Preparing Ourselves for Life Under the New Pope, by David G Bonagura, Jr.

Note: I’m just back from St. Peter’s Square where the first American pope in the 2000+ year history of the Catholic Church emerged to widespread applause and excitement. (Even the Italians were shouting, “Papa americano!”) To be frank, Cardinal Prevost would not have been my choice for pope. And it was a great surprise, I think, to all of us who closely follow the Vatican that he was chosen among many other candidates, and chosen so quickly. But the matter is now decided. And every Catholic should unite behind him as he embraces the difficult task of managing a global Church in a time of great challenges.

His choice of name – Leo XIV – is a clear indication of his desire to follow in the footsteps of Leo XIII, the great pope of the late nineteenth century who essentially inaugurated modern Catholic social teaching (and not incidentally engineered the Thomist revival in the Church.) Our new Leo spoke this evening of peace and the legacy of Francis from St. Peter’s loggia, and of being an Augustinian, which may be early indications in what direction and in what ways he intends to lead the Church.

But there will be time enough for considering all that in coming days. At The Catholic Thing we have to ask your indulgence over the next twenty-four hours or so. A papal election is like a thunderstorm. And if you get the chance to see and hear a recording of what it was like in St. Peter’s Square this evening, you may get a sense of the tremendous – and unique – emotion the appearance of a new pope evokes.

All that, however, throws our schedules into disorder. We’re publishing tomorrow’s column late today. Our pre-election episode of the Arroyo Grande podcast will be emailed to you – at some point. In which you will be able to verify how foolish people can be trying to predict the future, even when they’re serious and intelligent heads like my colleagues Raymond Arroyo and Fr. Gerald Murray. The EWTN broadcast of the Papal Posse, normally scheduled for this evening (Thursday) has been temporarily displaced. But we’ll be recording tomorrow (Friday) for broadcast sometime during the day.

Yes, much disorder. But also much excitement, possibility, and hope. God bless – and let all of us pray for – our new Supreme Pontiff, Pope Leo XIV. – Robert Royal