St Leo The Great

Leo was born into a very important family in Rome. He studied a lot when he was growing up and was a very good student. He became a priest, wrote many books, and became a good preacher of the Gospel. He became the Pope on September 29, in the year 440. As Pope, he helped lead the early Church closer to Jesus by teaching them about who Jesus really was. He taught that Jesus was both human and divine (God), which is sometimes very hard for people to understand. He stopped Attila the Hun (the ruler of the Huns who was taking over a lot of Italy to gain power) from taking over Rome by making peace with him. He reminded the Catholic Church that there needed to be a leader for the whole Church, so that the people didn’t start going down the wrong path, and that the leader of the Church was the Pope who was chosen by God, just like Peter the Apostle was chosen by Jesus. He taught us that every human being is equal; no one is better than anyone else because Jesus came to save all of us! His leadership and teachings in the Church made him a Doctor of the Church and earned him the title “Leo the Great”.