The conclave has spoken. White smoke from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel past midnight the other day signaled that the College of Cardinals had elected a new pope.
In another first in Church history after the election of Pope Francis as the first pope from the New World, the conclave has elected the first pope from the US, Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost who took the name Leo XIV.
While we are sad that our own Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle wasn’t chosen, we have to remember that electing a pope isn’t a popularity contest. And that whoever becomes pope no longer carries the ordinary trappings of citizenship as we know it. It matters little what country he was born in, he becomes a world leader, in this case the leader of all Roman Catholics.
Admittedly Leo XIV has big shoes to fill, considering how beloved Pope Francis was because of his attempt to bring the Church to so many people previously considered outsiders.
But it seems he is headed on the right track, as he has said he will continue where Pope Francis left off. So we can probably expect more bridges to be built between the Roman Catholic Church and those who feel they have been alienated for so long.
His taking the name Leo is also resonating well with religious scholars, as the name Leo is associated with “emphasis on justice, labor, and the church’s role in the modern world,” taking into account the works of Leo XIII.
With that said, we must also realize that Robert Francis Prevost is also his own man. To constantly compare him to Jorge Mario Bergoglio and insist that he must be a carbon copy of him wouldn’t only be impractical but also unfair to him. Leo XIV must be allowed to exercise the role of Christ’s representative on earth as he sees fit.
With the coming of a new pope comes the new hope that the Roman Catholic faith will grow even stronger and draw back in those who have felt ostracized, detached, or removed from it for so long.