Campion Hall welcomes the election of Pope Leo XIV

Photograph (c) Vatican Media

At Campion Hall we were inspired and encouraged by the example and teaching of Pope Francis; his major encyclical on care for creation, Laudato Si, was the catalyst for the establishment of our Laudato Si Research Institute, dedicated to scholarship around integral ecology; an area of research that includes environment, international development, and social justice, with particular attentiveness to the voices of those who live with the consequences of catastrophic climate change and poverty.

We welcome the election of Robert Prevost as Pope and look forward to being inspired and encouraged by his leadership. In his opening words to the crowds gathered in Rome, he spoke of the need to work for peace, to be a church that walks with all who suffer, and to continue to grow together as a synodal church.

Throughout his ministry the new Pope has lived values that are very much in line with those we try to live here at Campion Hall; commitment to inclusiveness and welcome, solidarity with those who live in the most difficult and oppressive circumstances, and a personal commitment to scholarship and personal formation.

Our mission at Campion Hall is to be a welcoming community of learning and research for a flourishing humanity in a reconciled world. In his first words as Pope, Leo XIV spoke about the urgent need for peace in the world, signalling that his pontificate will share our hopes for bridgebuilding and the reconciliation of all humanity. We look forward to walking alongside our new Pope in his call for the church to be one that always seeks peace, charity, closeness, especially to those who are suffering.

Professor Celia Deane-Drummond, Director of LSRI and Senior Research Fellow at Campion Hall shares

As Director of LSRI we are delighted with the election of Pope Leo XVI who will make sure that the legacy of Pope Francis will continue, and that the plight of the most impoverished and oppressed members of global society will find a voice. His reference back to Rerum Novarum in his name puts Catholic social teaching at the heart of his future ministry, along with subsequent encylicals that echo that document and take it further, including Laudato si'.

 

Dr Austen Ivereigh, Fellow in Contemporary Church History at Campion Hall, has been retained by the BBC for the past few weeks to provide coverage of the Papal funeral and subsequent conclave. In a message from Rome he writes that

“We can expect a pontificate aligned with, and flowing out from, the basic contours defined by Francis: humility, pastorality, synodality; concern for the poor, and for creation. But Leo will be different; those who know him praise him as a bridge-builder in a time of walls, and peace making  — in the world as well as in the Church — will define his pontificate.”