Transcript

Howdy folks.

I just thought I'd share with you a few thoughts about the newly elected Pope.

As I'm sure you've heard, the American Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected, and has chosen the name Leo XIV for his pontificate.

What I'm gonna be offering you are first impressions only.

They are subject to revision, because we're still getting to know this new Pope.

He's not like Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who everybody knew, uh, before he became elected as Benedict XVI.

But there is some that is known about, uh, Cardinal Prevost.

Uh, you know, he's been around on the world stage a little bit.

And so we have a little bit of a basis for talking about why the College of Cardinals, um, you know, put their confidence in him, and what we may expect from him during his pontificate.

I was aware of him as a possible candidate for the papacy, or what's known as a papabile, someone who's pope-able.

I was not expecting him to be elected though.

And one reason for that is it has been conventional wisdom for a long time that there wouldn't be any American popes for the foreseeable future.

Partly the reason for no American popes is in the past, uh, well there weren't that many American cardinals, and I'm talkin' like 100 years ago, and they didn't have airplanes to get American cardinals over, uh, the Atlantic Ocean quickly enough to let them play that much of a role in the discussions leading up to a conclave that could lead people to have confidence in them.

Then after World War II, American, America became global superpower and following the collapse of the Soviet Union, America was sort of the last man standing in terms of being a global superpower.

And you didn't, the, the thought went that the cardinals wouldn't want to have, you know, the, the United States as the dominant geopolitical power in the world at the same time as having it be the papal, having it, having the, uh, the papacy in the hands of an American.

There's also some, uh, reasons why they might wanna be suspicious.

In the 20th century, especially after World War II when the CIA was founded, there was, um, meddlin' that the CIA did in nations across the world, including Italy.

And that, even though a lot of Americans aren't aware of that, it kinda gave a bad reputation to America and American intelligence in a lotta circles.

And so there could be concerns about if we had an American pope, would papal policy be, be crafted in CIA's Langley headquarters and so forth?

So there were reasons for suspicion.

And Americans tend to be sort of loud, um, and we can have a reputation for, e- especially given our global superpower status, for having the attitude of, you know, just being large and in charge.

And m- m- that's something that was not a particularly desirable trait for a pontiff, because the pope needs to be the servant of the servants of God.

And that's a little bit in tension with some of the images that, uh, America has projected, included, you know, like, you know, under President Bush or under President Obama or under President Trump, you know, there were very large, colorful personalities.

And, um, and so I can understand why many cardinals would be hesitant to have an American.

So, you know, we've now kind of crashed through that barrier.

I don't know when we'll have another American pope, but it was a bit of a surprise to have one this time.

And I'm pleased that the College of Cardinals were able to find, uh, someone that they had confidence in and that that person is an American, and they didn't let that deter them.

So, I think that's a positive.

I also like the name that he's chosen.

Uh, Cardinal Prevost chose the name Leo, and so he's known as Leo XIV.

And anytime a pope picks a name, y- you tend to think of who last had that name and what might that tell us about this new pontiff.

Well, like, uh, every pope, the previous Leo, Leo XIII, had some flaws, but he was a fundamentally good pope with many admirable qualities.

It He also wrote the famous St. Michael Prayer for protection against dark forces that, uh, you know, used to actually be part of the prayers after the mass.

And so, uh, that's a, this is just one thing connected with Leo XIII, but it's no- notable that he did that.

And I think it would be a good idea to say the St. Michael Prayer for the protection and guidance of Leo XIV.

In terms of his theological orientation, um, well, I guess I'll say this.

One of the things I was watching was, how many ballots would it go before we had a new pope?

Now, um, four ballots is sort of the modern minimum.

Nobody gets elected on the first, second, or third ballot.

And if someone's elected on the fourth ballot, it means that this is a person that the cardinals can agree on.

There didn't need to be a lengthy drawn-out process.

Um, if the conclave had gone on really long, or if a conclave goes on really long, what you tend to have is a couple of candidates representing different parties that, where neither party is strong enough to get their guy elected, and so then they start searching for compromise candidates.

The fact that Leo XIV was elected on the fourth ballot means that there was pretty quick agreement.

Uh, he A lot of votes coalesced around him quite rapidly.

And, of course, there's, there are gonna be other people who got votes, and I've even encountered rumors about, uh, who some of those were.

I've seen a rumor that has been reported in, in the press that, uh, Cardinal Tagle from the Philippines, who would have been a highly progressive pope, um, was an early leader, and then the votes kinda coalesced around Prevost as an alternative.

In terms of what I can say about Prevost's, uh, positioning, theologically, is he, he's, he's a centrist.

He's not highly progressive.

He's not highly traditional.

He has not written a lot or spoken a lot on the various hot button theological issues in the Church.

And so, I would expect that we're not likely, at least for the foreseeable future, we're not likely to have any major theological shifts in, uh, in the Church.

Now, he's gonna He's, he's a big promoter of, of peace and so forth, but, uh, and, and environmentalism and things like that, but all of that I look on as kind of secondary.

It's not the pope's main job to promote environmentalism or to promote world peace, as valuable as, you know, world peace is, it's not the pope's main job.

The pope's main job is to teach the Christian faith, and I'm not seeing any early signs of, you know, rupture on that.

I also suspect that, uh, we're gonna be in for a more peaceful period in the Church than, uh, what we've had in recent years, but I'll get to reasons why I say that.

One thing that the cardinals definitely look for today is someone to be pope who is a missionary, who has a missionary heart.

Now, when, um, when Francis was elected, he had made an intervention as Cardinal, uh, Bergoglio.

And an inter- and an intervention in this case is a speech.

In the, um, in the general meetings before the Conclave where he really pushed the idea of the Church needs to be missionary.

And so I think, you know, the cardinals saw that, and they thought that was promising, but then even though Pope Francis was able to engage with the world media in ways that, you know, attracted good publicity, um, his missionary efforts didn't seem to bear a lot of fruit.

In this case, the cardinals have again picked someone with credible, uh, with good credentials as a missionary.

Uh, Cardinal Prevost, even though he was born here in the United States, he spent many years in Peru, and, uh, you know, helping, helping people there, and so I think that that's part of why, uh, they were willing to go with him even though he's American in origin, because he's clearly showed heart for people in the developing world, and that, uh, also earns him some credentials as a missionary.

Another thing that, uh, cardinals look for in a pope is someone who is a governor.

When Pope Francis was elected, there was a big concern that the Roman Curia, that's the offices in Rome that assist the pope, that they were kind of unmanageable.

You know, we'd been coming out of the, uh, Vatileak scandal and so forth.

There were a lot of concerns about management in Rome.

And one of the things Pope Francis was elected to do was to clean house in Rome, to get the governance of the Church kind of back on track, and that's another area where the results were kinda mixed.

But, um, Leo XIV does have qualities that suggest he, uh, has governing ability.

Um, he's been a diocesan bishop.

He also has, uh, worked at very high levels in his Augustinian Order, and he knows the inside of the Vatican, to some degree, because he's been the head of the Congregation for Bishops, which is one of the most important, uh, congregations, or now it's the Dicastery for Bishops.

It's one of the most important dicasteries in Rome, because it's involved in selecting bishops all over the, all over the world.

And, uh, you know, Francis appointed him to head that even though reportedly the two of 'em didn't always see eye-to-eye.

Um, but even Francis had a lot of confidence in him despite the fact that they sometimes disagreed.

In terms of his governing style, uh, Prevost has a reputation for being more reserved.

Now, Francis, by his own admission, he was gonna make a mess.

In fact, he reportedly said when John Paul II died, he actually supported Ratzinger, uh, as, as pope because he realized that was a moment when we needed continuity, whereas he said, If I became pope, I would make a mess.

Um, and he encouraged people to make messes as, uh, you know, sort of in the spirit of creative destruction, I guess, where, you know, you In order to make progress, you need to, you need to shake some things up, and Pope Francis definitely did that.

So, um, just like on Doctor Who, every time they cast a new doctor, it's in reaction to the previous doctor.

So, Francis was a mess-maker, and I think the College of Cardinals with Prevost were looking for a peace-maker, and he That seems to be borne out.

Prevost has a reputation for having a more reserved personality, a pleasant personality, and an ability to listen .

to different groups.

Francis talked a lot about listening to different groups, but I don't know that he was that successful in that.

But, but Robert Prevost, now Leo XIV, has a reputation for being able to listen, um, constructively to different parties and be able to work with people from different, uh, from diff- coming from different places.

As you may know, in Latin America, uh, where Peru is, there are some, uh, counterbalancing theological trends.

There's the progressive liberation theology and the conservative Opus Dei, and that was true of Peru, where, um, uh, Prevost was able to work with people who were parts of both groups.

He was able to listen to both groups, and he was perceived as a peacemaker down there.

So, I think he has a markedly different style than Francis had, um, you know, a- and I would expect that t- to continue into his papacy.

I thus foresee that we're entering a period of greater stability in the church, at least in all likelihood.

No one knows the future, and, you know, I can imagine how, how things can go sideways, um, you know, particularly with things like the, the German Synodal Way and stuff like that being an outstanding issue that is, has not been resolved yet.

So, I can imagine that there will be junctures at which we may have, um, some ruckuses occur, but in, on balance, I would say Leo XIV looks like, uh, we're gonna be in for a period of greater stability and peace within the church, which I know was a concern of a great many cardinal electors.

I also don't foresee any major doctrinal shifts, at least not, at least not, you know In the beginning, um, I can't predict the future on that, but because, uh, Prevost is a centrist rather than highly progressive or highly traditional, I don't think that, um, that there are any foreseeable major shifts.

It's not like he has any personal, um, doctrinal projects that he wants, he r- really wants to push forward now that he's become Pope.

He may, but at least they're not known at this point.

Another sign that I think that, uh, is positive is that when he came out on the loggia at St. Peter's, he was wearing the traditional papal vestments that, uh, that newly-elected popes wear, and that's something that Francis had markedly not done.

Now, this is a matter of personal style, and it, it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things how a pope is dressed, you know, in terms of what vestments are they wearing.

I mean, Francis was wearing clerical garb, he just wasn't wearing all of the traditional vestments.

But the fact that, uh, that Leo XIV was signals a, a return to previous papal tradition, and thus continuity with popes from the pre-Fan- pre-Francis era.

On the other hand, he praised Pope Francis in his opening address from the loggia, but that's to be expected.

Every newly-elected pope praises their predecessor.

Um, Francis did the same thing with Benedict, so it would be bizarre if the, a newly-elected pope did not come out and say nice things about his predecessor.

In his initial, um, appearance at the loggia, uh, Leo XIV used three languages, Italian, Spanish, and Latin, and the fact he used all three of them?

Now, he needs to use Italian, 'cause he's now the bishop of an Italian diocese, the Diocese of Rome.

Um, using Latin is traditional in, in these services because, uh, the Church is a global church and Latin is the global language it uses, and the fact that he went into Spanish also, he, he said a, um, a greeting to his former diocese in Peru.

Um, the fact that he did that also is, uh, a sign that he cares about where he comes from, he cares about the developing world, so that's all good.

One thing I wondered if he would do is greet America in English, and he didn't.

And I understand that, because like I mentioned, there have been pretty serious concerns about having an American pope, and so he needs to signal to the other cardinals and to the world as he makes his first impression that, you know, Don't, don't look at me like I'm Donald Trump in papal garb, you know?

Um, I expect him to downplay the fact he's from America in order to position himself as a global leader.

Um, I still think it's great, I just think it's exciting that we have an a- a pope who has, who's from America, and I look forward to being able to hear the Pope speak in English when he visits America, and he will, but I understand why he would downplay, uh, his American origins, especially as he's making first impressions on people, and especially given the reputation that America still has in many places and, you know, currently has under our large and in-charge current president.

So, um, I understand why he would, he, why he would take that approach, and I don't consider it a slight.

I consider it a prudent move, actually, that he, um, at least in the present geopolitical moment and as, and as the first American pope, did not go out of his way to emphasize his Americanness in his public debut to the world as pope.

Like I said, he will uh, be coming to the United States.

Now that's something every Pope does in modern times.

John Paul II did it, Benedict XVI did it, Pope Francis did it, and so Leo XIV will do it too, and it's just a matter of time.

But I suspect that America will not be his first international visit.

Um, if I had to guess.

Now, there are actually some international visits k- k- that had been scheduled by Pope Francis.

Like, uh, there's one in Turkey, uh, later this year for the 1700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, um, in AD 325.

That's the council that infallibly defined the divinity of Christ, so he may well go there.

I would, I would, I, I would if I were him.

Um, the, you know, defining the divinity of Christ, the First Ecumenical Council of all, that's a big deal.

So I would go for the anniversary of that.

In And he may fulfill some of the other, uh, planned upcoming Papal visits.

He may not go to others.

He may modify the plans.

In terms of newly planned, uh, Papal visits, before he comes to the United States, I suspect he might go to Peru to, uh, to greet, uh, and, uh, the people who he previously served and to indicate publicly that, you know, his heart is still with them and with people in similar situations.

And I think that would be a positive demonstration of him as the servant of the servants of God.

As someone who's not just a, um, a high muckety-muck now, but someone who, who cares about people in more modest circumstances, and who wants to show that tangibly.

So, I could see him going back to Peru as a, uh, as a, as an early Papal trip, even before coming to the United States.

But he will eventually come to the United States, and I look forward to that.

In the meantime, you know, let's keep him in our prayers.

What I've offered you here today are just some preliminary thoughts based on my knowledge of him and first impressions of him.

But, uh, I suspect, just to summarize, that, um, that we're looking for a period of greater peace in the Church.

And, um, and I think things are, are, are positive, you know?

Um, I, I can't say that I'm gonna get everything on my wish list, but, uh, but things are, are looking positive, and we should continue to pray.

We should pray for Pope Leo XIV, just like we should pray for every Pope.

Thank you so much and God bless you.