeans, Donatists, and always sought the truth without denying his faith. For Leo XIV, this means that today the Church must be present on the frontiers - cultural, social, spiritual - not to impose, but to accompany, enlighten and witness.
Grace above all
One of the foundations of Augustinian thought is the primacy of grace. Man, according to Augustine, is incapable on his own of attaining salvation: it is God who comes to seek him, to lift him up, to love him first. Leo XIV took up this vision as a pastoral compass. He constantly reminds us that the Church is not a reward for the perfect, but a home for sinners, a school of mercy.
This theology of grace shines through in his words on divorced-married people, people wounded by life, believers on the margins, oppressed peoples. He refused to reduce faith to rigid morality: like Augustine, he saw personal relationship with God first and foremost as a gift to be welcomed, not a merit to be earned.
A unified vision of man and the world
Finally, one of the richest aspects of Saint Augustine is his ability to hold together faith and reason, love of God and love of neighbour, interiority and commitment. Leo XIV draws on this to propose a Christian vision of humanity: a being created in the image of God, free, vulnerable, called to love and to build the common good.
This is why he takes a stand for social justice, peace, the safeguarding of creation, but always in connection with the spiritual life. He never separates action and contemplation, politics and prayer, combat and tenderness. This coherence, nourished by Augustine, gives his words a peaceful authority.
A light for the future of the Church
In choosing to draw inspiration from Saint Augustine, Leo XIV was not seeking to return to the past. He simply recognised in Augustine a timeless voice, capable of speaking to the souls of today. In the crisis facing the Church, he proposed a demanding but luminous path: that of a return to the heart, of dialogue with God, of trust in grace, of faith that seeks to understand.
Through his simple gestures, his profound words and his inhabited silences, Leo XIV wanted to make the Church a living place, where contemporary man could hear the echo of this word: "Late have I loved you, beauty so ancient and so new..."
