(OSV News) — “I am an Augustinian, a son of St. Augustine, who once said, ‘With you I am a Christian, and for you I am a bishop.'”

Pope Leo XIV’s description of himself as he stood on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica on May 8, the day of his election, underscored his vocation in the Augustinian order. In the months since, Pope Leo has consistently turned his audience’s eyes to St. Augustine, the fifth-century bishop who continues to serve as a philosophical and theological heavyweight in Catholic thought.

August 28 is St. Augustine’s feast day.

Pope Leo’s Augustinian inspiration

Here are 10 times Pope Leo has given a nod to the thought of St. Augustine or quoted him directly.

1. “Let us live well and the times will be good. We are the times.” (Discourse, 80.8) Address to media, May 12, 2025

Days after his election to the papacy, Pope Leo shared this St. Augustine quote when he spoke with members of the media on their service to the truth and role in facilitating conversation on societal issues.

2. “The Church consists of all those who are in harmony with their brothers and sisters and who love their neighbor.” (Sermon 359, 9) Homily at inauguration Mass, May 18, 2025

Pope Leo noted his great desire for a united Church, to become “a leaven for a reconciled world,” in his homily for the Mass inaugurating his papacy that featured this St. Augustine quote.

3. “Indeed, unity has always been a constant concern of mine, as witnessed by the motto I chose for my episcopal ministry: In Illo uno unum, an expression of St. Augustine of Hippo that reminds us how we too, although we are many, ‘In the One, that is Christ, we are one’.” (Expositions on the Psalms, 127, 3) To representatives of other Churches and ecclesial communities and other religions, May 19, 2025

The day after his inauguration Mass, Pope Leo met with leaders of other Churches, ecclesial communities, and other religions to speak on universal fraternity and interreligious dialogue.

Quotes on unity and faith

4. “The prayer of the Son of God, which gives us hope on our journey, also reminds us that one day we will all be uno unum (cf. St. Augustine, Sermo super Ps. 127): one in the one Saviour, embraced by the eternal love of God.” Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents and the Elderly, June 1, 2025

Pope Leo concluded his homily for the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents and the Elderly with this St. Augustine quote, noting the love and unity of the family in Christ, both today and among those who have gone before us.

5. “May we be accompanied by the heartfelt appeal of Saint Augustine, who said: ‘Love this Church, be ye in this holy Church, be ye this Church; love the Good Shepherd, the Spouse so fair, who deceiveth no one, who desireth no one to perish. Pray too for the scattered sheep; that they too may come, that they too may acknowledge Him, that they too may love Him; that there may be One Flock and One Shepherd.'” (Sermon 138, 10) Address to the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, June 12, 2025

Pope Leo’s address to the clergy of his diocese on presbyteral communion, being a living example in their mission field and addressing the challenges of our time, culminated in this quote.

6. “Belief in God, with the positive values that derive from it, is an immense source of goodness and truth for the lives of individuals and communities. St. Augustine spoke of the need to pass from ‘amor sui,’ egotistic, myopic and destructive self-love, to ‘amor Dei,’ a free and generous love, grounded in God and leading to the gift of self.” (cf. The City of God, XIV, 28) Address to the members of the International Inter-Parliamentary Union, June 21, 2025

In an address to members of the International Inter-Parliamentary Union, a global organization of parliaments with an emphasis on democracy and diplomacy, Pope Leo noted St. Augustine’s understanding of love and its application in building the city of God on a foundational law of charity.

Messages on pilgrimage and transformation

7. “Each time the Church gives in to the temptation of ‘sedentarization’ and ceases to be a civitas peregrine, God’s people journeying towards the heavenly homeland (cf. Augustine, The City of God, Books XIV-XVI), she ceases to be ‘in the world’ and becomes ‘of the world.'” (cf. Jn 15:19) Message for the 2025 World Day of Migrants and Refugees, July 25, 2025

In this message, Pope Leo noted that migrants and refugees remind the Church of her pilgrim journey to heaven and that they can be missionaries of the virtue of hope in the countries that welcome them.

8. “In his commentary on this point of the text, Saint Augustine says, in Jesus’ name, ‘The crowd jostles, faith touches’ (Sermon 243, 2, 2). It is thus: every time we perform an act of faith addressed to Jesus, contact is established with Him, and immediately his grace comes out from Him. At times we are unaware of it, but in a secret and real way, grace reaches us and gradually transforms our life from within.” General audience, June 25, 2025

The Pope’s Wednesday general audience catechesis on the healing of the bleeding woman and the resurrection of Jairus’ daughter in Mark 5 reflected on the transformative power of the virtue of faith.

9. Catholic universities are called to become “pathways of the mind towards God,” following the felicitous expression of Saint Bonaventure, so that St. Augustine’s timely exhortation may become a reality in us: “See, brethren, what there is in a human soul. It has not of itself light, has not of itself powers: but all that is fair in a soul, is virtue and wisdom: but it neither is wise for itself, nor strong for itself, not itself is light to itself … There is a certain origin and fountain of virtue, there is a certain root of wisdom, there is a certain, so to speak, if this also must be said, region of unchangeable truth: from this the soul withdrawing is made dark, drawing near is made light” (Exposition on Psalm 58, I, 18). Message to participants in the 28th General Assembly of the International Federation of Catholic Universities, July 28, 2025

Pope Leo’s message to institutions of Catholic higher education noted their role in shaping intellects in pursuit of truth and the danger of novel, popular or safe “siren songs” distracting from their mission.

10. “To find our footing in the present circumstances, especially you as Catholic legislators and political leaders, I suggest that we might look to the past, to that towering figure of St. Augustine of Hippo. As a leading voice of the Church in the late Roman era, he witnessed immense upheavals and social disintegration. In response, he penned ‘The City of God,’ a work that offers a vision of hope, a vision of meaning that can still speak to us today.” Address to International Catholic Legislators Network, August 23, 2025

Pope Leo recommended St. Augustine’s book to an international group of Catholic legislators, noting the saint’s comparison of the “City of Man” and the “City of God” and what the mindset of each means for society flourishing.

—

Maria Wiering is senior writer for OSV News.