By Claudio Resta | Source

The name chosen by a Pope is not random but an extremely synthetic expression of his pastoral program. Nomen Omen.

For example, the late Pope Francis had chosen that name to ideally refer to Saint Francis, known as the poor man of Assisi, thus meaning a pauperist program.

What does Leo, the name of the newly elected Pope, mean now?

First of all, I observe that all Popes with this name have been Popes who broke with the past and also with the policies of the previous Pope.

Secondly, it seems important to note that the last pope with this name, Leo XIII: had promulgated the encyclical Rerum Novarum ”Of New Things” (implied of our time). A social encyclical, the first in history, promulgated on May 15, 1891 by Pope Leo XIII, in an era in which socialist ideology was beginning to confront liberal capitalistic ideology, an encyclical with which for the first time the Catholic Church took a position on social issues and founded the modern Social Doctrine of the Church.

The Catholic movement was then divided into various currents regarding the attitude to be taken towards advancing capitalism: those who proposed a rapprochement with the socialist movement to try to mediate in consideration of radical Marxist atheism, were opposed by the convinced supporters of progress, trade and laissez faire, concepts for which they asked for a substantial blessing.

The originality of this encyclical Rerum Novarum therefore lies in its mediation: the Pope, placing himself exactly halfway between the parties, warns the working class not to give vent to its anger through ineffective ideas of revolution, envy and hatred towards the rich, and asks the employers to mitigate their attitudes towards employees, who should not be treated like slaves.

The hope is that there will be agreements and collaborations between the social parties on the social question, admitting associations “both of workers only and mixed workers and employers” for the mutual protection of rights.

An invitation is even made to Christian workers to form their own companies, rather than join an “organization contrary to the Christian spirit and the public good”.

Finally, the encyclical contains a firm condemnation of socialism, the theory of class struggle and Freemasonry, preferring that the social question be addressed and resolved by the combined action of the Church, State, employees and employers.

Protection of the weaker classes “If, through excessive work or work not suited to sex and age, the health of workers is harmed; in such cases, the force and authority of the laws must be used within due limits.”

“In protecting the rights of private individuals, special consideration must be given to the weak and the poor. The rich class, strong in itself, has less need of public defense; the miserable masses, lacking their own support, have a special need to find it in the patronage of the State.

Therefore, the State must preferentially direct its care and provisions to workers, who are among the weak and needy.”

Having at heart the protection of the rights of women and children, who were often the most exploited workers, the encyclical also proposes to reserve for women tasks that are appropriate to them, also from the moral point of view and of their role in the education of their children.

In this regard, it is impossible not to remember that the newly elected Pope Robert Francis Prevost comes from Chicago, the most ”American” of US cities as well as the earliest capital of Fordist capitalism that has been in post-industrial crisis for some time now.

A new contemporary periphery of the world in the heart of the US Empire!

And as such, he will certainly have a particular sensitivity for this crisis of the ”American Dream” that led to the election of President Trump. MAGA, precisely.

And it is hoped by everyone that a constructive dialogue can be established between the two American leaders of the World.

Then given his multi-ethnic and multicultural origins, Robert Francis Prevost who was born in Chicago, Illinois, on September 14, 1955 to Louis Marius Prevost, of French and Italian origins, and Mildred Martínez, of Spanish origins, despite being American, has all the prerequisites to be able to dialogue with South America (where he was on mission for many years) as well as with the Rest of the World.

In addition to English, he speaks Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese fluently, and can read Latin and German. With dual citizenship, American and Peruvian, he is the second Pope from the American continent and the first in history from the United States of America.

In August 2015 he obtained Peruvian citizenship in addition to having American citizenship where he was born. 

Then, regarding his missionary activity, as he emphasized in his presentation speech Urbi et Orbi he is an Augustinian Friar and Cardinal.

Let’s see now what it means to be an Augustinian Friar.

The Augustinians of the Portuguese province also founded convents in Arabia, Zanzibar, Kenya, Iran, Iraq, Georgia, but they all had a short-lived existence; they had greater success in India, where they remained until the suppression of the religious orders in Portugal in 1834.

The Augustinian Gregor Johann Mendel OSA ( 20 July 1822– 6 January 1884) was an Austrian biologist, meteorologist, mathematician, Augustinian friar and abbot of St. Thomas’ Abbey in Brno (Brünn), Margraviate of Moravia.

Mendel was born in a German-speaking family in the Silesian part of the Austrian Empire (today’s Czech Republic) and gained posthumous recognition as the founder of the modern science of genetics.

Though farmers had known for millennia that crossbreeding of animals and plants could favor certain desirable traits, Mendel’s pea plant experiments conducted between 1856 and 1863 established many of the rules of heredity, now referred to as the laws of Mendelian inheritance.

The period that began in 1786, when Emperor Joseph II suppressed most of the convents in the Habsburg countries, was one of the most difficult for the order: numerous Augustinian communities in Europe and Latin America were dispersed and their assets confiscated by the state.

• the friars constitute the first order of Saint Augustine (first degree);
• the second degree is formed by the contemplative nuns;
• the third degree is constituted by the regular and secular third orders;
• the fourth degree by the so-called “cinturati”.