This June 29th, the annual celebration in the Catholic liturgy of the solemnity of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, pillars on which the Church was founded in the dawn of Christianity, allows us to draw a parallel between the role that these two apostles played in the early days of Christianity and the mission that the pontificates of Francis and Leo XIV have played in these last fifteen years, in the life of the Catholic Church in its evangelizing mission in society.

The differences in personality and vision between the apostles Peter and Paul regarding the nascent Catholic Church are well documented, but what is most important is to emphasize the complementarity that, in a relationship not without tensions, as in the so-called “Antioch incident” recounted in Galatians 2:11-14, resulted in a model of unity in diversity. This model, while differing in its execution, converged on the core of the Gospel message. It is a model of unity that, after two millennia, the Church continues to yearn for, urge upon, and seek through the task of “synodality.”

We owe it to Peter and Paul that Christianity did not become an irrelevant Jewish sect in its early years. Peter, as leader of the group of the Twelve, was the factor of unity and cohesion; his authority and leadership among the first Christians guaranteed fidelity to the teachings and historical experience of Jesus of Nazareth.

Paul, for his part, played a leading role in and represented the expansion of Christianity, breaking down cultural barriers of Judaism so that the Gospel, through its philosophical-theological structure and systematization and its universal missionary vision, could reach the Greek and Roman world of that time.

The experience of Peter and Paul in the early Christian communities remains relevant and essential to the being and work of the Catholic Church today. We need “Peter” to maintain unity in the communion of faith and tradition. Peter’s successor, at every moment in the history of the Church, prevents the fragmentation of the Universal Church.

Paul’s witness and example, for their part, prevent the Church, today and always, from becoming self-referential and turning into “a museum without a future.” It is the “Pauline and missionary principle” that impels the Church to the existential peripheries so that it may reach everyone: the light of the Gospel. It is the figure of Paul who will constantly remind the Church to live in a permanent state of evangelizing “going forth.” But both Peter and Paul always remind us that the center of the Church is Jesus Christ.

The last fifteen years of human history have been marked by numerous and dizzying changes in all areas of life in society: political, economic, cultural, scientific, and technological, among others. For fifteen years, Catholics and all of humanity have been guided by two Popes: Francis and, currently, Leo XIV. These two Popes, responding to the challenges posed by these changes, are steering the Barque of Peter through the vicissitudes and uncertainties of our present history.

If the legacy of Francis (2013-2025) can be summarized as the Pope for a “Church that goes forth,” then Leo XIV is emerging as the Pope of “ecclesial institutional consolidation” and a bridge between the New World and new cultures with the Roman Catholic tradition.

The pontificate of Francis “made a mess,” shook the Church, and shifted from moralistic stances to a language and actions of mercy and accompaniment of what he himself called the human or existential peripheries, in need of the love and light of the Gospel. Leo XIV, on this, his first anniversary of the pontificate, has been busy “putting the house in order,” transforming Francis’s reformist and prophetic positions into solid legal structures and institutions.

Francis preached the Church as a “field hospital” and a “theology of the people and for the People of God,” prioritizing praxis over doctrine. Leo XIV sought an Augustinian synthesis of faith, reason, and institutional order. Francis offered a direct and political prophetic denunciation of world problems; Leo XIV attempted discreet diplomacy and a more academic tone.

Francis convened the “Synod on Synodality” as a call to all for a social and political dialogue, and to the Church to walk together in communion, with a more horizontal and less hierarchical participation. Leo XIV sought “unity in truth” to prevent a misunderstood diversity from becoming fragmentation and division.

Leo XIV’s proclamation of the Franciscan Year 2026 demonstrates fidelity to the paths opened by his predecessor, while also seeking to ensure that the message is built in an orderly and lasting manner. Francis linked the social crisis with the environmental crisis and called for respect for and care of integral ecology, criticizing the global economic system. Leo XIV takes up the Social Doctrine of the Church, but insists that peace begins with the disarmament of the heart.

We went from the Pope who deepened the “preferential option for the poor” of Puebla, coming “from the end of the world”, to the “option for communion” of a Pope who combines his background and knowledge of North American society with the Latin American and southern reality, due to his years of missionary experience in Peru.

Thus, Francis and Leo XIV, like Peter and Paul in their time, have been shaping the best presence of the Church in the world today, with its postmodern challenges of polarization, truth and meaning, as well as the impact of technological advances on human beings and coexistence.

And since comparisons are simplistic, because they overlook the complexity of human beings and social situations, we congratulate them, pray for them, and thank God for the partnership of Francis and Leo XIV. For each, with his background, style, formation, and emphasis, offers the Church and the world today a necessary and comprehensive response through coherence, attentive listening, and the struggle for human dignity, guided by the logic and principles of the Good News of Jesus of Nazareth.