Pope Leo marks 71st birthday with a celebration of books and human connection

Pope Leo XIV’s 71st birthday Sept. 14 was marked with well wishes from around the world and a visit to the Vatican Apostolic Library, where the Pontiff praised its contribution to the Church and wider world.

The presidency of the Italian Bishops’ Conference was among those offering prayers and good wishes, thanking the Pope for his service on behalf of the country’s local Churches, according to a Sept. 14 report from Vatican News.

The bishops’ message also reflected Pope Leo’s continued emphasis on peace and reconciliation during his papacy, themes he referenced more than 400 times during the first year of his pontificate, according to Vatican News. As Zeale News previously reported, he warned in his Sept. 13 Angelus address that resentment can destroy relationships, divide families, and “unleash wars” and urged Christians to pursue peace through forgiveness.

During his first visit to the Vatican Apostolic Library as pontiff, the Chicago native inaugurated its “AQVA: Catastrophe and Wonder” exhibition, Vatican News reported. The Holy Father noted a personal connection to the occasion. 

“I just want to say that God, in his providence, and sometimes with a certain humor, always reminds us that God is with us,” Pope Leo said. “Many of you may not know that my mother was a librarian! And so today, on my birthday, I am here to greet you all.”

The Holy Father then reflected on the library’s purpose beyond preserving its collections. 

“It is not simply a place full of books, but a place built by relationships, exchange, and sharing ideas,” he said.

The Pope encouraged the library to expand digital access to its collections without losing the tradition of scholars gathering there in person.

“While on the one hand it is right to facilitate access to this treasure for study, including through digitization and online access,” he said, “on the other it is also necessary to preserve and encourage the ancient practice of physically making one’s way to the Library.”

The Pope concluded by acknowledging that the library and archives need additional space and said he had given instructions to address the problem.

“I intend to continue along the path traced by my predecessors,” he said, “who over the centuries have demonstrated the care the Apostolic See has for the institutions entrusted with preserving and promoting its cultural and administrative memory.”

A Chicago-born Pope and his librarian mother

Pope Leo was born to Mildred Agnus and Louis Marius Prevost at Mercy Hospital in the Bronzeville neighborhood of the South Side of Chicago on Sept. 14, 1955. 

An educator and librarian, Mildred once held a position at Mendel Catholic High School a college preparatory high school for boys in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago run by the Order of St. Augustine, which would later become the order of its most famous alumnus, Pope Leo XIV. 

Pope Leo's brother Louis told Newsmax upon his brother's election that he believed his little brother always had a special way about him.

"He just had this calling, I believe, since birth," he said. "You could just see the way he acted, behaved, was around our parents and other kids. There was something different."

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