Thursday, May 9, 2025
Habemus Papam! And he is a Yankee! Or not? Millions of people followed the smoke signs from the Vatican yesterday, the ancient ritual of announcing the situation in the conclave gathered to elect the new leader of the R.C. Church. (Some jokesters suggested that the movie “Conclave” was now turned into a Reality Show, haha.) And there it was, white smoke! Surprisingly soon, a successor to Pope Francis had been chosen. Who would it be? For the first time it was a Cardinal from the United States of America. Ignorant as I am, I had never heard his name before: Cardinal Robert Prevost. He is now Pope Leo XIV. But he is not a Yankee, not really.
Immediately, news outlets analyzed his life. Everything that I heard sounded very promising. The fact that this new pope spent not a few months in a south American country but two full decades (in Peru), endearing himself to the people, mastering their language, earning the right to become their spiritual leader and becoming really one of them, that tells me a lot about his character, identity and the strength of his servant heart. The fact that he was close to the previous pope and is familiar with all the rules and power dynamics of the Roman establishment, will serve him well. And finally, I am delighted that there is a pope who can occasionally correct and counterbalance the false representations of the Christian faith coming from the highest political office in this country. When a Lutheran leader does that, they are almost immediately accused of becoming “political” and are suspected to be liberals at heart. And perhaps we have sometimes been too political and now our voice isn’t heard when it really counts…
In any case, the gravitas of the papal voice is not easily ignored and the fact that this pope speaks our language and knows our country will be of tremendous value. And if you wonder which misrepresentations of the Christian faith I was referring to, the list would begin with Christian Nationalism which hasn’t gotten any better since the Nazi’s embraced it 90 years ago – that, paired with policies that fly against the very core of the gospel in terms of how people are (mis)treated and how greed and money determine everything. We have lost our core Christian values and are told to embrace a kind of Christianity that tramples on people. That can never happen! So, it is good to have someone in Rome who knows the gospel by heart and knows it in many languages, including ours.
Welcome Pope Leo XIV!
We pray that you will be Christ’s servant in this world, along with all of us. May your work be blessed!
Pastor Andreas Wagner