What are Pope Leo XIV’s first choices? What themes are emerging in his teaching and what elements of continuity and innovation characterize the pontificate of Francis’ successor? These are the questions at the center of the meeting with the journalist and Vatican expert Fabio Zavattaroscheduled for Thursday 9 July, at 8pm, in Cloister of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie DI Leverano (Lecce), as part of the sixteenth edition of Salento Book Festivalthe literary review (here is the complete program) which until August 31st involves 18 municipalities in the area with around forty authors.
The occasion is the presentation of the volume Disarmed and disarming peace. Pope Leo XIV. Life and choicespublished by Il Pozzo di Giacobbe. In the book Zavattaro offers a first reading of the Pontificate of Robert Francis Prevost, the first Pope from the United States and, at the same time, a missionary for many years in Peru, focusing on the lines that have been emerging since the first months of his Petrine ministry: the primacy of peace, the centrality of evangelization, dialogue with other Churches and religions, attention to the poor and the suburbs, in addition to the challenges posed by artificial intelligence and new geopolitical balances.
The volume is intended as a guide to get to know the figure of Leo XIV and understand how the new Pontiff follows the footsteps of his predecessors, starting with Pope Francis, albeit with a personal style. In the preface the cardinal Baldassare Reina, the Pope’s vicar for the diocese of Rome, observes that the world continues to be crossed by wars, economic tensions and forced migrations and writes: «The new Pope has not magically changed history! His arrival, rather, is a sign of hope that must be understood intelligently and welcomed with generosity».
Fabio Zavattaro is one of the most authoritative names in Italian religious journalism. Over the course of his career, among FutureThe Rai Radio Newspaper and the Tg1where he was a Vatican correspondent for over twenty years, he closely followed the pontificates of John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis, accompanying them on numerous apostolic journeys. He is currently scientific director of the Master’s in journalism at the Libera Università Maria Santissima Assunta (LUMSA) in Rome.
The Leverano event is part of an edition of Salento Book Festival particularly rich, which offers meetings with writers, journalists and protagonists of Italian culture, confirming itself as one of the main summer events dedicated to books in the South.
