by Gianni Valente
Rome – On his first apostolic journey as Successor of Peter, which began today with a flight from Rome to Ankara, Pope Leo XIV is venturing into a tangle of conflicts, the shedding of innocent blood, and anger destined to be passed down from generation to generation. This vortex, once again, finds its epicenter once again in the Holy Land, the land of Jesus. Just a few days ago, an Israeli airstrike hit Beirut, a crucial stop on the papal visit to Lebanon.
There is great anticipation surrounding what the Bishop of Rome, elected last May, will be able to say and do on his first apostolic journey. What disarming words, what gestures of peace and healing will he be able to spread amid the wounds of our time, of the Middle East, of the Church, and of the world
The characteristics of Pope Prevost’s magisterium, his new way of exercising the ministry to which he has been called, suggest that in the coming days there will be no catchwords, no geopolitical pretensions, and no magic formulas attempting to unravel the knots of resentment that ensnare and burden the lives of entire peoples. No messianic posturing. No promises of abstract projects. “We must disappear so that Christ may remain, make ourselves small so that He may be known and glorified,” said Robert Francis Prévost in his first homily as Pontiff. And this principle can inspire the Bishop of Rome even when he is called to give an account of Christian hope in the face of the historical processes and upheavals that are sweeping through the world and the lives of nations.
Shortly before departing, Leo XIV offered a valuable clue to grasping the “key” that can help us understand the scope and dimension of his first apostolic journey, which begins in the land where the friends of Jesus were first called Christians. It is the Apostolic Letter “In unitate fidei,” a magisterial text explicitly—and unusually—published on the occasion of a papal journey.
With this document, written to mark the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea , Pope Leo expresses his desire “to encourage the whole Church to renew her enthusiasm for the profession of faith. For centuries, this enduring confession of faith has been the common heritage of Christians, and it deserves to be professed and understood in ever new and relevant ways.” .
In the Apostolic Letter, the Successor of Peter reiterates that “Christians have been called to walk in harmony, guarding and transmitting the gift they have received with love and joy” .
He recalls that common baptism and the profession of faith proclaimed at the Council of Nicaea still unite all Christians, despite their divisions. He points out that, compared to the present, “the times of the Council of Nicaea were no less turbulent. When it began in 325, the wounds inflicted by the persecutions of Christians were still fresh,” to which were added “disputes and conflicts” related to the doctrines of Arius, a presbyter of Alexandria, according to whom “Jesus was not truly the Son of God,” but an “intermediate being” between “the inaccessible God and humanity” .
In “In unitate fidei,” the Pope recalls that during the Arian crisis, the faith of the apostles was safeguarded primarily by the Sensus Fidei of the People of God. He cites the testimony of Saint Hilary of Poitiers, who recognized “the orthodoxy of the laity in the face of the Arianism of many bishops, writing that ‘the ears of the people are holier than the hearts of priests.’”
Thus, by referring to the “elementary” features of common baptism and the shared profession of faith in Christ, the Incarnate Word, God made man, Pope Leo also suggests the horizon of his mission and that of the Church, in the Middle East and throughout the world, in these difficult times.
By traveling to Turkey and Lebanon, and stopping at the site of ancient Nicaea, following the prophetic intuition of Pope Francis, Leo XIV proposes to all a “return to the sources” of Christian unity. He reiterates that only by professing together the common faith defined at Nicaea and offering to the world the gift received through baptism can Christians rediscover the path to unity, asking forgiveness for the divisions. No ecclesial engineering strategies or projects of cultural hegemony are needed. Even today, relying on worldly logic divides Christians, as evidenced by the recent divisions that have separated the brothers of the Orthodox Churches, who have also been involved in fratricidal wars.
Only by relying on the common confession of baptismal faith, proclaimed at Nicaea, can the Bishop of Rome and all the baptized offer everyone paths to unity. Paths that, for believers and non-believers alike, restore the fraternity promoted by the magesterium of Pope Francis, right at the heart of what he called the “third generation.” “A piecemeal world war.” Only by returning to the sources of baptismal grace can the Church show herself to the world as a sign and sacrament of unity for all humanity, as the Second Vatican Council taught.
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