Pope Leo XIV Inviting Catholics to Rediscover Centrality of Christ: Italian Cardinal

Lamenting the rise of secularization eroding the faith of individuals and societies, the 82-year-old Italian cardinal said Europe is in great need of heeding Pope Leo’s message to rediscover its identity and faith in “the face of God who is Christ.”

“Unfortunately, it is a reality not of today but of decades, as we know,” Bagnasco told Mancini. “It seems that the European continent is forgetting its origins and this fact is not positive for Europe because it means forgetting its own face.”

“It is forgetting that the meeting between Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome took place here in Europe,” he said.

Though Bagnasco was unable to participate in the May 7–8 conclave that elected Leo XIV due to his age, he participated in the 12 general congregation meetings to discuss the state of the Church and discern the qualities the pope would need to lead Catholics worldwide. 

“What we always expect from the pope and what the entire Catholic world — but not only — expects is to be the point of reference, the confirmation of faith,” he said in the interview. “The mission that Christ gave to Peter is to announce on the rooftops a strong, clear, explicit faith and the evangelical charity that derives from it.”

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On the continuity of the history of the Church and the popes, Bagnasco said Pope Leo XIV succeeds pontiffs who, with their own vision and qualities, have sought to lead the Church and confirm the faith of Catholics in a world troubled by various challenges.

“John Paul II with the disruptive force of his personality [led the Church] and before him Paul VI with the great event of the [Second Vatican] Council,” he told Mancini. “Benedict XVI was the great master in the face of modernity that is forgetting God and with God forgetting man.”

He continued: “And then Francis was attentive to the challenges of the time with the ongoing wars and other problems such as the relationship with nature and the people who move from one continent to another in search of a better life,” he said.

Kristina Millare is a freelance journalist with a professional communications background in the humanitarian aid and development sector, news journalism, entertainment marketing, politics and government, business and entrepreneurship.