Treccani chooses Pope Leo XIV as Personality of the Year 2025. A recognition of a style capable of impacting the new global scenario
Leo XIV is the Character of the Year 2025 according to the Institute of the Italian Encyclopedia Treccani. A choice that rewards not clamor, but style: sobriety, moderation and listening. The Book of the Year describes him as “parsimonious of presence and words”, capable of blurring his own figure to leave room for the Church and its mission. It is a new way of exercising primacy, far from ideological labels and media simplifications.
A Pope outside the box
Leo XIV is the first American Pope, the first missionary in the modern sense and the first from the order of Saint Augustine. An unprecedented profile that brought to the Vatican the experience gained in the suburbs of Peru, where he learned to govern without noise and to choose with prudence. The Pontiff proposes a leadership that seems smaller, but which has great firmness within it, which gives it credibility.
Peace as a priority of Leo XIV
At the center of the pontificate there has been, from the beginning, the idea of a “disarmed and disarming” peace. Not a slogan, but a political and spiritual line at the same time. In a 2025 marked by wars, economic crises and geopolitical rivalries, Leo XIV has chosen not to chase immediate consensus, but to indicate a order of priorities based on rights, dignity and dialogue.
Treccani’s recognition
Treccani’s choice is part of a broader story of a complex year: the return of Donald Trump, the role of Europe, the Nobel Prizes, the challenges of artificial intelligence. In this scenario, observes director Marcello Sorgi, the Church of Leo XIV emerges as a new positive protagonist on the international scene. Not for the weight of power, but for the moral strength of a vision that speaks to the world without raising its voice. In a time of general disorientation, the Pope, with his diplomatic intelligence, represents a compass.
