“Holy Father, the first thing you must do is correct Francis, because only the pope may aptly correct a pope.  There is no need to judge his motives.  But he often caused confusion and distress, and his attempts to unify often seemed rather to divide.

“In at least one matter, you must correct him clearly, deliberately, and self-consciously.  I advise that you change the Catechism’s treatment of the death penalty back to where it was before.  Francis’s insertion of ‘inadmissible’ was autocratic and unhelpful.   He purported, with this change, to correct his immediate predecessors, Benedict and John Paul II, who were fully satisfied with the text as it stood.  Do you, then, in union with these other Pontiffs, correct Francis, and restore the Catechism to its state of unalloyed truth.

“With this one change you signal, then, that you are aware of the problem, and you give the faithful confidence that, going forward, you will deal with like matters firmly and prudently.  

“You also cast doubt on the premise that a change, especially an apparently relaxing change, is a genuine ‘development.’ Sometimes a change may simply be a mistake, which will need to be reversed.  This one act will deflate the pretensions of those who wish to use Newman to change Church teaching.  It will remove much of the toxic confusion caused by Amoris laetitia chapter 8 and Fiducia supplicans. 

“We know that casuistical moral theologians, who mischievously want to change Church teaching, especially in sexual matters, always start in the classroom with the death penalty, domestic slaves, and usury, as cases in which the Church has supposedly changed her teaching.  Francis emboldened these wolves in sheep’s clothing.  As the guardian of the Deposit of Faith, you have a serious responsibility to protect the sheep against them.

“I advise at the same time that you reverse Traditionis custodes and reaffirm Summorum pontificum, with the judgment, which only you can render authoritatively, that the wisdom of Benedict in this matter is greater than that of Francis.  After all, was not Benedict the great teacher of the beauty of the liturgy in our age?  His wise ‘settlement’ brought peace: Francis’s actions have sown division and provoked anger.

“This one act of deliberate correction, to my mind, is the first priority.  But in other matters too, Francis’s departures from John Paul II and Benedict can be seen to be unhelpful, such as his demotion of the role of the (former) Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; his destruction of the JPII Institute on the Family; and his undermining of the Catholic character of the papal academies.   Francis’s actions here were harmful to the Church; someone who can reverse them, should.  But prudence and practical constraints may, admittedly, point in favor of a slower but steady overturning.

“Other definite changes I would advise include: to embrace Courage and sideline Fr. Martin; to bring back a major auditor to attain needed transparency in Vatican finances; and to reform marriage tribunals, so that the common abuse of annulments as ‘Catholic divorces’ is brought to an end.  

“In this last regard, the work of reform achieved so laboriously by John Paul II over three decades seems to have been effectively unraveled by Francis. 

“These are definite evils ‘in your own household’ which need to be addressed.  They are not unimportant.

“But I know that in choosing the name, ‘Leo,’ you expressed a strong desire – with a magnanimous, indeed a leonine heart – to achieve great things in your pontificate.  What legacy of teaching can you pass down to the lasting benefit of the Church?  

“I advise against focusing on AI, because its nature and consequences are still not clear; and because it would be a distraction from more important matters.

“If you are willing to listen to me, here is my threefold counsel on this matter.   

“First, like the earlier Leo, inspire the Church to strive after Christian wisdom.  Yes, the love of St. Thomas Aquinas needs to be rekindled once more in the Universal Church.  And yet, why not raise up St. Augustine to an equal standing, through writing a heartfelt encyclical, similar to Aeterni patris, but which displays St. Augustine as an equally great master?  Surely St. Augustine speaks directly to the young persons of our time.

“Second, do not fail to use the coming year, the 250^th anniversary of the American founding, as the occasion of celebrating how much the Church has given to the United States, and how much American Catholics have contributed to the Church, and can contribute in the future.  Take as your guide James Cardinal Gibbons’ maxim, that ‘Catholics make the best Americans, and Americans make the best Catholics’ – with their spirit of initiative, and their love of freedom and subsidiarity. Indeed, Leo XIII shared a similar conviction, which is one reason he founded my university.  It would be a great loss to the Church, to waste this opportunity.

“Third, lead the Church to see that what has been called ‘the Social Question’ has changed.  We are well past the mere industrial age and well into what economists call ‘The Great Enrichment,’ an explosion of productivity through free markets that lifted most of the world out of destitution.   Our ‘Social Question’ is rather: how to inspire young persons to marry and have lots of children, and what policies will support young families in giving a religious education to their children, and for the mom to stay at home if she wishes?  

“Be the Pope, then, who clarifies that the Church’s teachings on sex, marriage, the family, and education, count most crucially as ‘Catholic social teaching.’

“Holy Father, I give you my advice now, and my loyalty and prayers always.”