Pope Leo XIV

Together with many other people, I was not expecting the election of a new Pope yesterday on only the fourth ballot in the Conclave. I was checking my iPad to see what was happening just as the white smoke was emerging from the famous chimney above the Sistine Chapel.

I therefore watched the whole scene unfold live, which I had not managed beforehand on similar occasions. 

I must say that there was for me a great sense of relief that he was not one of the much touted frontrunners  Cardinals Parolin, Zuppi, Aveline or Tagle - in his case one had horrific visions of a Papal Karaoke Creed at an open-air Mass on some future Papal tour. Nor, happily, did I feel my heart sink as it did in 2013 as I just caught the announcement of Pope Francis’ election - that feeling never left me. 

Cardinal Prevost was not one of those who featured in much of the pre-Conclave coverage, although if you did follow that he was certainly mentioned as a possible candidate, and were a US candidate to be chosen, as quite probable. 

His choice of the name Leo links him to some of the great figures instrumental in the history of the Papacy. The first was St Leo the Great, the first great theologian of the Papacy as an institution, and who stood up to Attila the Hun as well as being a major influence of the Council of Chalcedon in 451 - “Peter has spoken through Leo” Then there was St Leo III who croned Charlemagne in 800 and Leo IX whose pontificate marked the beginning of the eleventh century Reform Papacy. In more recent times there was the long pontificate of Leo XIII with development of Catholic social teaching and Rerum novarum. 

Several friends and I agreed as to the vesture of the new Pope with the traditional summer mozzetta and the Papal stole - much more traditional and what he should be wearing on such an occasion. That was definitely a good sign.

Conventional wisdom was of course that a US Cardinal would be a very unlikely candidate for the Papcy, but like so much convential wisdom it has been overturned. In the case of the new Pope he was born in Chicago but he may well be more Peruvian and took up Peruvian citizenship. His family ancestry is French,Italian and Spanish, and he has spent time studying in Italy. So he is far from mono-cultural and something indeed of a citizen of the world.

Despite the media latching on to anything that could be construed as a reference to Pope Francis and his initiatives the new Pope’s address from the loggia of St Peter’s was reminiscent of things Pipe Benedict said when he was elected and when he was inaugurated in 2005. As one of the best Catholic online commentators pointed out in a video today any new Pope would express similar broad themes at this point.

As an Augustinian he quoted St Augustine, who was a great influence on Pope Benedict - the shell in his coat of arms and on his vestments at his inauguration were an acknowledgment of that. It is easy to see such links, but exaggerating them may well be unwise

I got tired whilst following the coverage  of BBC commentators and ‘experts’ all referencing Pope Francis, almost as if there had been no other Pope, not another 265 since St Peter.

We must wait and see what the new Pope's themes and ideas develop into, as know relatively little of his opinions on many matters - he has kept cards close to his pectoral cross. 

Some rigidly Traditionalist US commentators were quick to find fault, including that Pope Leo was perceived as being anti-Trump. Someone needs to break it to them and other Americans  that most people, Catholic or not, outside the US, and many within, are definitely not fans, or have very grave doubts about the President. and consider the wisdom of Incorporating him and his Vice-President into the case for Catholic Tradition very doubtful..

As I wrote above, we must wait and see, and pray for Pope Leo XIV.