‘We are the times’: What Pope Leo XIV and St. Augustine can teach journalists about leadership

Not long ago, my husband and I hopped on a Zoom call to catch up with a dear and longtime friend, a priest with the Legionaries of Christ who is now based in Rome. He asked if we had tuned in for the newly elected Pope Leo XIV’s first address to journalists.

Much of the world had seen his initial speech live from the balcony at St. Peter’s Basilica, but the new pope had a busy first month. I had seen highlights of that talk to journalists, and our friend sent us the full transcript. This passage jumped off the page:

We are living in times that are both difficult to navigate and to recount. They present a challenge for all of us but it is one that we should not run away from. On the contrary, they demand that each one of us, in our different roles and services, never give in to mediocrity. The Church must face the challenges posed by the times. In the same way, communication and journalism do not exist outside of time and history. Saint Augustine reminds of this when he said, “Let us live well and the times will be good. We are the times.”