No one commented on this yesterday. Pope Leo is nice, but His Holiness will also mean business like Leo XIII!
Over a century ago, Leo XIII pointed out that “preserving the Eastern rites is more important than is generally realized”. He went so far as to decree that “any Latin-Rite missionary, whether a member of the secular or regular clergy, who by advice or support draws any Eastern-Rite Catholic to the Latin Rite” ought to be “dismissed and removed from his office”.
And in another sign of discontinuity with Francis, sources report the following about Leo’s humble reception of papal dignity and traditions. NO SELFIES WITH HIS HOLINESS!
Vatican City - In these first, intense days of the pontificate of Leo XIV, a gesture as simple as it is eloquent has aroused attention among the clergy and the faithful: the new Pope has declined, with the grace and delicacy that distinguish him, the request to take selfies. It happened with journalists and also with representatives of the Eastern Churches and in an era in which everything seems to be reduced to image, immediacy and visibility, this refusal sounds like a powerful invitation to reflection. On some occasions, the Pontiff simply pointed out that the cameras already present are more than enough; on others, he preferred that a third person take the photo, thus avoiding the self-referential dynamic of the selfie.
3 comments:
"On some occasions, the Pontiff simply pointed out that the cameras already present are more than enough; on others, he preferred that a third person take the photo, thus avoiding the self-referential dynamic of the selfie."
=======
News reports have indicated that Pope Leo XIV has posed for three at least selfies. That was the word that each report had utilized — "selfie."
=======
From: Chicago Sun-Times:
When it came time to go, Pope Leo asked his friends if they’d like a photo — something they hadn’t even thought about as they were catching up.
“He goes, ‘Do you guys wanna do a picture?’” Lisa Solava recalled.
“And I go, yeah. He goes, ‘A selfie, right?’”
https://chicago.suntimes.com/pope-leo-xiv/2025/05/14/pope-leo-robert-prevost-vatican-selfie-new-lenox-lisa-rich-solava
=======
Pax.
Mark Thomas
Father McDonald, are you grooving to the papal tweets in Latin, the Vatican posting the address to the Eastern churches leaders in Latin, and Leo (in Latin, at least) using the royal plural? Mueller also stating he thinks/hopes Leo will find some way to allow more TLM....
meanwhile, my own master of timing local bishop (who replaced a very TLM friendly bishop), after Francis' death and before the new pope, had read in only local churches affected (and unpublished on diocese website) a letter shutting down a local TLM parish and consolidated with another TLM "only" about 50 miles away for those made homeless.
Marc, in less than a week, Pope Leo has developed his doctrine about papal selfies, he no longer desires them because he is the pope and doesn’t want to denigrate the office of the papacy by selfies. He wants someone who isn’t in the photo to take the photo—is this a development of his doctrine of selfies or is it a deepening of his most humble acceptance of the dignity of the office of the papacy that he has received? In the first few hours of his papacy, he did not have a developed doctrine of selfies, but now he has infallibly spoken and you are to give blind obedience to this.
Post a Comment