A Genuinely Average Pope; It Was Really Needed in Our Current Crazy World

Everyone is Cheering or Jeering The New Pope on Perceived Politics; What I See is an Average Church Head Offering Typical Christian Moral Clarity

On Thursday, a select group of some of the most staid personalities on the planet did what many considered unthinkable and elected an equally staid American as the next head of the Holy See. And its that one geographic adjective that has the political world elated in the upper echelons of paradise hearing choirs of angels and speculating as to WHY they particularly took this moment and this man to be the next Pope. What kind of message was the Conclave saying to the world?

For starters, MAGA World blew up, writing Pope Leo XIV as the newly crowned social justice warrior Pope.

Meanwhile, many in the non-MAGA crowd were outright gleeful at the contrasts between the new Pontiff and that of notoriously un-pious President Donald Trump. To draw color to that contrast, they point to the now-Pope’s past Twitter feed and things he said and retweeted (as Robert Prevost, his given name):

So Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, who is he really? Well, he’s from Chicago¹ went to Villanova and spent a lot of time helping the impoverished in Peru. This is where he met Jorge Mario Bergolio, a cardinal in Argentina, who went on to become Pope Francis. He had a good personal relationship with the previous Pope, and Francis appointed him as the Vatican’s Discastery for Bishops, a role that put him front and center for vetting all the Bishop nominations from around the world, including appointing and elevating many of the Cardinals who ended up voting for him. So just saying here, if you want to stack the deck with a lot of aces up your sleeve so when the time comes you be elected Pope, Leo was in a prime position to do so. Many of the other Cardinals, either through thanks or genuine appreciation that he would do a good job voted him as Francis’s successor pretty quickly by Conclave standards, so they all seemed happy to select the White Sox fan to lead the Vatican.

So what does he believe? Well, he’s considered a conservative when it comes to church orthodoxy. If you were LGBTQIA+ and hoping for someone in the mold of Francis², you’re SOL there. He holds pretty standard conservative positions on homosexuality, abortion, women in the church, etc. and voted in GOP primaries prior to 2016. So in truth, he’s pretty much your standard, typical, Catholic conservative from twenty or twenty-five years ago.

For the most part, these non-MAGA types can be forgiven for reading too much into the tea leaves thinking he’s a social justice warrior because he, you know, actually states and follows what the Church teaches; morality, empathy, helping those less fortunate and being kind to your fellow man. In today’s cynical political world, those ideas seem almost quaint, certainly rare. Speaking out against the cruelty of Trump’s immigration programs and how closing doors to refugees in need of aid is un-Christian seems to me to be as basic to Jesus’s teachings as it gets. For many of the SJW progressive types lauding how much MAGA’s hair is on fire over the new Pope, you may not have thought everything through yet and are setting yourselves up to be disappointed in the long run.

However, the GOP of 25 years ago stands in stark contrast to where the Republican Party, Trump, MAGA and evangelical Christianity in America stands NOW. Those that adhere to the “prosperity Bible” and fail to practice actual Christian teachings in favor of some kind of glorified, trumped up version of a false idol Jesus who neglects the poor, kicks out people fleeing war and famine, separates immigrant families and exploits the less advantaged, Leo has openly criticized this, and argues against it. In that sense, he practices what he preaches; he’s kind, helps others including the poor, speaks out on behalf of migrants and refugees looking for a better life and demonstrates empathy towards those that feel personally conflicted, providing guidance. He’s NOT Francis, but he’s cut from similar cloth. More importantly, he demonstrates a consistent moral clarity, the tenets and principles of the faith, that hypocritical MAGA evangelicals defy in extravagant ways.

And it’s that last part that may have provided the Cardinals with the justification in electing an American. The US right now has strayed from its moral core and standing in the world. We have the capacity to do great positive things for those who need it, and have instead elected a man who demonstrates the antithesis of that American Exceptionalism. This neo-populist current is not constrained to our borders either, spreading nationalistic waves across the world. Electing to the Seat of St. Peter an average man, who is unwavering in his principles, who exemplifies what the Catholic Church is meant to be to most of the world’s 1.5 billion devotees, that stands in stark contrast to the evangelical fallen from the faith. Leo’s election could be the moment in which those people actually think about their faiths again, and what it means to be a Christian, and works against the ugly growing MAGA tide. He doesn’t have to directly fight American MAGA neo-evangelicalism, he just has to hold firm against it’s ugliest impulses, providing a proper example of what it means to be truly be a Christian.

In light of that, the man seems like the right person at the right time. The Cardinals in their wisdom selected a man to meet the moment.

Praise the Lord.

PurpleAmerica’s Obscure Fact of the Day

In an interview with Prevost’s brother, the new Pope’s sibling said that on the eve of the Conclave, the now Pope Leo had just finished watching the movie “Conclave” in anticipation of the process.

PurpleAmerica’s Final Word on the Subject

I draw the line at saying the Chicago Bears are now blessed.

—This Green Bay Packers Fan.

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Footnotes and Fun Stuff

1. Cue the Blues Brothers’ “We’re on a mission from God” jokes.

2. Who actually didn’t stray that much from church orthodoxy either, but was better than almost every other church leader I know in demonstrating and expressing empathy, offering guidance, being friendly and forgiving and understanding of the personal conflicts people have in their lives, particularly when it came to issues such as LGBTQIA issues. Following the horriffic sex abuse scandals, Francis was a breath of fresh air in that regard, and someone who was very much needed as the head of the Vatican.