Yet Another Uninvited Take on the New Pope

on seeking fruit, respecting tradition, and being a decent human being

I’m not Catholic, but I am a Christian, and I’m a Christian who is trying to be nicer than I once was. So when I loosely followed the news of the selection of the new Pope, I was saddened, but unsurprised, to see the plethora of social media posts attacking the Catholic Church, their tradition, and Pope Leo XIV.

So here’s yet another uninvited take on the new Pope.

Should We Even Care?

First, there might be part of you that says, “Bro, I’m not Catholic, so who cares?”

To be honest, my brain goes there for most things too. For example, when I was watching Suits on Netflix, I was wondering why Rachel left the show only to learn she married into the British royal family, so I might be out of the loop on stuff like that, and I’m still not entirely sure why I should care, but I digress.

But this whole Pope thing is a different story.

First, over half of the people who identify as Christians are also Catholic. That’s over 1.3 billion people, so decisions like who the next Pope could be will have global implications. We’re talking about the visible head of the largest Christian denomination that 1/8th of the world population looks up to. That’s a big deal.

Second, the Pope has political influence beyond the Church. He will meet with political leaders, speak out on important issues, and urge his people to lead the way in peacemaking. So who is chosen matters to all of us. The chimney isn’t just blowing smoke.

Third, you have a Catholic neighbor. If 1/8 people are Catholic, then chances are you know someone who is. If something matters to them, then being a good neighbor means we should be sympathetic towards them, even if we feel ambivalent about the whole idea. A simple “we’re praying for the new Pope” would suffice. The Catholic Church should be critiqued. It’s history of sexual abuse, violence, and abuse of power has brought shame on the whole church, but we should also celebrate the ways in which she has repented of these sins, even if she has a ways to go. But we can offer critiques without being obtuse.

Okay, So How Should We Respond?

A Thought on Free Speech

At this point, you could choose to join the myriads of people making posts about how popes aren’t biblical, how the Catholic church is the first denomination, and how Peter was actually married so he couldn’t have been the bishop of Rome.

Most of my readers have free speech, so you’re technically allowed to make these kinds of posts. I don’t know how effective they’ll be in convincing someone you’re right, but you may pick up a few likes from like-minded readers.

But as a Christian, you don’t actually have free speech because any speech, regardless of how true, must be in love. 1 Peter 3:15 says we should be ready to make our defense or “give an answer”, but the very next passage says we must do this with gentleness. Speaking truth with hatred or guile isn’t an expression of freedom; it is a symptom of slavery to sin.

If we don’t speak the truth in love, we have no right to speak.

A Different Approach

Here’s how I’ve approached this whole process.

You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits. Matthew 7:16–20

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. Galatians 5:22–23

What I want to see is Pope Leo bear good fruit. I want to see love, joy, and peace. I want to see kindness and gentleness.

As much as centralized power within a Christian community irks me, Catholics are going to Catholic, and I can’t change that.

Instead, I can pray for peace, love, and joy. And if there is going to be a Pope, which there will be for the foreseeable future, we can at least hope he’s one that bears good fruit.

We can respect a tradition without fully endorsing it. We can critique a tradition without being a jerk. And we can pray for Pope Leo’s success even if we aren’t Catholic. But we measure success by fruit, not according to human standards, and where good fruit is, there the Spirit of God is at work.

In a world where powerful men act arrogantly and are full of pride, vitriol, and violence, it is my prayer that the Spirit of God will use this Pope Leo to bring peace to the world through the gospel of Christ.