Pope Francis needed medication to stabilize his emotional and psycho-emotional balance

For nearly 45 years, essayist Marco Tosatti has chronicled the highlights and shadows of the Vatican. Based in Rome, he was, until 2008, the Vatican commentator for the national daily La Stampa. With an enlightened and critical eye on the challenges facing the Catholic Church of tomorrow, he highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the new Pope Leo XIV, elected this Thursday afternoon.

What do you think of the choice made this Thursday by the 133 cardinal electors gathered in Conclave?

This new pope certainly represents a choice of mediation and continuity. Robert Francis Prevost was, in fact, "discovered" by Francis, who appointed him, in 2023, Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, a position of great responsibility and power within the Vatican. He is both a skilled diplomat and a "missionary pastor." He is, finally, a humble and balanced "son of Saint Augustine," whose gaze, both timid and resolute, reminded me in some ways of Benedict XVI.

What did you think of his first speech?

Leo XIV gave one of the longest speeches ever given by a newly elected pontiff. He repeated the word "peace" several times, and I really liked his invocation for a "disarmed and disarming peace." He also began his speech with the first words spoken by the Risen Christ: "Peace be with you!" The name he chose for himself is also significant: Leo XIII was the last pope of the 19th century, the one who guided the Catholic Church in its delicate and difficult transition to modernity.

What does the election of this first American pope represent?

It is the end of a taboo. It has always been thought that a pontiff from the world's leading power would have been a bit excessive... But those who elected Robert Francis Prevost sincerely hope that the new pope will be able to demonstrate true independence from his origins. The cardinal electors chose the man, not his passport.

What challenges will he face in the short term?

Leo XIV must, above all, guarantee the unity of the Catholic Church, which is seriously threatened by deep divisions, dangerous doctrinal fragmentations, and antagonisms that have reached unprecedented virulence. Indeed, the Church seems to present very different, even irreconcilable, faces to its faithful. I am thinking, in particular, of the "headlong rush" of the German Church, which is rejected by a very significant portion of the Catholic community and hierarchies around the world, notably by bishops in Africa. But that's not all...

What would you like to add?

The other major short-term objective is the establishment by Leo XIV of a true Vatican diplomacy for peace. Francis has redoubled his efforts in this direction in order to silence the guns. His successor will have to follow the path traced by the Argentine pontiff. A task that will certainly not be easy given the strength and influence of the warmongering powers that dictate the agenda of our time. One need only think of the war in Ukraine or the unprecedented violence that has been bloodying Gaza for far too long. Yet, in his first speech, the new pope seems to display a true and sincere sensitivity to these issues.

And in the medium term?

Leo XIV is called upon to restore true strength and depth to the Catholic faith and religion throughout the world. And to present moral values, which we now consider obsolete, as something positive and fundamental for our daily lives. The new Pope will also have to restore some credibility to the Vatican. Due to the hostility fostered throughout the world toward a certain Christian culture, the errors and weaknesses of various members of the clergy, and the impression given by the Vatican of not always being in tune with current issues, the Church's reputation is in danger.

Are you talking, for example, about the issue of sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy?

Yes. Francis has not fought hard enough on this front. Despite his declarations of intent, this scourge has not been eradicated—quite the contrary. Even today, within the Vatican, we have high-ranking prelates who have been convicted in their home countries for having committed sexual abuse. Let's also consider the former Jesuit priest and Slovenian artist, Marko Rupnik, excommunicated after being accused of sexually abusing nuns. He reportedly still resides in Rome, and whose excommunication appears to have been mysteriously suspended.

What do you think of the proposal, recently made by a number of high-ranking prelates, to support the new pope by creating a "council of cardinals" capable of guiding him in his decisions?

This proposal is nothing more than a consequence of the pontificate that has just ended. The Pope is, in theory, an absolute monarch. This power was exercised with great respect and prudence by Francis's predecessors. However, the latter, due to his temperamental outbursts and his sudden and often contradictory decisions, governed like a true autocratic leader. He was a sort of "pope king." I don't believe Leo XIV will exercise power in the same way.

Will the new pontiff want to restore strength and vigor to the "Vatican bureaucracy" and the Roman Curia, weakened and somewhat downgraded by Francis?

The political balance in the Vatican is the result of a harmonious distribution of powers. We have the Pope, the Secretary of State, who is also a sort of Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Holy See, a Deputy Secretary of State, who is halfway between a Prime Minister and a Minister of the Interior, and very important congregations, sometimes very autonomous in their operations... Francis, through his political management, has upset this balance. It is for this reason that I believe that Leo XIV, without necessarily needing the support of a new "council of cardinals," would be well advised to restore the institutional balances of the past.

***

To the above, I would add a few points.

I have the impression—but I could obviously be wrong—that the choice of Robert Francis Prevost was made before the doors of the Sistine Chapel closed. The insistence of several highly experienced and certainly knowledgeable cardinals—Romeo, King, to name just two—on a rapid conclave, and such precise predictions about the timing, support this hypothesis.

Priority is given to the need to avoid provoking a fracture in the Church, which the momentum of Bergoglio's pontificate has triggered.

The need to present a reassuring and balanced face to the faithful. Now that Jorge Mario Bergoglio has passed away, I can say that people with knowledge have confided to trusted cardinals that Francis, even before his election, was already taking medication to stabilize his emotional and psycho-emotional balance. Have we experienced twelve years of a less-than-stable pontiff, insecure in his higher mental powers? Probably yes: the outbursts of anger, the verbal storms, and other similar episodes, well known to those who frequented Santa Marta, would confirm this. The serenity on Robert François Prévost's face is reassuring.

Cathcon: this was the sadness at the heart of the Pontificate. Pray that he has found rest for his soul.

His speech, which can be described as programmatic, struck me as interesting. He used the words of the Risen Christ as an opening (one remembers Bergoglian "good evening" with shivers...); he closed it by reciting the Hail Mary with the parvis. He spoke, several times, of peace; and in this historical moment when the world seems in the hands of warmongers, this is no small thing; he affirmed that Evil will not prevail; and the evangelical non praevalebunt implies that Leo XIV is well aware of the existence of Evil with a capital E, like his predecessor in name, to whom we owe the prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel. Normal, for a pope, you say? Perhaps, but reassuring all the same, he testifies to a supernatural Christian horizon. And to an awareness that the battle taking place in this world involves actors who are not only human.

Certainly, the mention of the "synodal" Church... but we must not forget that Robert Francis Prevost was elected by a college of cardinals, 108 of whom were created by Jorge Mario Bergoglio and bear his mark; one could therefore expect a purely nominal adherence to the theme so dear to his predecessor. His absence would have been strange.

What more can be said? There are many unknowns. We know nothing about his ability to manage human beings; and some accusations of negligence in the repression of priestly abuse—which he resolutely denied—accompanied him. We will have to see what the choice of men will be, and the decisions on a large number of issues.

And the situation of the Church after twelve years of Bergoglio is what it is. Priestly and religious vocations have been steadily declining since 2012. The draining of the faithful's generosity in crisis, the leaps forward by episcopates, bishops, and priests, the incomprehensible, if not supernatural, war against the Mass of all time and Catholics faithful to tradition, the shameful handling of cases like those of Rupnik and Zanchetta... it will take a Hercules to clean out these Augean stables.

But the first impression, for what it's worth, was positive.

May God help him, and may he help us all.

Source - a very distinguished Italian journalist.

This is consistent with reports about the Kolvenbach report

See also Where is the Kolvenbach Report?

Francis admitted to seeing a psychiatrist when he was younger.   He also said that he never underwent psychoanalysis.  Interestingly, in the context, part of a psychiatrists training is to submit themselves to psychoanalysis. 

That said, psychanalysis did a lot of harm to religious life post-Council.  Often psychologists would come into monasteries and the monks would take psychoanalytic tests which led to mass questionings of the true motivations for vocation and then closure of the establishment.