Robert Francis Prevost, newly elected American Cardinal Pope ,. The choice indicates the personality and goals of the new pontiff. His predecessor, for example, chose to honor St. Francis of Assisi, linked to the simplicity of the poor and peace.
The first pontiff to choose the name Lion was an important Pope for Catholicism, considered a “doctor of the Church” for his high level of knowledge of Christian doctrine and preaching. A prosecutor of peace is also known in a period of war on the Italian peninsula.
Of Italian origin and elected in 440, Leo I was the 45th Pope of the Catholic Church and had a memorable papacy to the point of being Peter’s first successor to receive the title of “Great” – the other was Gregory Great.
“Sustainer and promoter of the primacy of Rome, the ‘Pontiff Magno’ left almost 100 sermons and about 150 letters to history, in which it proves to be a theologian and pastor, zealous with communion between the various churches, without ever forgetting the needs of the faithful,” says the Vatican News About Leo I.
He would have encouraged charity works in a Rome “dominated by scarcity, poverty, injustices and pagan superstitions.” In addition, he guided a delegation from Rome to meet Attila, leader of the Hunos, and dissuaded him to continue the Italian peninsula’s invasion war in the year 452.
“The legend – then resumed by Raphael, in the frescoes of the ‘Vatican Rooms’ – narrates that the leader of the Huns retired after seeing, behind Leo, the apostles Pedro and Paulo, armed with swords,” says the Vatican News.
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In 455, he also detained the vandals of Africa, guided by King Genseric, to finish completely with Rome. “Thanks to its intervention, the city was looted, but not burned down. The basilicas of St. Peter, Sao Paulo, outside the walls, and St. John in Latron, in which the population found shelter and saved themselves were intact.”
It was lion I also who inspired the Ecumenical Council of Calcedonia -present -day Kadiköy in Türkiye -which recognized and affirmed the unity of two natures in Christ: human and divine.
“Leo’s intervention in the council was made through a fundamental doctrinal text: the ‘Leo Tome’ against Flavian, Bishop of Constantinople. The document was publicly read to the 350 conciliar priests, who welcomed him by acclaim, stating: ‘Peter spoke through the mouth of Leo, who taught according to pity and truth.’
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Some historians indicate that Leo I was the first Pope to be buried in the Vatican Basilica. His relics are preserved in the chapel of Our Lady of Pilar, in the Basilica of St. Peter.
