Modernist Jesuit - "Without Francis, there would be no Leo"
The Vorarlberg-born pope expert Andreas Batlogg SJ has written a book about Leo XIV and explains his thoughts on Francis and his successor.
You have studied Pope Francis intensively. Which of his achievements will be the most influential?
Andreas R. Batlogg: It is too early to evaluate this pontificate historically. In my view, however, Francis has made the Church more Jesus-like again. He repeatedly warned that the Church must not revolve around itself, that it should not become bogged down in internal church issues. He decisively opposed clericalism, including the clericalism of lay people. He was less interested in the petty issues within the Church. He increasingly addressed major issues: world religions, climate, world peace. Think of the 2019 Abu Dhabi document, the 2015 encyclical "Laudato sí," or his peace initiatives. He often polarized, exaggerated, and also hurtful. His spontaneity and directness were offensive. Marco Politi even spoke, too belligerently for my taste, of a "civil war" in the Church. Francis often left the apparatus, that is, the Curia, on the sidelines and held up a mirror to it in his 2014 Christmas address, attributing 15 illnesses to it, including spiritual Alzheimer's. The legacy that outlasts him is the synodality project. We are in the process of establishing a synodal culture in the Church. This takes time. There is still resistance to it. Synodality means a style, an attitude, not a strategy or tactic. It's about a new togetherness in the Church, about genuine and effective participation. Leo XIV takes this further.
How did you manage to write an entire book about the new Pope Leo XIV in such a short time?
Batlogg: I've been in Rome for ZDF since May 5th to comment on the conclave. I'd been working on a retrospective of Francis for the Herder publishing house for some time. Then I got the call from Freiburg: We're supposed to have the first German-language papal biography! A team was working on it for me. It was pure stress. I'm not a sprinter when it comes to writing. One half consists of a retrospective of Francis's pontificate and its consequences. I support Antonio Spadaro's thesis: a pontificate of sowing, not of reaping. He set many things in motion that the new pope will now, in his own way and with his own style, take up and continue. A book written in two weeks is also prone to errors. I was annoyed by some of the ridicule because harping on obvious errors is petty. Heribert Prantl, one of Germany's most prominent journalists and a former editor-in-chief of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, wrote in his blog: "It's a hasty, very hasty book, but despite its speed, it has some substance." The first part is true, the second part is a badge of honor.
Were you surprised when the name Robert Francis Prevost was announced?
Batlogg: The name had been circulating beforehand. But I didn't expect Prevost. The Italians absolutely wanted an Italian. Many were betting on Pietro Parolin, the Cardinal Secretary of State; others on Matteo Zuppi, the Archbishop of Bologna; or Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. Some saw the Filipino Luis Antonio Tagle, long considered Francis's crown prince, as the new pope. An American seemed unthinkable until May 8, 2025. But that's what happened. An Augustinian, an American who also holds Peruvian citizenship, one who was a pastor and missionary, provincial and prior general, bishop in Peru, and finally prefect of a Vatican dicastery.
You met Pope Leo. What were your impressions?
Batlogg: It was only two or three minutes after the general audience on May 28th. It's called a "baciamano." Manuel Herder handed him the book. We greeted each other briefly. I said to him: "I'm praying for you!" For 18 hours in Rome, I took two train rides from Villach via Venice to Rome, as I had been spending a sabbatical in Carinthia since mid-May. The weeks between May 5th and May 28th flew by. In retrospect, I'm glad I didn't faint.
You write texts about Pope Leo in the form of a blog. Can you explain a little about what this is?
Batlogg: I draw attention to the Pope's statements, as I did in my Francis blog, commenting on and analyzing them. What shoes the Pope wears, whether he moves into the Apostolic Palace or vacations in Castel Gandolfo, unlike his predecessor: these are very superficial things. Of course, signs are important. But other things matter: What issues does the Pope address? What initiatives does he take? Leo's name is Leo, not Francis II. He isn't copying his predecessor. That would be ridiculous. But without Francis, there would be no Leo. He made him a cardinal in 2023 and brought him to the Curia from Peru, where he was Bishop of Chiclayo.
Can you reveal a little about the content of the book?
Batlogg: It doesn't offer a fully developed biography. There will be books like that in a year or two. I look back at the years from 2013 to 2025 and place the new Pope theologically. His career to date, his life and professional experience, speak for him. An astonishing portfolio. As a doctor of canon law, Leo knows how important it is to consolidate reform impulses and give them a canonical structure.
What can visitors expect from your book presentation in Hohenems?
Batlogg: Observations and assessments of the conclave and the first weeks of the new pope. Are we facing a boring pontificate, as someone suggested? I strongly disagree. But in the first few months, one could already get the impression that Leo wants to please everyone. So: When will the lion show his teeth? He can't avoid the women's issue.
Do you still have ties to your old homeland?
Batlogg: Of course. I'll just come less often now. My mother is 87 and survived a pulmonary embolism two years ago. My younger sister takes great care of her. From Munich, where I lived for 25 years, it was a two-hour train ride to Bregenz; from Vienna, it takes three times as long. That's why I spent three weeks in Bregenz in August as part of my sabbatical. After my ordination as a priest (1993), I worked as a temporary worker in Schnepfau for three years during the holidays and at Christmas and Easter, then for over ten years in Andelsbuch with a university friend. But that was 15 years ago. When I stand at the grave of my father, whom I buried in the first week of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020. My sister, who died in 1980, lies in the same grave, I realize: I, too, could already be dead. I survived cancer in 2017/18. But my grave will probably be in Vienna, not in Vorarlberg.
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