An exclusive UCCR investigation for the first 100 days of Pope Prevost. Leo XIV mentions Francis in every other speech, with Benedict and Wojtyla also present. And above all, Saint Augustine.

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Whom did Leo XIV refer to the most in his first hundred days of pontificate? Which figures does he cite most frequently in his public addresses?

This is the question behind an exclusive investigation by UCCR, which examined the first hundred days (105 to be exact, from May 8 to August 20, 2025) of the pontificate of Robert Francis Prevost.

 

In 100 days, Leo XIV spoke 138 times

In just over three months, the new Pontiff has already delivered 138 public addresses, broken down as follows: 16 Angelus (including 5 in the Easter form of Regina Caeli), 59 speeches, 5 letters (all in Latin), 28 messages, 21 homilies, and 10 audiences (excluding today’s).

An intense activity that allows us to trace some salient features of his style.

The focus here is on the citations of recent predecessors and those dedicated to Saint Augustine, spiritual father of the order to which Prevost belongs.

 

Leo XIV mentions Pope Bergoglio 55% of the time

The most significant data concerns Pope Francis, cited no less than 76 times in 105 days, more precisely in 55% of Leo XIV’s statements.

The distribution is broken down as follows:

• 4 Angelus (including 3 Regina Caeli, 25%);
• 31 speeches (52%);
• 5 letters (100%);
• 18 messages (65%);
• 14 homilies (66%);
• 4 audiences (40%);

In other words, more than one out of every two speeches contains a reference to his predecessor, a fact that rules out the scenario some had imagined of coldness or rupture with Francis. Rather, it reveals continuity despite the natural and personal differences in styles, themes, and attitudes.

Of course, there is a kind of unwritten ritual in citing one’s predecessor, which also happens in political roles. But the high percentage with which Leo has chosen to speak about Francis far exceeds ordinary diplomacy, not to mention how he has referred to Bergoglio so far.

Particularly striking are the expressions of personal affection: for example, Leo XIV spoke of the “strong spiritual presence of Pope Francis” (05/18/2025), referred to him as “our beloved Pope Francis” (06/30/2025) and as “my beloved predecessor Pope Francis” (07/14/2025).

Unprompted words of strong esteem that no ritual requires him to say.

We also consider the homily data very significant, the highest after that of the letters.

It is true that, like all Popes, Prevost also relies on the support of collaborators for drafting texts; but homilies, as priests know well, remain the most personal discourses, less formal and where the Pope’s direct intervention is certainly greater. The fact that references to Francis appear so insistently there is telling.

Although in the past Card. Prevost revealed that he did not always get along with Bergoglio when he was still Archbishop of Buenos Aires, three days ago in an interview with NBC Chicago, the Pope’s brother, John Prevost, answered the question about the relationship between Robert and Pope Francis this way: “He was very close, they were great friends!”.

 

Leo XIV and the citations of Benedict XVI

Now let us consider all the citations dedicated to Benedict XVI.

In total, there are 10, that is, 7% of the current Pope’s statements.

Specifically, Leo XIV spoke of Pope Ratzinger in 1 Angelus (6%), 6 speeches (10%) and 3 homilies (14%). So far, never in letters, messages, or audiences.

For those who think it is simply customary to cite immediate predecessors more often than distant ones, the next data brings a surprise.

Not only are they less frequent than those of Francis, but the references to Benedict are actually fewer than those dedicated to John Paul II.

This does not necessarily mean less esteem, of course. One must also consider that Wojtyla’s pontificate lasted four times longer than Ratzinger’s.

 

John Paul II in the speeches of Leo XIV

Let us now turn to Saint John Paul II, who was mentioned 18 times in the texts of the current Pope.

Specifically: 2 Angelus (12.5%), 8 speeches (14%), 2 letters (40%), 3 messages (11%) and 3 homilies (14%). Never, however, in Wednesday audiences.

In absolute terms, therefore, Wojtyla is cited by Leo in 13% of cases.

 

Leo XIV and Saint Augustine, how many times he speaks of him

Alongside recent predecessors, another figure much loved by the current Pope emerges strongly: Saint Augustine.

We verified that as many as 52 times in the first 100 days, Leo XIV mentions Augustine as a reference in his statements. That is, in 38% of his public addresses.

The detail of the homilies confirms what was said above regarding Francis: while the latter was mentioned in 14 homilies, Prevost referred to the Bishop of Hippo in almost all of them (18 out of 21), exceeding 85% frequency.

Such a constant presence in homilies, which, as mentioned, are the most personal texts and less filtered by what some would call “the curial apparatus,” testifies to how central Augustine’s thought is in Prevost’s pontificate as a “theological compass” to interpret contemporary reality.

 

Ultimately, the exclusive analysis by UCCR (based on public data that anyone can verify) outlines a pontificate rooted in the living memory of predecessors and, at the same time, deeply grounded in the Augustinian tradition.

Not a mere exercise in citations, but a way to reveal Pope Leo XIV’s style: preserving the recent heritage, without nostalgia or rupture, and orienting it with the ever-relevant light of Saint Augustine, one of the greatest Fathers of the Church.