Leo XIV, Francis 2.0 and the papal clock

Happy Friday friends,

We have a Pope, thank God.

To be honest, after all the politics and speculation and playing from the possible scenarios, it was impossible for me not to feel a little jump of the heart and the simple pronunciation of Habemus papem.

And so it should be. Every Catholic would reasonably have a cardinal or another he wanted, hoped that even prayer would be on the appearance loggia. I did it and I was clear on Wednesday when they went into a conclave where my heart was.

But as I mentioned in my last intestinal control, I was not shocked by the announcement of the name Robert Francis Prevost – certainly not nearly as surprised as the election of the government name Leo XIV.

I already have a moment in the middle of the following frenetic work to pray a rosary for our new Pope. And I would ask you to do it if you haven't done it yet. He needs our prayers. There is no more human office that is eaten with responsibility, which is more stressed with the episode than the main cooker of the gospel on earth.

And in this function I was built by Leo's first words – “Peace was with all of you.” Peace is in short supply in our world. Maybe it's always and it will always be like that. But Leo's first message as the successor to Peter leans strongly in the first greeting of Christ to his disciples after the resurrection. And this season of Easter, which was completely “at work” for me, it was a greeting that I greeted.

There is a lot to discover what we could expect from the new Leonine Pontificate and we will arrive there right away.

But before we do it, I would like to offer a personal reflection if I can appear Leo XIV on the balcony.

For me, one of the most difficult parts of the Francis Pontificate was that I often felt that the Pope did not know me, not understood people like me, and below it did not like that people like me – or even occasionally, were given to understand. special Me.

After St. John Paul II and Benedict, in whom I both felt a deep childlike affection, this was difficult. However, Pope Leo is already different.

Sure, he's an American Pope, but I don't mean that. If Leo XIV had been born in Manhattan, I would not have felt an instinctive relationship with him if he were from Reykjavík or Tokyo.

But we are both men from Chicago and as Pope Leo would tell them, that means something, no matter how far they travel from home. And it is something you born, you can't be – no matter what carpet excavators from Detroit or Omaha could tell.

I don't know what will come over the years of his pontificate. I am sure there will be things he will do that let me cheer and others who make me confused or even critically critically. But on an instinctive level, I have the feeling that he would probably understand me and I if we would meet.

And that means something to me.

A typical example, shortly after its creation, the Internet hovered that the new Pope, although it was born on the south side, was a Cubs fan.

You can imagine how excited that made me – the strength of the character, the power of the distinction that it certainly has serious to make such a choice from such circumstances.

Unfortunately it shouldn't be.

Shortly thereafter, Pope's brother John gave an interview:

“He was never a Cubs fan. So I don't know where it comes from. He was always a Sox fan,” he said.

Fair enough, you can't have everything.

But I would also notice that: Many people took note of Leo's pointed indication of “a synodal church”. Sure, synodality has become a Rorschach test word in recent years. But Pope Leo's mother was a Cubs fan, and his father was apparently a Cardinal fan and he is a SOX fan.

By an appropriate assessment that the family should have fell apart. And yet it was happy enough to make an appeal that led to the chairman of Peter. That is What I call synodality.

Ok, let's go with things.

This morning there is really only one news in anyone in mind, and that is rightly the choice of Leo XIV.

If you somehow missed our reporting about the moment, You can catch it here again. And you can read Our pre-Conclave profile of the man who was Pope here.

As you may not have noticed, we have identified in the last few weeks to bring you the best possible reporting about the papal interregnum, and for this JD and I have to thank our regular team from Luke, Edgar, Michelle and Kate, but also and especially Susanna Pinto and Jason Baguia, who helped us for the general congregations and the end, and I got over every time, and Say this without a trace of hybris: I think honestly, we offered reporting to beat everything you could read anywhere.

And also thanks to our paying subscribers, without whom we – none of us – would have been here in Rome in the past few weeks. You have happened.

And if they are new The column Family, welcome. I hope you like what you see. And if you want to see that we maintain this type of speed for the foreseeable future, there is only one way to achieve this:

But in and under the discussion of our new Pope, they miss some of the other important and almost interesting things we have published, not how The church in Germany's very busy popst interregnum and how this develops into one of the first problems on the Pope Leo's desk.

And how A good conclave is similar to the aircraft carrier USS George Washington.

And this look at The history of the papal motto and the major names of the complaves – including of course Leo XIV.

And our The latest shipping from Ukraine about the complicated legacy that Pope Francis left there.

And About the legacy of Pope Francis in relation to abuse reform and what it will mean for his successor.

And how The art of the Sistine chapel should speak to the cardinals and what it says during a conclave.

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In my last intestinal examination, when the cardinals went into a conclave, I found that the swing behind Cardinales Tagle and Prevost seemed to have stalled among the general communities. But I said the numbers don't lie.

This has always been, and always a conclave that mainly consists of the appointments of Pope Francis, and so it was always there that a Pope would appear in the form of Francis.

We don't know yet, but I am sure that we will soon hear a version about how the ballot papers went and a feeling for whether Pope Leo was elected by an obviously natural alliance between his own followers and those by Cardinal Tagle or whether he was brought to Peter's chairmanship by universal recognition.

In any case, we can say with certainty that Pope Leo is a successor in accordance with Francis. And from there we can draw some conclusions, but not too many. And there are some really interesting and urgently unknown strangers.

So let's get to you.