Best wishes from the faithful —and others—around the world for Pope Leo, who celebrates his 71st birthday today . This milestone coincides with a full year of his pontificate, and one of his two brothers, John Prevost, draws a sort of assessment of his time on the throne of Peter. "I'm proud that he hasn't collapsed yet, that he's holding on, that he's getting by," he said in an interview with Mediaset from Chicago. " He's facing the situation with a certain amount of humor, with strength, and with the determination to do something to help make the world a better place." "He wants to strengthen the Catholic faith throughout the world."
And then there are other, more personal details about Leone, which paint a deeply human portrait of him. "Some time ago," John Prevost said, "he helped me with my computer because I'm terrible at it and couldn't get it to work. Besides that, last year, when it was tax return time, I called him and said, 'What should I do?' And he also helped me with my taxes." "He has a wide range of knowledge," he notes of the man who is now Pope. Indeed, not only does Robert Prevost's resume include a degree in mathematics, but as Pope, Leo is seeking an ethic that can combine progress, science, and social justice, as demonstrated in his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas.
And today, on his birthday, Leo is visiting the Vatican Apostolic Library for the first time to personally inaugurate an exhibition on water, the first chapter of a five-year exhibition series entitled "Catastrophe and Wonder," which aims to draw attention, through art, to water as a common good and resource.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also sent Prevost good wishes, posting a message on social media to "recall the words she addressed this summer to the many young people gathered at the Rimini Meeting: 'Let there not only be those who fan the flames of weariness and desperation; let there also be those who rekindle dreams and visions.' A powerful inspiration for all of us ."
(Unioneonline)
