This episode of Morning Air with John Morales and the always-joyful Martha Fernandez-Sardina is all about LOVE… but not the rom-com kind. No, we’re looking at the holy, gritty, lived-out-every-day kind of love that Pope Leo XIV is already radiating just weeks into his papacy.
💖 How to Love Like Pope Leo: 10 Signs of a Heart on Fire
Martha shares 10 ways Pope Leo lives love. Each one is an insight into how we can grow in Christ-like, Church-rooted, mission-minded love in our own lives:
✝️ 1. Love for Christ
From toddlerhood, Leo was pretending to be a priest; his mom’s ironing board became an altar. His brothers were his congregants.
🙏 2. Love of Vocation
This guy was spiritually “job ready” by middle school. Straight into minor seminary after 8th grade? That’s a heart already saying “yes” to God. His love for the priesthood, inspired by his uncle and religious aunts, became the backbone of his life’s mission.
🌎 3. Love for Mission & Evangelization
Pope Leo didn’t keep his love for Jesus in a tidy little tabernacle. He took it to Peru… and beyond. Whether serving the poor in the Andes or forming seminarians in Chicago, he led with bold outreach and deep catechesis.
4. Love for Service & Leadership
As superior of the Augustinians, he taught theology, formed young priests, and even cleaned up liturgies. This is love in action, papal style.
🕊️ Docility, Doctrine, and Doing the Hard Things 🙌
5. Docility to the Lord
Pope Leo’s motto might as well be “Let Go and Let God.” He regularly says, “All is in God’s hands.” That’s a declaration of trust that we all need taped to our fridge.
📖 6. Love of Truth & Catholic Faith
Leo is seriously Catholic. Like, Latin-prayers-and-Sacred-Tradition Catholic. He’s all about honoring 2,000 years of doctrine without reinventing the wheel.
7. Commitment to Unity
His papal motto says it all: “In the One, we are one.” He’s got that St. Augustine flavor: heart on fire, mind for truth… and a real desire to heal divisions in the Church. Amen and alleluia. 🔥🫶
Family, Friends, and Even… Wordle? 💞
8. Love for Family & Friends
He plays Words with Friends with his siblings, checks in regularly, and even called his brother several times right after being elected pope. 📱❤️
9. Healthy Love of Self
He rests in God. He works hard, prays harder, and still keeps a calm spirit. A rare combo of peaceful surrender and hands-on hustle. Let’s imitate that.
💪 10. Love for Spiritual Fitness
No, he’s not doing spiritual burpees… but he is living like a saint-in-training. Deep prayer, strong liturgical life, and constant personal growth. You don’t fake this kind of holy endurance.
🔔 TL;DR: Leo’s Love = Our Blueprint
Pope Leo XIV shows us what it means to love God, love truth, love people, and love the Church… all without losing the joy, the family ties, or the missionary spirit. It’s the kind of love that converts hearts and builds up the Body of Christ.
Martha Fernandez-Sardina sums it up beautifully: He loves all that is to be loved. And maybe that’s the goal for us too.
🕯️ “Remember, you are loved.”
And Pope Leo’s showing us exactly how to live like it. 💗
Want to love like a pope? ✝️
Start with prayer. And keep your heart wide open.
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