A Pope from the United States!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

It only took two days for the 133 Cardinal electors who were conclaving in the Sistine Chapel to name a new pope.  The swiftness of the action would seem to indicate that the selection was relatively non-controversial.

The big news, of course, is that they selected Cardinal Robert Prevost, an Augustinian from the south side of Chicago, as the leader of the Catholic Church.  (South Chicago!  The Gallagher family would have been so proud!).  Cardinal Prevost, who from yesterday onward will be known as Pope Leo XIV, was born in Chicago with a "black Creole" lineage, and is a US citizen - but he is also a naturalized citizen of Peru having worked there among the poor, as a missionary and later as a Bishop for to decades.  

Early reports indicate that Pope Leo XIV is spiritually in tune with the major social themes supported by his predecessor, Pope Francis.  MAGA bellyacher Laura Loomer is incensed at the choice and says he is a 
"Marxist," and she would like for Trump to fire him, and RWNJ Steve Bannon has called Pope Leo XIV the "anti-Trump pope" - so he definitely sounds like a winner to this tired old typist!

The important thing is that the Catholic Church and its 1.4 billion followers have a new leader, and he appears to be fully aware of the needs of the least among us and has already demonstrated a willingness to go among them and do good works.   The new pope also seems to be fully aware of the plight of the planet and is ready to take up environmental causes.  The signs are positive, and the result of yesterday's vote in the College of Cardinals could have clearly been much worse.  

Godspeed, Pope Leo!

(One picky point:  As a former geography teacher at both the high school and community college levels, I would like to mention my concern regarding how the new pope is being talked about in the press.  The common theme seems to be that he is "the first American pope," which is technically not accurate.  Over the last two centuries people have come to speak of the United States as "America," when actually the name "America" encompasses all of North America, Central America, and South America.  Pope Francis, who was born in Argentina, was the first "American" pope, being South American.  Pope Leo XIV, is the first North American pope, and also the first to have been born in the United States - and the first to hold dual North American and South American citizenship - so I guess that makes him doubly American!)