With white smoke still lingering in the air, the announcement of “Habemus papam!”—we have a pope!”—was met by the cheers of a throng of believers. There was excitement in the air as the crowd awaited the name of the man who was to be the latest successor to St. Peter, the Vicar of Christ, the “Servant to the Servant of God.”
Forty-five hundred miles away the same thing was going on in St. Peter’s Square.
Brainchild of history teacher, Mark Pecot ’91, a smokestack was set up on the chapel of St. Mary of the Assumption (namesake to the childhood parish of our new pontiff) and belched the tell-tale smoke as bells rang, announcing the election of Robert Cardinal Prevost as the 266th successor to St. Peter.
We were led in a prayer penned by our Theology Department chair, Joe Betz ’01. Asking the Lord to be present among us, he prayed, in part:
We now come to you in prayer with overflowing hearts and gratitude for our new Holy Father. We rejoice always in your grace that abounds, and we trust in your ever-loving spirit as our new Holy Pontiff takes the mantle of St. Peter. We pray that you will pour out your Holy Spirit upon him (and all of the beloved women and men of the church) in your loving presence. Empower the Holy Father to lead the Church with wisdom, courage, understanding, right judgment, knowledge, reverence, wonder and awe, and, of course, love—a love that knows no bounds for our church and this world. A love that can guide our young people from darkness to light; a light that erupts with justice in the face of injustice. A light that brings hope to the hopeless. A light that shows us the purpose and meaning of life in our faith and is not contrary to it. We thank you, Lord, for this new leader in our midst.
May he (and all of us) be a faithful witness to your truth, a compassionate minister to all in need, a leader who is generous…Lord, in such a divided world, may this pope lead us to unity.
There’s a reason Joe is the department chair.
Carrying his episcopal motto from his time in Chiclayo, Peru, Pope Leo has made his papal maxim, In Illo uno unum, "In the One, we are one.” In choosing that phrase, Pope Leo emphasized that in Christ we diverse Christians (and one hopes, we, a diverse human race) are brought together by Jesus. It is a quote from his patron St. Augustine and an indication that he intends to answer Joe Betz’s prayer.
His motto signals—quite profoundly—his goal for his papacy. So too does the choice of his papal name: Leo XIV. As he noted to the College of Cardinals assembled the day after his election:
I chose to take the name Leo XIV. There are different reasons for this, but mainly because Pope Leo XIII in his historic Encyclical Rerum Novarum addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution. In our own day, 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 defence of human dignity, justice and labour.
In his Urbi et Orbi blessing, which he gave after he was announced as pope, Leo reminded us that “We are followers of Christ. Christ goes before us. The world needs his light” and that we, as a Church, are missioned to bring Christ to the world as bridge builders.
It is clearly a role that he is looking to take on himself as our pontiff, literally our “bridge-builder.”
How he does that will be unique to him. Lots of ink has been spilled over the fact that he wore the traditional mozetta (the scarlet-gold cape) when he was first presented to the world and many questioned why he did not emerge wearing a simple white papal cassock the way Pope Francis did. Others noted how he wore shoes that were black instead of the traditional red and still others are speculating as to whether he will reside in the Apostolic Palace or, like Francis, live in the more modest Vatican guesthouse: the Casa Santa Marta. Such people are wondering, in short, if he will be the same as Pope Francis.
They are wasting their time.
No one will ever be Pope Francis, any more than anyone will be the “second coming” of Pope Benedict XVI, or John Paul II, or Peter. Pope Leo will be Pope Leo. He has made it clear that he wants us to be one, that he will pursue social justice and promote human dignity, and most importantly, that he wants to help us help others come to faith in Jesus. Not a bad agenda by any standard—and one that loudly echoes those set by Pope Francis and Benedict and John Paul if truth be told. Because it is a Catholic, Christian agenda, not a “Franciscan” or “Leonine” one.
We can leave the talk about fashion to the Hollywood red carpet, where such vacuous discussions belong.
Instead let’s talk about building the bridges of faith, justice, and love that our new Holy Father is asking us to build: among ourselves as Christians, between us and the larger world, and most importantly, between our world and the Lord.
Habemus Papam! We have a pope. May he, as Joe Betz prayed, lead us in love and help bring us light—in his own unique way.
And may we, his spiritual daughters and sons—in our unique ways—share that light and love with others.
A.M.D.G. / B.V.M.H.