Today, two centuries later, history seems to be repeating itself, but in a symbolic key and with even higher stakes. Pope Leo XIV - and it is no coincidence that he bears this very name - makes his first public visit as pontiff by going precisely to St. Paul Outside the Walls. He does not choose the Lateran, the cathedra of the bishop of Rome, nor St. Peter's, the heart of the Church's spiritual and political power. Instead, he chooses the basilica of the apostle of the Gentiles, Paul, the missionary, the bridge between the Jewish and Greco-Roman worlds, the first great theologian of universal Christendom.
This is not just a liturgical or devotional choice. There is an intentional gesture in this visit, loaded with layered messages. It is the reactivation of an ancient strategy: the diplomacy of gestures. Leo XIV, like his predecessor of the same name, seems to speak more with symbols than with official speeches. In the Basilica rebuilt thanks to a Pope Leo, with contributions from two Muslim rulers and an Orthodox tsar, the modern pontiff builds a silent bridge between the fractures of the present.
This is not just a liturgical or devotional choice. There is an intentional gesture in this visit, loaded with layered messages. It is the reactivation of an ancient strategy: the diplomacy of gestures. Leo XIV, like his predecessor of the same name, seems to speak more with symbols than with official speeches. In the Basilica rebuilt thanks to a Pope Leo, with contributions from two Muslim rulers and an Orthodox tsar, the modern pontiff builds a silent bridge between the fractures of the present.
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