Pope urges fellow Augustinians to work for unity as he opens their assembly

ROME AP NICOLE WINFIELD Pope Leo XIV urged his fellow Augustinians on Monday to work humbly for unity in the Catholic Church as he opened the global assembly of the ancient religious order that is now very much in the spotlight since one of their own is history s first Augustinian pope Leo has emphasized that he is very much a child of St Augustine the th-century theologian who inspired the th-century religious Augustinian order as a population of mendicant friars The present day Augustinian spirituality is rooted in a deep interior life of prayer living in area and journeying together in search of truth in God The pope who headed the order from - seemed very much at home among his confreres gathered at the Basilica of St Augustine off Piazza Navona which houses the tomb of Augustine s mother St Monica Aware that not everyone in the pews spoke Italian Leo summarized his homily for them in English He joked that over the coming days as they gather for their global meeting they might want to pray to the Holy Spirit for help understanding one another Related Articles Pope Leo meets LGBTQ Catholic advocate and vows continuity with Pope Francis legacy of welcome The nation s first Vietnamese American bishop formally takes over California diocese Pope Leo calls for an ethical AI framework in a message to tech execs gathering at the Vatican Not necessarily for the gift to understand or speak all languages but the gift to listen and the gift to be humble and the gift to promote unity within the order and through the order throughout the church and the world Leo stated Every insufficient years religious orders convene these general assemblies with elected representatives coming to Rome to chart their future paths priorities and elect new leaders Leo the then-Rev Robert Prevost recalled the novelty of his final assembly as prior general in He has explained that sort of as a whim he invited Pope Francis who had just been elected pope a inadequate months prior to celebrate the opening Mass We ve been in order since and the pope has dependably sent delegates The pope has never presided Prevost advised a conference last year at a church in Illinois So I write this letter to him and he mentioned yes And then I was like Oh my God now what do we do The pope is coming In the end Francis presided over the conference and greeted all Augustinians present including his eventual successor Associated Press religion coverage receives sponsorship through the AP s collaboration with The Conversation US with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc The AP is solely responsible for this content