HAS ANYONE ACKNOWLEDGED THE IRONY OF THE ELECTION OF A POPE FROM THE USA AND MY FIRST THOUGHTS ON THIS POPE…

Am I the only one to see the irony in the election of the American Pope Leo XIV? 

Let me explain. Pope Francis named the majority of cardinals who participated in the Conclave. He named men who were men no one had ever heard of and who came from places no one had ever heard of.

Pope Francis reached to the peripheries to bring them to the center. 

What has to be a surprise for Pope Francis, wherever his soul is, is that his cardinals elected a pope who came not from the peripheries but from the center of the universe, the good ole USA!

Am I the only one who sees the splendid irony in this?

Now for my thoughts on Pope Leo XIV:

I like him, I like him, I like him!

The video I posted of him at the Augustinian parish in Illinois, Saint Jude Church, gave me many insights into this pope.

He is articulate and speaks with precision even when responding of the cuff in a lengthy way to questions he is asked. There is no scratching of one’s head wondering about what he just said. 

He is clear and concise and he is also diplomatic. 

I think he has the good sense not to cancel Pope Francis like Pope Francis canceled Pope Benedict. He will refine what Pope Francis wanted to do just has Pope Leo has refined the look of the papacy by embracing French cuffs, cuff links, Mozzetta and splendid papal stole. 

Pope Leo XIV has refined tastes and that is very clear already. And he is going to refine the messiness of Pope Francis’ papacy, especially as it concerns synodality, and make it Catholic and palatable. Pope Leo will clarify the faith and morals of the Church, who can be ordained and who can’t. I hope he will remind the Church that we are not to laicize the clergy and clericalize the laity, which Pope Francis seem to do in contradiction to what the previous two papacies insisted should not happen. 

Pope Leo is not going to insult any previous pope to include Pope Francis. He isn’t going to insult the cardinals of the Curia as Pope Francis did, especially at his Christmas talks to them. He isn’t going to insult young priests and seminarians and call them little monsters.

Pope Leo knows he is a deacon, priest, bishop and now pope. He knows he isn’t a psychologist. He isn’t going to insult traditionalists by calling them mentally ill. He will clarify for traditionalists and non traditionalists what is orthodox in Catholicism and what isn’t! Praise God for that!!!!

Keep in mind, Robert Prevost earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics. As a priest, he earned a doctorate in Canon Law. 

This tells me he likes precision, logic and law and order. I suspect he wants due process in the Church and transparency. 

If Pope Leo had followed Pope Benedict, there would have been no canceling of Benedict or, for that matter, St. John Paul II. 

He would have refined Summorum Pontificum not canceled it. He would not have micromanaged bishops and parishes. Think of Cardinal Roche who told parish priests not to advertise the TLM in their bulletins. Can you imagine that? I doubt Pope Leo would allow something like that which is so ridiculous. 

I hope Pope Leo revisits Summorum Pontificum and refines it. I hope he refines the Modern Missal and makes the order of Mass and its ceremonies more like the TLM even in the vernacular. 

I hope he ramps up the Church’s service to the poor, which is more than material poverty, it is spiritual, moral and doctrinal poverty too.

I hope he will insist upon law and order when it comes to migration and calls out those countries and their dictators who make life so miserable for their citizens that they have to flee their countries of origin to find a better life somewhere else. When it comes to migration, no country has to accept “todas, todas, todas!” There are legal limits and a country has a right to expel those who enter illegally and commit further crimes of illegality once in the country they live but are not citizens. 

I hope he is a realist about climate change, be it man made or acts of God. We must be good stewards of creation and enviromentalists. But like our human bodies, there is a point of dying and death. It happens to us, whether we cause it or we fall victim to the time limits of our life on earth. Our good earth is the same. It will come to an end one day. We must look beyond climate change and the end of the world to the salvation of souls freed from the fires of hell by Jesus Christ alone after this earthly life ends and the earth itself ends.