POPE LEO XIV has taken formal possession of his Roman see with a call for the Church to engage in “patient listening”. Preaching on Sunday in the Lateran Basilica, at a mass endowing him as the Bishop of Rome, he also summoned the Curia to safeguard the Church’s “historical memory” in ways that “guide the future”.

“The more we let ourselves be convinced and transformed by the Gospel — allowing the power of the Spirit to purify our heart, to make our words straightforward, our desires honest and clear, and our actions generous — the more capable we are of proclaiming its message,” he said.

“For my part, I would like to express my firm desire to contribute to this great ongoing process by listening to everyone as much as possible, in order to learn, understand and decide things together.”

He said that the Early Church had grown by agreeing not to “impose excessive burdens” on new converts, but to “insist only on what was essential”.

The Rome diocese, with its history of witness and martyrdom, had engaged in a “listening process” to understand and embrace “new and challenging scenarios”, and still had a unique mission to anticipate “needs and expectations” with “tenderness, self-sacrifice and the capacity to listen”.

Speaking on Saturday, the Pope urged Vatican employees to help him to create “a Church that builds bridges and encourages dialogue”, in its service of communion, unity, and charity “towards all the Churches and the entire world”.

“Popes pass, the Curia remains. . . The Curia is the institution that preserves and transmits the historical memory of a Church,” the Pope said.

“Memory is an essential element in a living organism. It is not only directed to the past, but nourishes the present and guides the future. Without memory, the path is lost; it loses its sense of direction.”

Vatican Radio said that it was still not known whether Pope Leo, whose image appeared for the first time on Vatican postage stamps last week, would revert to tradition by residing in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, or follow the example of Pope Francis by living in the more modest Casa Santa Marta.

Among his first top-level appointments, the Pope has named an Italian Franciscan nun, Tiziana Merletti, as secretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, to assist its Prefect, Sister Simona Brambilla, who became the first woman to head a Vatican department in January 2024.