Pope Leo XIV can minister to world desperate for spiritual healing

Following the death of Pope Francis, the conclave of cardinals that gathered at the Vatican wasted little time choosing a new pope: Robert Prevost, 69, astoundingly a Chicago-born American, who assumed the name of Leo XIV.As often happens with the Catholic Church, magnificent ritual and the weight of tradition has obscured the importance of the occasion.A new pope isn’t just the chief executive of a little country or the supreme pontiff of a big denomination.He personifies a fresh take on ancient values that will be transmitted to the faithful in every corner of the earth.Because we live in a political age, a great deal of interest will be focused on Pope Leo’s political orientation.Will he be another trendy semi-progressive, like Francis, or has the church tacked in the opposite direction? Before his election, some had called for the second coming of John Paul II, the bold conservative whose convictions challenged the power of dictatorial regimes.I am not a Catholic, nor particularly religious — but if an outsider may be allowed an opinion, I would say that the world doesn’t need a political pope.We have more than enough political nonsense, at the moment, buzzing inside our heads.

We are sick unto death with politics.We desperately need a man of the spirit.Historically, popes have been churchmen rather than God-men.In 476 AD, Pope Leo I faced the frightful and barbaric Attila the Hun and somehow persuaded him to turn away from Rome.Six hundred years later, Pope Gregory VII forced the brilliant monarch of the Holy Roman Empire, Henry IV, to walk barefoot in the snow for miles before granting him forgiveness at Canossa, Italy.Nine hundred years later, John Paul II traveled to Poland and sparked the fire that was to consume European communism to its foundations.These were mighty personalities who believed that the church, as an institution, embodied the teachings of Christ and had to be protected against the usurpations and corruptions of secular power.Pope C...