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Vatican City – Silere non possum publishes exclusively the 2002 letter of the then Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine, Robert Francis Prevost. Today, that same religious figure has become Leo XIV, Bishop of Rome and Shepherd of the universal Church.

Meditating on these texts can help us gain a deeper understanding of the spirituality of our beloved Pope.

A Letter That Still Speaks Today

On 13 November 2002, on the Feast of All the Saints of the Order and the memorial of the birth of our Holy Father Augustine, Father Prevost wrote to the Augustinian brothers inviting them to reflect on the meaning of religious life in the contemporary world. More than twenty years later, those words retain a surprising relevance.

The future Pontiff spoke then of a world wounded by violence, still shaken by the attacks of 11 September 2001, and of a Church questioning itself forty years after the opening of the Second Vatican Council. Amid tensions, crises, and scandals, the then Prior General urged not to lose hope but to let oneself be guided by the light of the Gospel and Augustinian spirituality, founded on communion, contemplation, and service.

Unity in Diversity

One of the central points of the letter is the appeal to recognize unity as a gift, not as uniformity. Father Prevost warns against the risk of religious life lived in individual withdrawal or in community isolation, instead inviting the cultivation of authentic relationships and a communion open to the world.

Within Augustinian life – he writes – the signs of true fraternity must shine, made up of the real sharing of goods, lived liturgical prayer, attention to the poor, and study as a path of seeking the truth. It is a vision that proposes a life as a visible testimony of the Kingdom of God.



A Call to Concrete Holiness

For the Pope, holiness is not a spiritualist escape or an abstract ideal, but a deeply human life: fully inserted in history, attentive to the sufferings of people, capable of speaking a language understandable to the men and women of our time.

He writes: “To be holy means to be fully human in a society that many experience as inhuman.” Holiness springs from the heart, is active love, concrete solidarity, visible testimony. A passage from the letter quotes Cardinal Léon-Joseph Suenens: “To bear witness means to live in a way that would be inexplicable if God did not exist.”

The Mission of the Order and the Church

The document also proposes a concrete programme of renewal: a more solid formation, a more prophetic mission, a more generous commitment to the poor, especially towards Africa, and a significant presence in international institutions, such as the United Nations headquarters in New York where the Augustinians were already active.

Finally, Father Prevost recalls the figure of Saint Alonso de Orozco, an Augustinian of the sixteenth century, who despite holding prestigious positions at the court of Philip II, chose to live with evangelical radicality in community. Even today – he wrote – we are called to live together to show that there is an alternative to division, loneliness, and injustice.

Getting to Know Leo XIV

Rereading this text today means entering the heart of one who, more than twenty years ago, expressed with clarity and passion what he believed fundamental for the life of the Church and humanity. That Augustinian religious is today Pope Leo XIV, carrying with him, in the Petrine ministry, that same desire for unity, holiness, and service.

In a time of appearances and superficiality, these writings invite us to depth, to the essential, to start again from God. Silere non possum publishes these words, which not only tell of the past but also point towards a way forward.

Marco Felipe Perfetti
Silere non possum