A FAITHFUL-EVOLUTIONARY

The Lord Jesus Christ built his Church on a rock:

You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church (Matthew 16).

Peter was the first pope. Pope Leo XIV is now the 267^th successor of St. Peter.

How has the Church survived and thrived for so long?

Fidelity to the truth. Adaptability to change.

Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903) is indisputably the first truly modern pope:

He is the earliest-born person captured on film, believe that or not.

Elected in 1878, he systematically modernised the Church:

Promoted St. Thomas Aquinas method of philosophical and theological thinking (1879)

Opened the Vatican Archives (1883)

Published first modern Social Teaching Document (1891)

Setup the Biblical Commission, restoring the Bible to Theology and Prayer (1902)

Approved the new modern constitutional arrangements between Church and State.

Leo was a faithful-evolutionary.

His predecessor, Pope Pius IX (1846-1878), was nicknamed ‘Pio No No,’ because he was anti most things modern.

Rather, Pope Leo XIII embraced modernity with faith, not fear:

Nothing is more useful than to look upon the world as it really is, and at the same time to seek Elsewhere (God) for the solace to its troubles (Rerum Novarum 18).

AMEN.