Pope Leo’s understated public manner obscures his acceleration of the Vatican’s leftward tilt. The trajectory, set by Pope Francis, quickens under Leo. Following his predecessor, Leo locates evil — in this instance, health inequalities — in impersonal, political terms. Specifically, in the institutions of a free economy.
The ideological thrust of his private address to the Pontifical Academy for Life on Feb. 16 drew little attention. Delivered in the Vatican’s private reception hall, the talk urged academy members to recognize a global “connection between the health of all and that of each individual” and to repel “the structural causes and policies that determine inequalities.”
