It was 12 months ago, on 8 May 2025, the world was first introduced to Pope Leo XIV.
Stepping out onto the balcony, the largely unknown Cardinal Robert Prevost was introduced as the new Vicar of Christ.
His first words, as he overlooked St Peter’s Square, were: “Peace be with you all!”
These works have become a hallmark of his papacy. He has been a consistent advocate of peace, as war rages across the globe. He has actively called for an end to conflicts in Sudan, Cameroon, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, urging Vatican diplomats to be “bridges and channels of peace”.
In April, he held a prayer vigil for peace in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, urging all the people of the world to join him.
He has been such a fierce advocate for peace, it has brought him into conflict with world leaders, including US President Donald Trump, but he has been unwavering in his message.
He is no stranger to navigating conflict and political tension. As a young missionary in Peru in the 1980s and 1990s, he ministered in the midst of conflict and violence, between an authoritarian government and violent insurgents.
His first pastoral trips outside of Italy have been to places where conflict can be a daily reality for people.
Accompanying this call for peace, has been a deep desire to promote human dignity.
In his first apostolic exhortation, partly written by his predecessor, Pope Francis, Pope Leo XIV said Scripture and tradition clearly show that "God has a special place in his heart" for the poor and oppressed. He added that the church needs “to make a decisive and radical choice in favour of the weakest.”
He has also begun talking into the challenges of artificial intelligence, urging people to not forsake their own creativity, imagination and intellect in using it as a tool. He said doing this would: “mean burying the talents we have been given to grow as individuals in relation to God and others. It would mean hiding our faces and silencing our voices.”
These comments in particular are striking given his papal name, which the Holy Father explained was based off his admiration for Pope Leo XIII.
“There are different reasons [for choosing this name], but mainly because Pope Leo XIII in his historic Encyclical Rerum Novarum addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution,” he said.
“In our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defence of human dignity, justice and labour.”
Pope Leo’s time in Peru, through economic and political turmoil, would have given him a strong insight into the need for human dignity to be promoted by the church.
Throughout the past year, he has also stressed the unity of the church, calling it a “divine mandate at the core of our Christian identity”. He has been deeply ecumenical and engaged in interreligious dialogue, visiting mosques during two of his trips outside of Italy.
He has also carried his Augustinian identity through his papacy.
Among his first words were: “I am an Augustinian, a son of Saint Augustine, who once said, ‘With you I am a Christian, and for you I am a bishop.’ In this sense, all of us can journey together toward the homeland that God has prepared for us.”
He had expressed a desire to live in community with his fellow Augustinians, even as Pope, and regularly visits the Augustinian community in Rome.
Unlike his predecessor, Pope Leo XIV’s first year has been marked by patience.
Many who knew him as a bishop and cardinal said one of his greatest gifts was his ability to listen and discern. He has carefully assessed the state of the Church, the running of the Roman Curia and patiently discerned where changes need to occur.
His appointment of Archbishop Anthony Randazzo as Prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts shows a clear intent to refresh the curia and bring outsiders into key roles.
Pope Leo’s patience may be driven in part by the fact he was only 69 when he was elected to the pontificate, seven years younger than Pope Francis was when he became pope.
When he was Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, Pope Leo was also a man of pastoral patience. In a meeting with Bishop Michael Martin of Charlotte, the then-Cardinal Prevost had urged the bishop to slow down amid a flurry of changes in his diocese.
It is only recently too, he has started interacting with the media directly too, although he has trod more carefully than his predecessor, likely aware of the media’s ability to stir controversy through soundbites and short quotes.
To mark one year of his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV will make a pastoral visit to Pompei and Naples.
He will begin his one-day trip at the Pontifical Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary of Pompei, meeting with a local charitable organization. He’ll also celebrate Mass there.
He’ll then travel to Naples, to the Duomo di Santa Maria Assunta, the Naples Cathedral, meeting with the clergy and religious of the Diocese.
The day will culminate with a large public gathering at Piazza del Plebiscito before he returns to Rome by helicopter in the early evening.
Overall, Pope Leo’s first year has been one which appears to have been meticulously crafted. He has not rushed to make changes, but been eager to listen and take in the needs of the Church while immediately addressing the important themes of peace and human dignity.