Bishop Robert Barron, one of the better-known Catholic figures in America, recently quoted a mentor about the prospect of an American pope:
“Cardinal George of Chicago, of happy memory, was one of my great mentors, and he said: 'Look, until America goes into political decline, there won't be an American pope.'” — Barron[1]
I guess we’ve finally confirmed that America has gone into political decline.
Per today’s announcement, the new head of the Catholic Church is Pope Leo XIV (formerly Robert Prevost), the first American ever to assume the papacy.
Leo is a Peruvian-American, born in Chicago but holding dual citizenship after a decade of ministry in Peru during the 80s. He speaks English, Spanish, Italian, French, and Portuguese, and reads Latin and German. At 69, he’s several years younger than the previous two popes (78 & 76) upon entering office.
Of course, we can only speculate the shape of his papacy, but there are several encouraging signs from his past ministry — and one notable blight — that I’ll mention:
- On Twitter, Leo retweeted a post condemning Republicans for inaction on school shootings and Catholic responses to George Floyd and systemic racism. He’s also supported Francis’ stance on immigration and retweeted criticisms of Trump’s deportations.
- More importantly, Leo himself corrected JD Vance’s ridiculous interpretation of Catholic theology, saying, “Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”
- Unfortunately, in the early 2000s it seems Leo may have dealt too leniently with a priest credibly accused of sex abuse of minors. That was decades ago, and I hope that his stance has harshened on pedophiles in the church.
- He appears to be a Chicago White Sox fan. This is unforgivable.
I hope that as pope, Leo does not back down from holding the US accountable. He’s done it in the past, and now’s the best time to keep condemning the evils of the current administration. Every Republican Catholic ought to be in a moral quandary until we see proper Christian ethics from the self-proclaimed Catholic Vice President Vance. Ditto for Trump, who loves to claim Christianity.
But his real concern should be Ukraine and Gaza. Francis never visited Ukraine in the spirit of ecumenism toward the Russian Orthodox, and this was a mark on his legacy as pope. We need compassion and firmness toward Russia, as well as furthered attempts at peace in Gaza. Some may balk at the pope getting “political” or acting as an ambassador, but considering the latest Ukraine-US deal happened after a meeting in the Vatican…it seems like we need the church to be political.
Pray for our new pope. I look forward to seeing what he does.
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