If you haven’t read the 173 e-mails that you have probably already received on the subject, we have a new pope! We have the first American elected as pope, which I didn’t expect to see in my lifetime. The most important thing that we can do now is pray for him. Pray that the Holy Spirit will guide him to lead us all to eternal life and that he will heed the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The second most important thing that we can do for him is not take too seriously all of the speculation about what kind of pope he will be. Read it if you want to. I am reading it. Don’t assume that anyone knows much of anything until we start seeing his official actions.
It seems the normal way of viewing this news is one of great joy and excitement. Instead, there’s a lot of hesitancy. I feel it, too, and I wish I didn’t. We don’t have to pretend that the concerns from the last papacy are not real. We also don’t have to ignore any concerning actions we’ve seen from him in the past. I know that I don’t want to return to that time, which for me was most of the 1990s, where we often got some kind of cheap substitute for the Faith instead of the real thing. I don’t want to see another era where people learn their faith and strive for holiness without, and maybe even despite, the church leadership (which make evangelization rather awkward). However, our best bet is still to pray for Our Holy Father and not make any assumptions about him.
There have been all kinds of social media posts about him. Some are simply showing past quotes of his. Most are actually really good. Others are talking about how he wore the mozzetta and maybe has worn a fiddleback chasuble, signs that are subtle at best. I’ve even seen people suggest that there was some kind of work being done in the background by Cardinals Dolan or even Burke to get him elected (how would we know this?)
Then, there are the comments saying that he’s definitely Francis II. Others make note of the fact that he’s from Chicago. Still others are talking about him in terms of American political divisions, which simply is not and cannot be the basis for understanding the Church. Some people even mention that he didn’t speak English out on the balcony (Did Pope John Paul II speak Polish or Benedict XVI speak German? My preliminary research says they didn’t.). I don’t think any of these people really have any right to make judgments.
The worst are the comments that he was elected to get USAID funding. I don’t know what you need to smoke, snort, or otherwise ingest to think that he’s going to influence President Donald Trump in this manner. I don’t want any of that.
Seriously, just pray for him, and respect the fact that he is indeed the Vicar of Christ! In fact, love our Holy Father, because that’s what we need to do whether he is a good or bad pope. I’m sure we all prayed for a good and holy pope before he was elected. It’s just as important to pray for this after he is elected so that the pope that we now have will do the will of God. This is what our Church needs, and this is the absolute best way we can all support the Holy Father.