ANALYSIS: From synodal clarity to liturgical peace-making, Pope Leo has several opportunities to promote stronger bonds within the Church.

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Pope Leo XIV has signaled that Catholic unity is one of his top priorities. If so, he has his work cut out for him — but also clear opportunities.

The new Roman Pontiff’s call for the Catholic Church to be “a sign of unity and communion” for the whole world, made during his opening Mass on May 18, comes at a time when the Church itself is deeply divided. Disputes in the past decade over everything from the traditional Latin Mass to synodality, curial appointments to American cardinals, have left Catholics often fighting among themselves instead of attracting others.

But because these divisions are so widespread, so are the opportunities for Leo XIV to take steps toward healing internal wounds and strengthening bonds.

The American-born Pope has already taken steps in this direction, with symbolic words and actions that have linked him not only to Pope Francis but also to predecessors like St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI, earning admiration from more traditional Catholics in the process. And with an episcopal motto like In illo Uno unum — “In the one Christ we are one” — Pope Leo XIV seems to have been thinking about Church unity for quite some time.

However, as the new Pope’s pontificate moves from its symbolic opening to the quotidian work of running the Vatican, attention will turn to more concrete actions to see how the Supreme Pontiff intends to unify a deeply divided Church. Of course, as Pope Leo said in his May 18 homily, Christ’s love is the ultimate source of Church unity — but the Holy Father can help make it easier for all Catholics to feel like they are valued and belong to the Church. 

Here are five ways that Pope Leo XIV might do so.

Bring swift justice to the case of Father Marko Rupnik.

It’s hard to think of a more obvious and unifying move than to ensure that Father Marko Rupnik — the once-famed artist who has been credibly accused of sexually abusing nearly 30 women religious under his spiritual care — is brought to justice.

Pope Francis’ perceived protection of Father Rupnik, whom he knew personally, shocked Catholics from every corner of the Church and alienated victims of clerical sexual abuse. The late pope initially prevented the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) from lifting a statute of limitations on Father Rupnik in 2022 and allowed the celebrity priest to continue to receive honors and artwork commissions even after the allegations of abuse were widely known.

After significant public backlash, Francis eventually lifted the statute of limitations in October 2023 and a trial is currently underway. However, victims have expressed frustration over the slowness of the process, with a tribunal still yet to be appointed.

A canon lawyer himself, Pope Leo could let DDF leadership know how much of a priority Father Rupnik’s trial is. The Holy Father could also restrict Father Rupnik’s movement and ministry while his case is adjudicated. Some are even calling on Leo to publicly address the case, including perceptions of mishandling, as a sign of openness and accountability.

In the meantime, removing Father Rupnik’s artwork from the Casa Santa Marta, where Pope Francis resided, encouraging the covering of the disgraced former Jesuit’s mosaics in chapels across the world, and ordering the Dicastery for Communications to stop using his art in their social media would be positive, unifying steps Leo could take, sending the message that he is serious about justice and transparency.

Ensure “synodality” is theologically balanced.

Leo has made clear that he intends to continue the synodal reform efforts initiated by Pope Francis. But if he wants more Catholics to get behind the Synod on Synodality, he’ll likely have to address concerns that the process has been overly influenced by a small group whose real goal is to make significant changes to Church teaching.

In particular, both participants and observers have expressed concerns that the theological views guiding the process have been too narrow and are not representative of the full breadth of Catholic theology today, including on contested questions like the decentralization of doctrinal authority and co-responsibility of the ordained and laity.

“It’s quite frustrating that the canonical and theological ‘experts’ all seem to be of a certain mind, not really representing many of us,” one delegate told the Register at last October’s synodal assembly in Rome, adding that there was an “imbalanced ecclesiology” in the synod hall. 

Christopher Ruddy, a theologian at The Catholic University of America, noted at the time a lack of any prominent theologians associated with Thomism or the Communio school among the synod’s theological experts, adding that the list included “few, if any, who would be affiliated with Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI.” And Dominican Father Bernhard Blankenhorn, who teaches at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, said that organizers did not consult widely with different theological schools when preparing the synod’s guiding documents, as Sts. John XXIII and Paul VI had done during the Second Vatican Council. 

These types of oversights, whether intentional or not, have contributed to a lack of trust about the Synod on Synodality. If Pope Leo XIV is serious about getting more Catholics on board with synodal reform, ensuring wider theological input into discussions on the nature of synodality and how to faithfully implement it would go a long way.

Ease pressure off traditionalists.

Perhaps no group of Catholics has felt more acutely disconnected from Church authorities in recent years than those with an attachment to the traditional Latin Mass. Due to his own concerns about Church unity, Pope Francis drastically restricted the TLM in 2021 through Traditionis Custodes and his subsequent motu proprio. Furthermore, the former pope often sounded like he was disparaging those drawn to pre-conciliar liturgy, and gained a reputation for targeting bishops who were sympathetic to traditionalists.

As things stand now, Traditionis Custodes is unevenly enforced throughout the world, as several bishops, including in the U.S., have decided to refrain from fully applying its prescriptions out of pastoral prudence. Traditionalists are largely in a state of limbo. And, whatever his intentions, there’s little doubt that Francis’ measures have exacerbated the divide between traditional Catholics and the Church hierarchy.

It’s unclear exactly what Pope Leo will see as the unifying move in the current context. Given that he’s spoken of “the need to recover the sense of mystery” in the liturgy, some think he’s likely to be “trad friendly.” But it’s also possible that he determines that Francis’ strategy of cutting off the traditionalist movement is what’s necessary for unity in the long term. 

If reconciling with traditionalists is a priority, Pope Leo has a range of options at his disposal. Of course, he could rescind Traditionis Custodes, effectively reverting to Summorum Pontificum, Benedict XVI’s measure that allowed all priests to celebrate the TLM. But short of that, Leo XIV could allow Traditionis Custodes to go unenforced, even tasking the Dicastery for Divine Worship with broadening their permissions for diocesan bishops to have a parish used for the TLM or to authorize a recently ordained priest to celebrate the restricted liturgy.

Create more “mainstream” U.S. cardinals.

It’s no secret that Pope Francis had a difficult relationship with the U.S. episcopacy. A big contributing factor in the disconnect was over his major appointments in America — especially his choice of who to create as cardinals.

Cardinals Blase Cupich (Chicago), Joseph Tobin (Newark), Wilton Gregory (Washington, retired), and Robert McElroy (Washington) — all known for being more theologically progressive than the average U.S. bishop — were Francis’ red hat picks from the U.S. The pick of Cardinal McElroy in 2021 was especially shocking, given that he was just the bishop of the Diocese of San Diego at the time, and was made a cardinal over the ranking prelate in his own province, Archbishop José Gómez of Los Angeles.

If Pope Leo XIV is looking to restore good relations between the Vatican and the Catholic Church in the United States, tapping a more “mainstream” prelate as his first American cardinal would be a good place to start. Archbishops like Richard Henning of Boston and Nelson Perez of Philadelphia are widely respected and come from the traditional cardinalatial sees that Francis made a point of passing over. Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, Texas, is admired across the ecclesial spectrum for his measured leadership of synodality efforts in the U.S., while Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, is perhaps the most popular American prelate due to his Word on Fire ministry.

The most unifying pick, however, would likely be to remediate what many consider an inexplicable oversight and make Archbishop Gómez, who is still just 73, a cardinal.

Make unifying appointments in the Roman Curia and elsewhere.

Pope Leo XIV can signal to the wider Church that he’s serious about unity by making major appointments in the Roman Curia and elsewhere with broad appeal.

He has already done this to some extent by replacing Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia as chancellor of the John Paul II Institute in Rome. Over the past decade, the Italian prelate had transformed the pontifical institute in a way that critics said betrayed its original purpose, including by ousting several longtime faculty members.

But Pope Leo has plenty more opportunities for unifying personnel moves. For instance, he could address the fact that since January 2022, not a single Vatican dicastery has been headed by an African, the longest absence of African leadership in the curia in decades.

A further area of attention could be the leadership of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. In July 2023, Pope Francis brought his longtime theological adviser Cardinal Victor Fernández from Argentina to fill the role. It was widely viewed as an extremely personal appointment, given that Fernández was not highly regarded in international theological circles, especially when compared to past heads of the Church’s doctrine office, like Cardinals Joseph Ratzinger, Luis Ladaria and Gerhard Müller.

Cardinal Fernández’s tenure at the DDF has been marred by controversy, including the December 2023 promulgation of Fiducia Supplicans, which permitted blessings of same-sex couples. The move was made without consulting the world’s bishops and led to an uproar in Africa, Eastern Europe and other parts of the world.

Given that Cardinal Fernández’s qualifications for the job have been almost entirely based on his personal relationship with Pope Francis, Pope Leo could consider transferring the Argentinian prelate to a different post. It need not be seen as a “firing” — Pope Leo has only provisionally renewed Pope Francis’ curial prefects. 

Then, Leo could appoint a new DDF prefect with a stronger theological reputation. He could even kill two birds with one stone and name a qualified African to the post. Of course, whoever Leo selects to succeed him as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops will also be an appointment to watch.

Whether by addressing clergy abuse or theological imbalances, Pope Leo XIV has plenty of opportunities to promote greater unity among Catholics. If he can lead with courage and credibility, he just might help the Church become what he says it’s meant to be: a sign of communion for a divided world.

This article was originally publish on National Catholic Register.

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