A Nice, Safe Choice

 

     Electing Robert Francis Prevost as the first American Pope was on virtually no one's Bingo card. Oddsmakers mentioned Filipino Cardinal Tagle or other high-ranking cardinals, not a guy who'd only been a cardinal for two years.

     Leo XIV, a Chicago native, was the leader of the Augustinian order and, under Pope Francis' leadership, he ran one of the Vatican's most powerful offices, the one that vets, selects and manages bishops. As the new leader of the world's largest religion, he has the power to seriously shake up the global power structure of the RCC. But I don't see that happening any time soon.

     The Roman Catholic Church is not an organization that's renowned for its liberalism, liberal clerics or embrace of new ideas. Francis was as close as the RCC ever got in living memory to electing a liberal pontiff and Francis' liberalism only went so far. In the 2000 year-long history of the RCC, going back to the days of ancient Rome, conservatism and an ossified ideology has been the prevailing guiding force of the Roman Catholic Church.

     And, while we may never know what was spoken during the brief conclave, one thing is clear- They elected Prevost on the second ballot for a reason (compare that with the five ballots it took before Francis was elected). And their reason was not so Leo XIV would shake up the power structure as Francis had (Most of the cardinals in the 133 member conclave were hand-picked by Francis).

     As with Francis' tenure, look for a greater involvement and influence of the laity. Look for greater compassion for the plight of undocumented immigrants fleeing oppressive homelands and seeking a better life.

     But don't look for much more. Whereas Francis had a papacy that was at times provocative and even progressive, the Roman Catholic curia plainly had no wish to repeat history so soon. Whereas Francis once famously said, "Who am I to judge?" when asked about gay clerics, whereas Francis welcomed LGBTQ people into the faith and even gave them communion, Leo's attitude toward the gay community was significantly cooler.

     13 years ago, Leo said of the same demographic that it was lamentable that there was “sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel of the homosexual lifestyle” and “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children.” When he was bishop in Chiclayo, Peru, he opposed a government plan to add gender studies in schools. “The promotion of gender ideology is confusing, because it seeks to create genders that don’t exist,” he told news media. So this pope will be no fan of the LGBTQ faithful.

     Then there's this, per the NY Times: "In Chicago, advocates for victims of sexual abuse say that his office did not warn a nearby Catholic school that a priest who church leaders determined had abused young boys for years was sheltered in a monastery nearby, starting in 2000. As head of the Midwestern order of Augustinians at the time, Cardinal Prevost would have approved the priest’s move to the monastery."

     And just because he took potshots at Vance and Trump just a few months ago on Twitter, don't look for him to ordain female priests anytime soon. He's virulently opposed to the LGBTQ agenda, still thinks that the church ought to be run by old men in party hats and is still committed to protecting pedophile priests, something even Francis didn't address meaningfully or forcefully enough.

     Leo XIV was a safe, anodyne choice to lead the church. Part of the idea of his ascendancy was the understanding that he will not upset the apple cart as Francis had done. But he is destined to upset many who will look to him for things he's not prepared to give, such as deference to Trump's fascist purge of brown people or the expulsion of pedophile priests. He's a glorified seat warmer, not too conservative but hardly what one would call a liberal.