CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy — Pope Leo XIV known as Sunday for “merciful compassion” for the world’s poor, victims of tyranny and wars, as he celebrated Mass in a parish church that has particular religious ties to Leo’s personal Augustinian non secular order.
Leo is on trip and resuming the papal tradition of summering on the the papal property of Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, and celebrated Mass within the St. Thomas of Villanova church.
St. Thomas of Villanova was a Sixteenth-century Spanish trainer who was an area and regional superior of the Augustinian order, a mendicant order impressed by the teachings of St. Augustine of Hippo. The saint is the patron and namesake of Leo’s alma mater exterior Philadelphia, Villanova University, and is understood for his take care of the poor and for having given away his wealth to these in want.
In his homily, Leo provided a meditation on the biblical story of the Good Samaritan. Leo urged the trustworthy to be guided by empathy and be moved to behave “with the identical merciful compassion as God.”
“How we have a look at others is what counts, as a result of it exhibits what’s in our hearts,” he stated. “We will look and stroll by, or we are able to look and be moved with compassion.”
That’s very true, he stated, when those that are “stripped, robbed and pillaged, victims of tyrannical political programs, of an economic system that forces them into poverty, and of wars that kill their desires and their very lives.”
From his very first phrases as pope, Leo has repeatedly emphasised his identity as an Augustinian and infused his homilies and speeches with teachings from the fifth century theologian.
The Rev. Tadeusz Rozmus, the priest on the St. Thomass of Villanova parish, has stated the return of a pope to Castel Gandolfo has filled the town with joy. In an interview forward of Leo’s arrival final week, Rozmus additionally famous the religious connection of historical past’s first Augustinian pope to the city.
“St. Thomas of Villanova was an Augustinian saint, and so with him (Leo) returns to the start of his historical past, of his spirituality,” Rozmus stated.
Leo is taking an preliminary two weeks of trip in Castel Gandolfo, although he has already interrupted it to obtain Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a bunch of non secular superiors and to rejoice a particular Mass devoted to caring for God’s creation.
He’ll return to the Vatican on the finish of July after which return for one more spell in August.
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Winfield reported from Rome.
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