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The fresco of St. Leo the Great, doctor of the Church, in the cupola of the Church of St. Maximus of Turin, Italy. / Credit: Renata Sedmakova/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 10, 2025 / 13:25 pm (CNA).

Throughout the last two millennia, the Catholic Church has only granted the title “doctor of the Church” to 38 saints, one of whom we celebrate today on Nov. 10: St. Leo the Great, the 45th bishop of Rome. 

Pope Leo I, who was the first pope to be remembered posthumously as “the great,” began his papacy in 440 and served until his death in 461. During his pontificate, he worked to clarify doctrines related to Christ’s human and divine natures.

The pontiff was a “pope-theologian, but he’s also known as a remarkable bishop,” Thomas Clemmons, a professor of Church history at The Catholic University of America, told CNA, adding that “theologian popes are rare.”

St. Leo’s papacy began nine years after the Council of Ephesus, which condemned Nestorius and the heresy of Nestorianism, leading many of Nestorius’ followers to schism. The heresy rejected the close union of Christ’s human and divine natures and rejected the Marian title of “Theotokos,” or God-bearer, claiming that Mary only gave birth to Christ’s human nature.

Rising out of the Nestorian schism were more Christological conflicts over the relationship between Christ’s humanity and divinity. Eutyches, an opponent of Nestorius, went too far in the opposite direction, claiming that Christ’s human and divine natures were fused into one single nature. His human nature, Eutyches claimed, was “dissolved like a drop of honey in the sea.”

This heretical understanding, according to Clemmons, turned Christ into a “third thing” or a “kind of monster” rather than the Catholic understanding of Christ as “one Person” with “complete and true humanity and complete and true divinity.”

To combat Eutyches’ error, Pope Leo wrote a letter to Flavian I, the archbishop of Constantinople, which clarified the hypostatic union of Christ’s distinct human nature and distinct divine nature. The letter, which became known as “Leo’s Tome,” is the pontiff’s most famous work and set the stage for defining Christological doctrines at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. 

“Both natures retain their own proper character without loss: and as the form of God did not do away with the form of a slave, so the form of a slave did not impair the form of God,” Pope Leo wrote in the letter. 

“From the mother of the Lord was received nature, not faultiness: nor in the Lord Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin’s womb, does the wonderfulness of his birth make his nature unlike ours,” the letter continued. “For he who is true God is also true man: and in this union there is no lie, since the humility of manhood and the loftiness of the Godhead both meet there.”

In emphasizing the fullness of Christ’s human nature in the letter, Leo cites the genealogy of Christ listed in the Scripture, along with his human experiences, particularly suffering and death on the cross: “Let [Eutyches] not disbelieve [Christ is a] man with a body like ours, since he acknowledges [Christ] to have been able to suffer: seeing that the denial of his true flesh is also the denial of his bodily suffering.”

Leo emphasized the words of the Creed when emphasizing the fullness of Christ’s divine nature, stating: “Not only is God believed to be both Almighty and the Father, but the Son is shown to be co-eternal with him, differing in nothing from the Father because he is God from God, Almighty from Almighty, and being born from the Eternal One is co-eternal with him.” 

The pontiff bolstered his argument with citations from Scripture that point to the fullness of Christ’s divine nature and the fullness of his human nature. 

“To be hungry and thirsty, to be weary, and to sleep, is clearly human,” Leo said. “But to satisfy 5,000 men with five loaves, and to bestow on the woman of Samaria living water, droughts of which can secure the drinker from thirsting any more, to walk upon the surface of the sea with feet that do not sink, and to quell the risings of the waves by rebuking the winds, is, without any doubt, divine.”

Clemmons praised “Leo’s Tome” as a “simple and clear text” that is “very readable and very instructional now,” even more than 1,500 years later. 

At the time, however, the letter was met with hostility from supporters of Eutyches’ position in Constantinople: “[It was] sent there, read aloud, and they rejected it,” Clemmons said. Emperor Theodosius II convened the faux Second Council of Ephesus in 449, which rejected St. Leo’s letter and defended Eutyches. The supporters of Eutyches brutally assaulted Archbishop Flavian I for defending St. Leo’s position, deposed him, and sent him into exile. He died from his injuries.

St. Leo referred to the council as the “Latrocinium,” the “robber council,” and in 451 the Church convoked the Council of Chalcedon, which defined clearly the hypostatic union of Christ’s human and divine natures and rejected the Second Council of Ephesus.

Chalcedon Council documents cite Leo’s letter and affirm his teachings on the two natures of Christ, stating that Christ “must be confessed to be in two natures, unconfusedly, immutably, indivisibly, inseparably [united] … without the distinction of natures being taken away by such union.”

When speaking to a general audience in 2008, Pope Benedict XVI referred to St. Leo the Great as one of the greatest popes in the history of the Church.

“As the nickname soon attributed to him by tradition suggests, he was truly one of the greatest pontiffs to have honored the Roman See and made a very important contribution to strengthening its authority and prestige,” Benedict said.

This story was first published on Nov. 10, 2023, and has been updated.

Pope Leo XIV speaks during Mass for the opening of the general chapter of the Order of St. Augustine on Sept. 1, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 10, 2025 / 12:08 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has appointed a longtime confrere and friend, Nigerian priest Edward Daniang Daleng, OSA, as vice regent of the Prefecture of the Papal Household, the second-highest position in the Vatican office that organizes audiences with the pope. 

The prefecture also takes care of the preparations related to papal ceremonies, the spiritual exercises of the Holy Father, and gatherings of the College of Cardinals and the Roman Curia. Furthermore, it handles the necessary arrangements whenever the Holy Father leaves the Apostolic Palace to visit places within Rome or Italy.

Daniang has been a general councilor and, most recently, procurator general of the Order of St. Augustine — Pope Leo’s religious order. As procurator general, the priest was responsible for preparing and carrying out the order’s business with the Holy See.

Born on April 4, 1977, in Yitla’ar, Kwalla, Plateau state, in Nigeria, Daniang made his first profession in the Order of St. Augustine on Nov. 9, 2001, and his solemn vows on Nov. 13, 2004, at the age of 47.

He was ordained a priest on Sept. 10, 2005, and was awarded a doctorate in moral theology from the Pontifical Alphonsian Academy in Rome in 2012, with a thesis on “Respect for the Dignity and Care of Patients with Incurable and Terminal Illnesses.”

Daniang first met Pope Leo in 2001, when Father Robert Prevost, then prior general of the Augustinians, visited Nigeria. After moving to Rome in 2002, Daniang got to know Prevost even better.

He told Valentina Di Donato of EWTN News in August that he and Prevost have had many occasions to meet and speak over the ensuing decades.

“Something that struck me was his simplicity, his humility,” Daniang said. “That is how he was, how he is.”

Speaking to Vatican News after the election of Pope Leo XIV, Daniang also said that “Africa is in [Leo’s] heart” and that when he was prior general of the Augustinians, then-Father Prevost visited Nigeria at least 10 times.

“To understand how much my country mattered to him,” the priest continued, “just remember that after becoming prior general on his 46th birthday, Sept. 14, he was already with us in Nigeria by November.”

Valentina Di Donato, a producer in the Vatican Bureau of EWTN News, contributed to this report.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican’s secretary for relations with states and international organizations, meets Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo on Nov. 4, 2025. / Credit: Santosh Digal

Colombo, Sri Lanka, Nov 10, 2025 / 09:39 am (CNA).

A top Vatican diplomat has raised the possibility of a papal visit to Sri Lanka as the two nations marked 50 years of diplomatic relations this month, a milestone reached as the island nation emerges from years of political turmoil and economic crisis.

Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican’s secretary for relations with states and international organizations, visited Sri Lanka Nov. 3–8 to commemorate the diplomatic ties established Sept. 6, 1975. During meetings with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and other key officials, Gallagher said Pope Leo XIV may consider visiting the country in recognition of its progress toward peace and stability.

The visit came at a pivotal moment for Sri Lanka, which is rebuilding after a devastating civil war that ended in 2009 and a severe economic collapse in 2022 that forced the president’s resignation. The country also saw Easter Sunday terrorist attacks in 2019 that killed 269 people at Catholic churches and hotels.

On Nov. 4, Gallagher met Dissanayake at the Presidential Secretariat. During the meeting, the president briefed the archbishop on the country’s progress under his administration, according to the President’s Media Division.

‘A blessing for Sri Lanka’

Dissanayake thanked the archbishop for his visit, calling it “a blessing for Sri Lanka.”

The president lauded the Vatican’s contributions to Sri Lanka’s education sector and its humanitarian assistance following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

Gallagher responded that Pope Leo XIV is impressed with Sri Lanka’s progress in promoting peace and unity among religious and ethnic groups. He added that the pope may consider visiting Sri Lanka in the future, given the Vatican’s ties with the country and its progress on many fronts.

In January 2015, Pope Francis visited Sri Lanka amid the aftermath of the nation’s civil war. During that visit, Francis canonized Joseph Vaz (1651–1711), known as the apostle of Sri Lanka.

Gallagher also praised Dissanayake’s leadership in restoring political and economic stability. He said the Vatican supports Sri Lanka’s ongoing efforts to improve ethnic harmony, interfaith understanding, and financial recovery.

The archbishop also conveyed that Pope Leo XIV and the Vatican acknowledge and appreciate Sri Lanka’s progress in championing peace and unity among ethnic and religious communities.

Reaffirming partnership

During a joint news conference on Nov. 4, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath and Gallagher reaffirmed their enduring bilateral relations.

In his remarks, Herath recalled the significant role that the Catholic Church plays in Sri Lanka’s religious and social fabric, particularly in nation-building and reconciliation efforts following the country’s decades-long civil war.

“As we mark this occasion, we reflect with pride on our multifaceted engagement in areas such as education, health care, interfaith dialogue, and humanitarian cooperation,” he said.

“This 50-year anniversary is a testament to a long tradition of dialogue and collaboration,” Gallagher stated in response. “With the intention of making the world a more equitable and peaceful place, we reached a consensus on the significance of maintaining our shared path, enhancing our collaboration on a global and regional scale, and continuing to move forward in the same direction.”

Both sides expressed optimism about the future of relations between Sri Lanka and the Holy See, which are founded on mutual respect and a shared vision for peace and development.

Civil War legacy

Sri Lanka’s civil war lasted from 1983 to 2009, claiming tens of thousands of lives. The conflict ended in 2009 when government forces defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a separatist group founded in 1976 to fight for Tamil rights. The conflict had its roots in long-standing ethnic tensions between the majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamil populations.

From 2019 to 2024, Sri Lanka also faced severe political and economic crises, including the 2022 collapse that led to the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Buddhism is practiced by approximately 70% of Sri Lanka’s estimated 22 million people, while 12.6% are Hindu, 9% are Muslim, and 7% are Christian.

Commemorative events

The Vatican diplomat participated in a commemorative ceremony in Colombo, attended by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo, along with other Sri Lankan dignitaries and Church officials.

The cardinal expressed joy at the joint celebration of bilateral ties, highlighting shared endeavors of friendship, collaboration, and partnership.

On Nov. 4, Ranjith accompanied Gallagher to St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo, one of two Catholic churches targeted by suicide bombers on Easter Sunday 2019. The attacks, carried out by a local Islamic extremist group, killed up to 269 people and injured approximately 500.

Hopes for continued partnership

“His [Gallagher’s] visit marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and the Holy See — a milestone of friendship, mutual respect, and shared values,” said Arun Hemachandra, deputy minister of foreign affairs and foreign employment.

“This golden jubilee celebration is a moment of reflection on our enduring partnership with the Vatican, grounded in peace, compassion, and the service of humanity,” he added.

Father Cyril Gamini Fernando, spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Colombo, described Gallagher’s visit as important and timely.

“Gallagher’s presence in the country was an excellent occasion to acknowledge the Catholic Church and the Vatican’s efforts to support Sri Lanka in its common good and development efforts,” he said.

Michael Fernando, a Catholic and social worker based in Colombo, told CNA that the golden jubilee offers hope for further collaboration grounded in shared values.

“Even if Christians are a minority in Sri Lanka, the government values their contribution and the service they render to people,” he said. “The five decades of partnership between the Vatican and Sri Lanka are a joyous occasion to sustain in the future for the welfare of all.”