Pope Leo XIV, like his predecessor Pope Francis, is a pope of notable firsts.
Formerly Robert Cardinal Prevost, OSA, Pope Leo XIV is the first pope from the United States, the first from North America, the first to have Peruvian citizenship, and the first from the Augustinian Order.
Perhaps the Augustinian charism has profoundly shaped his life, including these early days of his papacy.
However, the influence of Saint Augustine of Hippo, the fourth-century bishop and Doctor of the Church, is not unique to Pope Leo among recent popes.
Pope Benedict XVI, while not a member of the Augustinians, also shares with Pope Leo a life and ministry shaped by Saint Augustine.
Both Pope Leo and Pope Benedict completed their doctoral work on Saint Augustine as young priests.
The then-Father Robert Prevost, a canon law student in Rome, defended his doctoral thesis in 1987, discussing the role of local priors in the Augustinian order based on Augustine’s monastic rule.
Pope Benedict, as Father Joseph Ratzinger, completed his theology doctorate in 1953 in Germany with a dissertation on Augustine’s concept of the People of God.
But what was Augustine’s influence on their work as bishops?
In both, this influence meant helping others in their search for God through preaching and pastoral closeness.
Saint Augustine insisted that Christians ought to use their talents in service to God and others.
For Father Prevost, this was evident as a missionary and bishop in Peru. There, he accompanied Catholics and others through civil unrest and natural disasters, offering them an example of how to live out the Gospel.
For Father Ratzinger, this commitment to the Augustinian ideal of service was manifested by his teaching and episcopal career. Like Augustine, he taught about the compatibility of faith and reason and the primacy of love as communion.
Both Popes have also shown their devotion to Saint Augustine in their respective coats of arms.
Pope Leo XIV’s coat of arms features an emblem of the Augustinian order: an inflamed, pierced heart resting upon a book. The emblem represents the conversion experience of Saint Augustine, who described it using the phrase,
“Vulnerasti cor meum verbo tuo” - “You have pierced my heart with your Word.”
Pope Benedict XVI’s coat of arms features a scallop shell, which relates to a famous legend of Saint Augustine.
While walking on a beach one day, he noticed a child trying to use a seashell to scoop up the sea into a hole in the sand. When he told the boy that this was impossible, the boy replied that this represented Augustine’s attempts to comprehend the mystery of the Trinity and the need for childlike faith.
As the new pontificate of Pope Leo XIV continues, we do not have to look too far into the past to see the influence of Saint Augustine, the Doctor of Grace, on recent pontificates.
Benedict XVI’s teachings as pope were heavily influenced by Augustine, and he once referred to him as "the greatest Father of the Latin Church." Like him, he taught that God was accessible to human reason, and that both faith and reason led to true knowledge.
In a world marked by more complex challenges, Saint Augustine can help the new Pope, and us, promote the Gospel as a response to the deepest questions of the human heart.