The journey that reveals the pontificate

By Andrea Tornielli

The first day of Pope Leo’s journey to Africa, as well as the two that followed, were marked - at least from a media perspective - by commentary on statements made by US President Donald Trump. A controversy that the Pope himself sought to downplay, given the risk that every word he spoke during the trip could be interpreted through the lens of relations between the Holy See and the White House.

As a result, a particularly significant remark made by the Successor of Peter on the morning of Monday, 13 April, during his first greeting to journalists on the flight that had just taken off for Algiers, went almost unnoticed. He said that Africa “was supposed to be the first of my pontificate.” “As early as last May, I had said that on my first journey, I would like to visit Africa."

So, immediately after his election, Pope Leo XIV had expressed this specific desire to his collaborators - a wish that could not come to fruition at the time for logistical reasons, but which says a great deal about how the first Pope born in the United States understands his mission. One must not forget a fundamental aspect of Robert Francis Prevost’s biography: he is a missionary religious - a characteristic that is quite rare in the history of the papacy in recent centuries.

Pope Leo spent many years as a missionary and parish priest in Peru, and later returned there as a Bishop at the request of Pope Francis. It is in light of this vocation that we can understand his desire for a first journey to Africa and what we are witnessing these days: the Pope smiling and at ease as he follows the rhythmic songs and traditional dances accompanying Eucharistic celebrations; as he devotes himself to meeting and embracing children; as he spends long moments shaking hands and greeting people. Above all, as he speaks about the newness of the Gospel encountering cultures and peoples, becoming a driving force for peace and transformation.

This was evident in Bamenda, Cameroon, where the Bishop of Rome went to support the building of peace and coexistence in a context tragically marked by civil war. Or in Yaoundé, when addressing the academic world, he spoke of the importance of forming consciences "that are free and endowed with a holy restlessness" a necessary "condition for the Christian faith to appear as a fully human proposal. Such a faith is capable of transforming the lives of individuals and of society, of inspiring prophetic change in the face of the tragedies and forms of poverty of our time."

It is no coincidence that Pope Leo XIV pointed to the revival and deepening of the late Pope Francis’s Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium as a programme for the upcoming consistory. That foundational document of his predecessor - whose passing marks its first anniversary today - is once again proposed to the Church because it clearly expresses what mission consists of: the kerygma, the proclamation of the essentials of the faith; the face of a Church that knows how to be close to those who suffer, sharing in the dramas of humanity; the commitment to transforming society in a more humane and just direction. A Church which, as we read in Pope Leo's Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi te, recognises love for the poor as an essential part of the Christian proclamation, because “contact with those who are lowly and powerless is a fundamental way of encountering the Lord of history.”

The emphasis on peace, on returning to negotiation, and on respect for international law - interventions that have drawn reactions in recent days - fits within this context. It helps to clarify once more the nature of the Church’s service, and particularly that of the Successor of Peter, who does not act as a politician but as a pastor. Yet it is inherent in being a pastor - far from any reduction to a purely spiritual or abstract dimension - to care about peace, justice, dialogue, encounter, the building of more just societies, closeness to those who are persecuted or discriminated against, solidarity with innocent victims of war, and the prophetic concern for the fate of humanity in this “dramatic hour of history.”