Habemus Papam: We Have a New Pope
Well, that was fast! The conclave, I mean.
What a joy to see that white smoke this past Thursday, and a short while later to see the nervous, but smiling face of our new Holy Father emerge onto the center loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica.
The swiftness with which the cardinals came to the required two-thirds consensus was just the first of two major surprises of this latest conclave.
As the cardinals were preparing to meet after the funeral of Pope Francis, Vatican insiders were confidently predicting a drawn-out, and perhaps even contentious conclave. The reasoning behind this prediction is that Pope Francis had consciously appointed cardinals from remote dioceses across the globe, and many of them had only been appointed quite recently. As such, many of the cardinals convening at the Vatican would be meeting one another for the first time, or at best had met one another in passing. It was expected that it would take some time for the cardinals to get the measure of one another, and then to coalesce support behind one candidate.
And yet, on just the second day the white smoke went up, and bells started ringing at St. Peter’s and across Rome.
The First American Pope
As I said, that was just the first of two surprises. The second was the choice of candidate.
Most Vatican experts had predicted that the cardinals would never select an American. To justify this prediction, they pointed to the United States’ sometimes fraught role as the leading global superpower, as well as a general anti-American sentiment in various parts of the globe, which might cause the cardinals to shy away from bestowing the highest office of the Catholic Church on an American. On this, too, the Vatican experts proved incorrect.
Of course, the citizenship of the pontiff is, in many ways, the least important thing about him. His role as Vicar of Christ elevates him above any parochial concerns about nationality. By virtue of his Petrine office, the Bishop of Rome is also bishop of the world, and in this sense belongs to the entire globe.
And yet, like many Americans, I could not help but feel a sense of pride in seeing one of our own native sons, born in Chicago, walk out onto the loggia. While his Italian and Spanish are impeccable, it was delightful to hear him begin his first homily, the day after his election, in perfect English.
A Legacy Behind The Name
In many ways, a newly elected pontiff’s first teaching act is the selection of his name. In choosing a name, the pope sets aside his former identity and adopts a new identity as the Vicar of Christ on earth, a man who now belongs to the whole Church.
A pope’s chosen name inevitably indicates something about his spirituality, and what he intends his priorities to be. In the case of Pope Francis, the selection of the name Francis was quickly interpreted as an indication of two things: firstly, that the newly elected pope was likely to be an independent thinker, willing to set and follow his own, unique path (no pope before him had ever chosen the name Francis); and secondly, that he would likely focus his attentions on service to the poor, as well as on matters of ecology. In both cases, the interpretations proved correct.
When Cardinal Protodeacon Dominique Mamberti announced from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica this past Thursday that the new pope had taken the name Leo XIV, the thoughts of anyone with any historical knowledge of the papacy immediately flew to the new pope’s predecessor and namesake, Pope Leo XIII, whose pontificate lasted from 1878 until 1903.
More than anything else, Pope Leo XIII is renowned for his groundbreaking encyclical Rerum novarum, which many people credit with launching a cohesive Catholic social doctrine. In this encyclical, Pope Leo XIII faced head-on many of the most urgent social questions of his day, especially the plight of the worker. Over and against the ideology of socialism, and especially its most pernicious manifestation, communism, Pope Leo XIII outlined a rich, nuanced, and thoroughly Catholic understanding of matters like private property and the rights of workers.
More generally, Pope Leo XIII provided a cohesive understanding of how the dignity of the human person ought to be upheld in a modern world undergoing convulsions of change that would render much of the social order unrecognizable and ultimately produce the bloodiest century of human history.
In addition to his role addressing the Church’s relation to modernity, Pope Leo XIII also revived the study of St. Thomas Aquinas, especially in the formation of priests, through the encyclical Aeterni patris. Finally, Pope Leo XIII had a tremendous devotion to Our Lady and vigorously promoted the Rosary, issuing ten encyclicals on the Rosary that asserted its central place in Catholic devotional life.
A Shepherd In the Modern Storm
Our new Holy Father, Leo XIV, has already confirmed that in selecting the name Leo, he wished to signal his intention to follow in the footsteps of Leo XIII, and in particular, his successes in helping the Church address the burning questions of his age.
In an address to the cardinals this past Saturday, the Holy Father noted that in encyclicals like Rerum novarum, Pope Leo XIII had “addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution.”
“In our own day,” he added, “the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and labor.”
The decision to highlight matters of artificial intelligence indicates that our new Holy Father is very much in tune with the urgent questions and trends of the day. As a bishop, Pope Leo XIV maintained a semi-active social media presence, which journalists frantically mined for insights in the hours after his election. This is a minor point, perhaps, but serves as an indication that this comparatively young pope is no stranger to the technological currents that are transforming society so fast that it is increasingly difficult to keep up.
And yet, as he indicated in his first address to the cardinals after his election, the role of the Church, and of the Vicar of Christ, is first and foremost to preach the Gospel, which is age-old, and transcends all concerns of time and place.
“It is up to us to be docile listeners to his voice and faithful ministers of his plan of salvation, mindful that God loves to communicate himself, not in the roar of thunder and earthquakes, but in the ‘whisper of a gentle breeze’ (1 Kings 19:12) or, as some translate it, in a ‘sound of sheer silence,’” Pope Leo XIV said. “It is this essential and important encounter to which we must guide and accompany all the holy People of God entrusted to our care.”
Drawing from Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Evangelium gaudium,PopeLeo XIV listed his major priorities as pope, including:
the return to the primacy of Christ in proclamation (cf. No. 11); the missionary conversion of the entire Christian community (cf. No. 9); growth in collegiality and synodality (cf. No. 33); attention to the sensus fidei (cf. Nos. 119-120), especially in its most authentic and inclusive forms, such as popular piety (cf. No. 123); loving care for the least and the rejected (cf. No. 53); courageous and trusting dialogue with the contemporary world in its various components and realities (cf. No. 84; Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes, 1-2).
A Papal Voice for Family and Life
Naturally, for Human Life International, and by extension supporters and readers like you, the question of our new Holy Father’s views on some of the most urgent life and family issues is foremost on our minds.
Unsurprisingly, it is easy enough to find plenty of evidence that Pope Leo XIV is firmly committed to upholding the dignity of all human persons.
Given Pope Leo XIV’s long-term role as a foreign missionary, operating in various languages, including Spanish and Italian, it will take some time for journalists and others wishing to know more about the pope to locate, translate, and grasp the main themes and ideas of our Holy Father’s priestly and episcopal ministry. This is made all the more difficult by the fact that the new pope seems to have had little interest in gaining attention in the media, preferring to focus on his missionary work and work at the Vatican. Thus, there are few media stories or interviews that we can go to find out more about him.
Nevertheless, a portrait is already beginning to emerge.
Defend Life!
As a bishop and cardinal, Pope Leo XIV had repeatedly expressed support for, or actively participated in, various marches for life. “Let’s defend human life at all times!” he exhorted his followers in one post, which included a photo of a march for life in Chiclayo, Peru.
According to Newsweek, in a 2023 address to clergy, he had stated, “The Church must walk with all people, especially the most vulnerable, ensuring their dignity is upheld from the womb to the end of life, as this is the heart of Christ’s mission.”
Newsweek notes that as bishop, Pope Leo XIV had clearly expressed his opposition to euthanasia. “‘Don’t go there’,” he tweeted in 2016, while sharing an article about the legalization of euthanasia in Canada. He went on to warn that assisted suicide “threatens the most vulnerable in society.”
The New York Times also reports that Pope Leo XIV had opposed efforts in Peru to teach gender ideology in schools. The Times also includes quotations from a 2012 address to fellow bishops, in which the then-bishop worried that Western influences produced “sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel.” The bishop specifically noted the “homosexual lifestyle” and “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children.”
Oremus Pro Pontifice Nostro Leone
In the coming weeks and months, we will no doubt learn much more about Pope Leo XIV, as he begins to preach and write. In the meantime, I would only like to remind you of the urgent duty of all to pray for the Holy Father.
As I highlighted in my column last week, the role of the Holy Father is surely one of the most difficult “jobs” in the world. At an age when many men are winding down and enjoying the fruits of their labors in retirement, Pope Leo XIV is just beginning a global ministry that he will maintain until his death. Let us pray for good health, for strength, for courage, and above all for holiness of Pope Leo XIV, that he may be a living icon of Christ on earth and guide many more men and women to the Gospel message, and to Christ Himself