Saint Leo the Wall Builder

The connection between truth and tradition is often made manifest in the names that new popes choose upon their election. This is as true of the present pontiff as of so many of his predecessors. Leo XIV has expressed his kinship of spirit with the previous Pope Leo, especially with respect to Leo XIII’s crucial encyclical Rerum Novarum, published in 1891, which laid the foundation for the social teaching of the Church in the face of the challenge of both socialism and industrial capitalism.

Leo XIII’s teaching was buttressed by Pius XI in his encyclical Quadragesima Anno, published in 1931 (on the 40th anniversary of Leo’s encyclical) and by St. John Paul II in his encyclical Centesimus Annus, published in 1991 (on the centenary of Rerum Novarum). Joining his own voice to that of his predecessors, Leo XIV’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, stresses the importance of Leo XIII’s earlier encyclical, especially with respect to the twin principles of subsidiarity and solidarity, upon which the Church’s response to the challenges of modernity is founded.

Much more could be said about the Church as the champion of authentic political and economic liberty through its social teaching, but let’s look at a couple of other popes who have borne the name Leo to see what timeless lessons they still teach.

St. Leo the Great, the first of all the 14 popes to bear the name, is honored as a Doctor of the Church for his theological teaching—but, also, for saving Rome from Attila the Hun and his invading horde. With great courage, Pope Leo met the fearsome conqueror and somehow persuaded him to withdraw his army, thereby saving Rome from being pillaged and burned.

In 455, three years after his meeting with Attila, Leo was unable to prevent the sacking of Rome by another invader, King Genseric, and his Vandal horde. Once again, however, Pope Leo had the courage to meet the invader face to face, saving the city from destruction. Although the Vandals plundered the city of its wealth, the pope’s meeting with King Genseric prevented widespread murder and saved from destruction the Basilicas of St. Peter, St. John, and St. Paul, in which many of the terrified citizens of Rome had sought refuge.

Although Pope Leo I is rightfully known as St. Leo the Great, another Leo also deserves to be honored for his greatness and his sanctity. This is St. Leo IV, who became pope in the ninth century, four hundred years after his “Great” predecessor.

In spite of the centuries that separated them, Leo IV faced the same threat of foreign invasion. Whereas Leo the Great faced the Huns and the Vandals invading from the north, Leo IV faced invasion from the forces of Islam to the south and east. In 846, a year before he became pope, the outskirts of Rome had been plundered by Muslim raiders who sacked St. Peter’s Basilica and the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. The city itself was only saved by the Aurelian Walls, which had been constructed by the Roman Emperor Aurelian in the third century to protect the city.

Considering that St. Peter’s Basilica had been sacked because it was situated on the other side of the Tiber, outside the Aurelian Walls which protected the city of Rome, Leo IV made the building of a wall one of the top priorities of his pontificate. The Leonine Wall, as it became known, is two miles long and completely encloses and protects Vatican Hill and what is now known as Vatican City. It still stands—almost 1,200 years after its construction—as a living and lasting testimony to a great pope’s prudence in defense of fortitude.

In 849, while the Leonine Wall was under construction, St. Leo IV received news of a Muslim armada near Sardinia, off the coast of Italy. Through the pope’s efforts, a league of Italian cities formed a fleet which would meet the Muslims at the Battle of Ostia. Pope Leo blessed the fleet and offered Mass prior to the battle. As the battle commenced, a huge storm, a veritable act of God, put an end to the engagement as the ships battled merely to stay afloat. The Christian ships managed to return to port, whereas the Muslim ships were scattered and many of them wrecked off the Italian coast.

Are there lessons that can be learned from these earlier popes who have borne the name chosen by the present Holy Father? Are there lessons that the pope himself might learn from his illustrious and canonized predecessors? On the one hand, St. Leo the Great shows that dialogue, conducted with good faith and courage, can be a means of bringing peace; on the other hand, St. Leo IV shows the necessity of building walls to defend the things we love from enemies who seek to destroy them.

The building of walls is not only needed to secure a prison; it is also needed to secure a home. It is indeed a reassuring thought that Pope Leo XIV lives in a city that Catholics call home, which is protected by a wall built by a great pope and saint named Leo. May St. Leo the Wall Builder pray for the Holy Father and for the Holy Catholic Church.