Since Robert Prevost became Leo XIV, we’ve been scanning his history and his papal activity to learn whatever we can about this person many of us weren’t aware of until about a week ago. He has made no secret that he is respects the legacy of Pope Francis and plans to continue on the path of synodality that Francis began. Yet he emerged on the loggia wearing more ornate vestments than the simple white robe that Francis wore in 2013—and this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Continuity is not mimicry
As his papal personality emerges, I am delighting in the shakeup to the categories into which we tend to sort actions and attitudes: synodality means he’s liberal, but a fancy stole means he’s conservative? The ridiculousness of this binary is evident in the very question. It’s bad enough in secular politics, where everyone is pressured to have the same collection of beliefs that fit neatly into one political party, but in the life of faith it is even more deeply disappointing to try to fit full and complex human beings into ideological boxes.
The scuttlebutt is that Leo XIV will move into the apostolic palace, in which Francis chose not to live. There’s a rush to figure out what this ‘means’ – is it a sign of clericalism and a belief in papal princedom? Or is it a way to give the folks at Casa Santa Marta a break? Yes, actions reveal deeper meanings, but we need to approach the search for meaning with some generosity. I think a lot about Benedict’s red shoes, which became a symbol of decadence or clericalism or conservativism or I don’t know what. A papal tradition reaching back centuries was read as a sign of poor morals. We all have a responsibility to consider how our actions will be ‘read,’ but ultimately can’t control wild misreadings of the varied actions that make up a life (or papacy).
The task of Christian faith is to bring the Gospel to our current lives, which requires reflection and experimentation and yes, change. We conserve the message of Jesus while progressing into the future. It’s messy and complicated which is why we need grace, mercy, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Most of us have a comfort zone that leans more toward progress or more toward conserving, but we all have to do both. During this moment when the categories are shaken up, when the new Pope begins to reveal who he will be and confounds the binaries by which we are trained to judge the world, I’m trying to be attentive to my own comfort zone, and consider how I can free myself from the boxes that keep me from my path of discipleship.
Photo: INFOWeather1, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
