Pope Leo has much to ponder during his vacation in Castel Gandolfo

Charles Collins/Crux • July 6, 2025

After Pope Leo XIV arrives in Castel Gandolfo for his summer break, it is unlikely to prove a real vacation for the new pontiff.

When Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected on 8 May 2025, it was the post-Easter period in Rome. This is the slow-down time in Rome, since the Vatican basically shuts down after the 29 June celebration of the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul.

Unlike Pope Francis, Pope Leo is continuing the tradition of spending the summer in the lakeside town about 15 miles outside of Rome and which offers a much cooler climate.

The new pontiff will have time to think what issues he is facing.

From the beginning, Leo has mentioned the changing effects of technology – especially Artificial Intelligence – on society, both morally and how it will change the economy. One of the reasons he chose Leo as his name is because of how his predecessor Leo XIII dealt with the Industrial Revolution in the late 1800s.

However, other issues are looming over the new Pope.

First of all, he must look at what he was predecessor was doing, and whether or not he wants to emphasise everything Francis did. This is not unusual for a new pope – after all, the Theology of the Body was no longer emphasised after Pope St. John Paul II died, and the “Courtyard of the Gentiles” was somewhat stillborn under Pope Benedict XVI.

There are three major issues promoted by Francis, and we just have an inkling on how Leo will deal with them.

The first is Laudato Si’, the 2015 Encyclical by Francis that was “on care for our common home”. Leo has mentioned it several times, and environmental issues were also spoken about by Benedict XVI and John Paul II.

The new Pope has already confirmed the issuing of the Mass for the Care of Creation, and in his Message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation 2025, he said Laudato Si’ had “accompanied the Catholic Church for a decade”.

“May it continue to inspire us, and may integral ecology increasingly be chosen and shared as the path to follow. In this way, the seeds of hope will multiply, to be ‘guarded and cultivated’ through the grace of our great and unfailing Hope, the Risen Christ,” Pope Leo said.

It seems clear Leo will continue to push the support of the “Care of Creation” that has been a feature of Catholic Social Teaching since Vatican II.

The second issue relates to the Amazon. Pope Francis, as the first pope from South America, was very concerned about the situation in the Amazon region. The Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region was held in 2019, and the finishing touches of the rituals and the Missal of the Amazonian Rite is due to come out in weeks.

The Amazon region faces many complicated issues, especially concerning the lack of priests and the culture of the many peoples living in the area.

Officials organising the new Missal for the region have indicated they will promote a married priesthood and even the ordination of women deacons – both issues that critics say is a stalking horse to change Church teaching.

Leo, of course, is not an outsider on this issue. He spent most of his priesthood in Peru, and led the Diocese of Chiclayo for nearly a decade. Peru is the second largest region of the Amazon after Brazil, although Chiclayo isn’t in that part of the country.

Leo will have to approve – or change – the proposals by the committee creating the new Rite.

Finally, shortly before the death of Pope Francis, it was announced a new three-year process will be held on Synodality. This is to implement the results of the 3-year Synod on Synodality which concluded in 2024. “Synodality” had been a driving issue of the late pontiff, even though what he meant by the word was never really defined, and adding three years to the process seems to be exhausting the Church with committee meetings and endless documents.

One of Leo’s first acts was to reinstate the practice of a pope putting the Pallium on new archbishops, an act that was stopped by Francis as part of his “synodal process”. Observers noted that during the new Pope’s meeting with the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod on June 26, there was no mention of the upcoming three-year process, while the meeting itself was very short, especially given the more lengthy meetings with other Vatican offices.

Of course, there are the other issues that the Pope will have to address.

As always, the abuse crisis continues to haunt the Church. Shortly after his meeting with the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, the Vatican media stopped using illustrations from Father Marko Rupnik, who is accused of multiple cases of abuse against female religious. The day before he left for Castel Gandolfo, Pope Leo appointed the new head of the commission, Archbishop Thibault Verny.

Leo may also have to deal with debates surrounded the use of the Latin Mass in the Church.

In 2021, Francis restricted access for ordinary Catholics to the old Latin Mass. Last week, the texts from the Vatican’s doctrine office used to justify this decision were posted online by reporter Diane Montagna.

Francis had said he made the decision as a result of “the wishes expressed” by world’s bishops – but the texts released by Montagna question the veracity of this position and that the bishops were opposed to the Latin Mass.

The old Latin Mass is attended by less than one per cent of the Church, but they have a strong voice on social media, and a larger percentage of clergy have their support. It is probable Leo wouldn’t have put this on the top of his agenda, but he may have no choice.

Castel Gandolfo may be cooler in the summer than it is in Rome, but for the new Pope, the heat is not likely to subside.

RELATED: Vatican document leak reignites Latin Mass debate

Photo: Inside the pontiff’s private apartments at the summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Rome, Italy, 21 October 2016. (Photo by ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images.)