Memorial of Saint Leo the Great, pope
(Wisdom 1:1-7; Luke 17:1-6)
It was said at the time of his election that Robert Prevost
took the name Leo XIV because of Leo XIII, the pope of great social
consciousness. He also might have had
today’s patron saint in mind. Saint Leo
the Great, the first to take the name, was the most distinguished pope of the
first five hundred years of the Church.
He laid the groundwork for universal papal authority so that future
bishops of Rome could be considered not just successors of their immediate
predecessors but, first and foremost, successors of St. Peter.
In the fifth century many considered the bishop of Rome as only
one of five authoritative Church leaders of the Church. He was given primacy of honor because the Roman
see had been considered the see of Peter, the head of the apostles. However, the eastern church envisioned him (and
still do) sharing authority with the bishops of four apostolic sees of the
East. Rome’s argument for having supreme
authority rocketed with Leo’s contribution to the critical debate over the
humanity of Christ. Some thought that Jesus’ humanity was assumed into his
divinity once he was born. Others
thought what amounts to the opposite.
Leo, assuming an idea that had been already expressed, wrote an excellent
treatise saying that Christ’s human and divine natures were permanently united
-- unmixed and unconfused – in a single person.
His formulation of the issue won the day at the Council of Chalcedon. Eastern bishops recognized that Peter had
spoken through the Roman bishop this time although they withheld recognition
that it was always the case.
Not all popes have been free from error as not all have been
holy men. But all do have the authority
of Peter, the Vicar of Christ. Whether
or not we see things exactly as the pope does, we must take to heart his
teaching and pay him all due respect.
