I think of Pope Leo XIII (the last pope of that name, who reigned from 1878 to 1903, after whom the current pope took his own title) and Pope Saint John Paul II (from 1978 to 2005) as ‘bookends’ of a sort. They both wrote much, on similar themes, in different ways, to be sure, but in a complementary, and often complimentary, way.
Sure enough, they both promulgated encyclicals on the great Saint Joseph, which provides very fitting reading for so many reasons, not least our own spiritual growth, and putting the divisions and crises of our world and Church into a broader eternal perspective. Saint is the patron of the universal Church, and will not leave her unguarded, as he took care of the Christ child. Pope Leo’s is called ‘Quamquam pluries‘, while Pope John Paul’s is Redemptoris Custos, both promulgated on August 15, one hundred years apart, in 1889 and 1989 respectively.
The Church does not have just one Magisterium, but many Magisteria, stretching back through the ages, and we should not lose sight of the wisdom of prior pontiffs, who saw much of what would unfold.
As said, bookends, holding the world together.
