The New Vicar of Christ: God’s Messenger of Peace
By: COL Dencio S. Acop (Ret), PhD, CPP | Published: May 22, 2025
Reading Time: 7 minutes
Habemus Papam! Thank God we do! Pope Francis I passed on very recently. Following his burial, the Catholic Church had to convene the Conclave that would elect his successor as head of the 1.4 billion strong faith. After the fourth ballot, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost emerged as the new Pope. He chose the name Leo XIV to identify and characterize his Papacy. The Pope is the Vicar of Jesus Christ on Earth. He is the Bishop of Rome and Head of State of the Vatican.
The former Cardinal is now the 267th Head of the Ancient Church since Peter whom Jesus appointed before his ascension to heaven. The apostle Simon was renamed Cephas or Peter, meaning the “rock”, by Jesus who said: “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). After Peter denied Jesus three times for fear of the authorities, Jesus upon His resurrection also challenged him thrice asking Peter if he loved Him: “Do you love me? .. Feed my lambs. .. Tend my sheep. .. Tend my sheep” (John 21:15-17). The public ministry Jesus mandated Peter meant at least three critical assignments: unite my people, protect my people, and begin with yourself.
The first mission order of the Lord to Peter was: Unite my people. It must be recalled that when Jesus was arrested by the Romans on instigation by the Jewish authorities, the disciples fled for fear of being arrested themselves and abused like their condemned master. It therefore comes as no surprise that Peter denied Jesus as the Lord was brought to the house of Caiaphas in chains.
All the while, the disciples, along with many among the people, were of the idea that the messiah would come as a great earthly king and warrior who would redeem Israel from its Roman occupiers. They had no idea about the plan of God or what was going to happen. When Christ was lifted up on the cross, His death was meant to unify not only the twelve scattered tribes of Israel but anyone who would listen to His voice including Gentiles.
“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32). Satan, on the other hand, is the great divider. Once an Angel in God’s favor, Lucifer chose to rebel. Cast down from heaven along with his evil cohorts, the devil has only one goal: sow division and chaos to disobey God. Unity amidst diversity is a chief responsibility entrusted by the Lord upon Peter. After Peter and the disciples were martyred, this great responsibility has been handed down to the successions of bishops uniting the people of God through the centuries. This is now the great responsibility and task bestowed upon Pope Leo XIV.
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The second mission order of the Lord to Peter and now to Leo XIV is: Protect my people. How does God protect His people? Jesus in his own lifetime gave us the answer. When asked by Pilate if he was a king, Jesus replied: “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world” (John 18:36).
The way that God has entrusted the shepherd of His flock therefore is the way of peace through faith, hope, and love. Translated into God’s operational orders to His Generals Peter and now Leo XIV, the ends-ways-means of peace is prayer, fasting, and charity. God asks Leo to sustain the wisdom and teaching that the real enemy is the devil or evil within man and not man against man. The way to defeat this enemy is not through force of arms but love. We pray to entrust all to Him including our battles. We fast from sin which is displeasing to God. We love which is from God and is the greatest force in the universe.
“And remember that I am always with you until the end of time” (Matthew 28:20). This is our hope and our faith. Being fallen ourselves, there is nothing we can do to claim moral ascendancy if not by the grace of God. When Peter struck the servant of the high priest cutting off his right ear, Jesus rebuked him saying: “Put your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me? (John 18:10). .. He who lives by the sword dies by the sword” (Matthew 26:52). God wants Leo to continue protecting His people by advancing the cause of world peace. This is the greater war and greater good that must be won to inherit the kingdom of God.
Finally, the third mission order of the Lord to Peter and now to Leo XIV is: Continue being who you are. With the selection of Robert Francis Prevost by the recent Conclave, God is saying to all the world that this is the man I choose, “a man after my own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14). Our ordained priests execute their solemn vows according to the tradition set by Melchizedek. They preside over the sacraments in persona Christi Capitis. They perform their priestly ordinations in the person of Christ. Of course, they are also only human and so therefore if they stumble they ought to be prosecuted. It does not mean that all priests are bad because most of them aren’t and this applies to all non-secular beliefs much more secular ones.
Nevertheless, the divine offices carry on from the divine in us by virtue of our baptism into the mystical body of Christ. Since both the creation story in the Old Testament and the incarnate son of God in Jesus Christ in the New Testament, the presence of the divine in us has been established.
Thus, Leo XIV now operates and leads the people of God in the same way. He can only lead us towards holiness by first being holy himself, most of all. We hear the Voice again: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him” (Matthew 17:5).
You and I know Leo XIV already. He is the new Pope. He is the first American (and also Peruvian) and Augustinian Pope. He hails from Chicago. He is super bright and has a doctorate in Theology. But most of all, he has been a selfless missionary serving the poor people of Peru and other places in the developing world. What we don’t know is how he will perform his two mission orders from God.
In sum, the Vicar of Christ is not here to rule the world as Herod and the powers of the secular world and preternatural order would have as believe. The Vicar of Christ is here on orders of Him who entrusted His people so that upon His ascension to Heaven they shall be united, protected, and led by a good shepherd. The world is still here, bad as it is with the presence of evil in it, not because God does not exist or because the power of evil is stronger — but because of God’s people.
The Pope is here to stay the hand of God, as Abraham did, who interceded for the few good people of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18). And if it shall come to pass that the world will be destroyed, it will not be by the hand of God. The end of the world will be brought forth by evil in the world. That is why Pope Leo XIV is making world peace the centerpiece of his reign as the Vicar of Christ on Earth today.
While industrialization advanced human civilization around the time of Pope Leo XIII a century ago, it also dehumanized people gradually leading to World Wars I and II. Advanced technology today has given man the ultimate in comforts but it has also supplanted the human heart and spirit. Most dangerously of all, it is bringing the world closer to another global war and possible nuclear annihilation. It is the same historical hardness of heart exhibited by people created by God all over again. Already, the new Vicar of Christ can be heard shouting in the current wilderness — stop the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East! He is a man on mission.
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