When a man is called to lead the universal Church, his past becomes a precious map for understanding present choices. This is the case with the volume "Free Under Grace," which collects over five hundred pages of writings by Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, during his years as prior general of the Order of Saint Augustine (2001–2013). It is not a devotional text but a living archive: homilies, circular letters, and addresses that reveal the spiritual and governance formation of the future Pontiff. Published with his approval, the book offers a unique key for those who wish to know more closely the heart and mind of the successor of Peter.
What strikes the reader is the consistency. The words written by Prevost in concrete contexts—Augustinian communities, general chapters, meetings with provinces—resonate today with prophetic force. There is no break between the prior and the Pope: the same attention to the Word, the same love for the poor, the same vision of a synodal and welcoming Church. It is a grammar formed over time, made of listening and service.
The Centrality of the Word and Interiority
The first great teaching emerging from these writings is the centrality of Sacred Scripture and interior life. The conversion of Saint Augustine—the famous "take and read"—is for Prevost not a mere devotional episode but a method of life. The Word of God is daily nourishment, interiority is the space to encounter the Lord, silence is the prerequisite for authentic service. As he wrote already in 2002: "We cannot give what we do not have. If we do not feed on the Word, our words will be empty."
This insight has become a pillar of Pope Leo XIV's pontificate. From his first months, the Pope has invited the faithful to rediscover contemplation as the root of all renewal. In his message for Lent 2025, he wrote: "Let ourselves be transformed by the Word, because only a heart that listens can become capable of loving." This call echoes his homilies from twenty years earlier, when he urged young Augustinians to "not be afraid of silence, because it is there that God speaks."
This centrality of the Word also translates into a love for liturgy and common prayer. Prevost has always emphasized that community life is the privileged place where the Word is welcomed and shared. Not coincidentally, one of his first encyclicals, "Dilexi te," opens with a meditation on Psalm 18: "I love you, Lord, my strength." A hymn of trust in God that becomes a life program for the whole Church.
The Option for the Poor: A Faithful Gaze
A second thematic core running through Prevost's writings is the preferential option for the poor. With straightforward language, as early as 2002 he denounced "an excluding globalization lacking solidarity," criticizing a neoliberalism that "has imposed itself as a way for the 'salvation of peoples,' ruthlessly sidelining the vast majority of humanity." These words, in a world marked by growing inequalities, sound like a timely warning.
The question that returns insistently in his writings is: "Where will the poorest sleep tonight?" It is not a rhetorical question but a goad to the Church's conscience. In his 2025 apostolic exhortation, Pope Leo XIV takes up this same question, inviting communities to step out of their comforts to meet those who suffer. As he said in a homily at Santa Marta: "The Church is not a refuge for the righteous, but a field hospital for the wounded."
This attention to the poor is not merely a social theme but a theological issue. For Prevost, the poor are the face of Christ, and serving the poor is serving Christ himself. This is seen in his choice to live simply, from his time as prior
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