Habemus Papam

"Habemus Papam" means "we have a Pope". It does not mean "Oh great, he isn't the one I wanted". Pope Leo XIV is the Holy Father. We know very little about him. He appears to be someone in the middle theologically and practically. I find it interesting that so many (especially mad-trads and sad-trads) are picking apart every little detail they can find about him. I have already read someone claim that he is "Francis 2"; this, in spite of the fact that Francis said the next Pope should be John XXIV, and he chose Leo XIV--sounds like he did not agree with Francis there.

Our Lord told us,

"The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!"

In other words, if all you ever see is darkness and can never find the good ("light") in anything, then your eye is dark. That also says something about your soul. Even Cardinal Burke (who would have made a very good Pope) gave thanks for Pope Leo XIV. Are the rest of us wiser than he where we can pick out all this bad news? If one spends his entire life grumpy and complaining about his troubles, then he will never be able to see anything else.

I have often wondered if some of the hesitancy to elect an American Pope was because Americans tend to be disrespectful of everyone they do not agree with completely; are we going to prove them right? Let us learn some Christian love (that is still a virtue, even if we forget about it), and give thanks that God gave us the Pope we need right now. Yes, if someone got their hopes focused on a specific individual he may very well be disappointed. Yet, if we keep our hope in Christ (as I keep saying) then there is nothing to be grumpy about right now.

We need to let Leo show us who he is before we begin to decide for ourselves. He must be given time to prove himself. Jesus told us that we will know the trees by their fruit, so let us allow him the opportunity to show some fruit. The grace of the Holy Spirit that he now possesses can do miraculous things; you need to believe that. If we have to deal with challenges, we will deal with them, but let us not create challenges before they exist, or (worse) make ourselves out to be unsubmissive rebels who need to be disciplined!

We may not always get the Pope we want, but God always makes sure he is what we need. Part of our trouble today is that the media gives us information; centuries ago, people did not know anything about the new Pope and they just had to trust God (oh no!). If all you want to find is trouble, then you should expect to be seen as a troublemaker. If, instead, we look at our situation and say, "God thank you for giving us the successor to St. Peter; now please give him the grace to be faithful in all things", then maybe God will actually answer our prayers and fill the Church with holiness! Oh wow!