Pope Leo XIV Urges 2 Apostles’ Model for Church Unity as He Rejects Pastoral Rigidity
Updated
Updated · exaudi.org · Jun 29
Pope Leo XIV Urges 2 Apostles’ Model for Church Unity as He Rejects Pastoral Rigidity
3 articles · Updated · exaudi.org · Jun 29
Summary
At a St. Peter’s Square Angelus on June 29, Pope Leo XIV said Peter and Paul show the Church how differences can become a “workshop of unity and communion,” not a source of division.
Peter and Paul’s contrasting lives — fisherman and Pharisee — proved, he said, that Christian authority grows through forgiveness and service rather than domination, because “their greatness was shaped by forgiveness.”
Leo used the feast of Rome’s 2 patron saints to warn Catholic communities against apathy and repeating “the same old pastoral plans,” urging constant discernment and new ways to preach the Gospel.
He also tied that message to his papacy, saying his episcopal ministry is “a service to unity” and pointing to an “ecumenism of blood” linking Rome with other Christian denominations.
The appeal broadened his earlier feast-day call for unity amid differences, while ending with prayers for the sick, the lonely and prisoners in Rome and beyond.