Séamus Ahearne, osa – Robert Prevost, osa – Pope Leo
The phone rang. The White Smoke had appeared. I turned on the TV. My immediate assumption was that one of the more prominent characters would now be named as Pope. I was quietly pleased. There was a deep reluctance in me to let this happen or fall on Bob. I felt he was being mentioned too often in recent days.
When I heard Robert Francis being announced, I was saddened for him. This was too much. I had a very strange feeling which is quite ridiculous; that he is too good to be taken over by the enormity of this role. This was stupid on my part of course. I wanted even in prayer to protect him.
Bob is a gentleman. He is quiet. He is strong. He is reserved. He is very much one of us. He comes to eat almost every day in St Monica’s in Rome, which is just off St Peter’s Square. He eats with the members of our Curia. He joins in Mass most days. He waits on the visitors who join the community.
He had studied for a time in Rome at St Monica’s. He worked in Peru for years. He came for a General Chapter to Rome and was elected our General. He was General for twelve years. After that he went back to Chicago but was then named Bishop in Peru and returned to his mission. To be a Bishop, he had to be naturalised as a Peruvian citizen. He was called to Rome later by Francis and became the leader of those who work with appointing Bishops across the world and dealing with the many problems that arise. He used to meet with Pope Francis every Saturday morning early to discuss their shared business. And now Robert is Pope Leo.
Seamus Ahearne osa
My beloved wife is currently reading a book by Morris West called Lazarus. It’s about a pope named Leo XIV…
Uncanny! I too read Lazarus when it was first published and how it took a double- bypass heart surgery for that Pope Leo XIV to have a change of heart. I hope this won’t be necessary for our new Pope Leo to have a change of heart and overcome his opposition to women’s ordination!
https://www.religiondigital.org/opinion/Leon-XIV-Papa-poliedro-integral-retos-mujer-ecologia-moral-juventud_0_2777722204.html
I got the impression in 2022 that the next papacy was brewing in the Angelicum. Now I see that the new pope has a doctorate in canon law from them. An Augustinian existentialist (at least he took a course on existentialism from John Caputo in Villanova in 1977) on the throne of Peter is not entirely new (cf. Benedict XVI). St Augustine himself was an existentialist, and stepped in to save the world when the Empire was collapsing. In 2029 we may see a clash between Pope Leo and President Buttigieg, since Leo regard’s Pete’s family as anti-Christian.
I am so pleased that we have a Pope that Séamus knows and calls Bob.
Kieran O’Mahony spoke about his candidacy last week when he was over here in Edinburgh.
I am pleased he is Leo XIV.
Leo XIII was the good guy sandwiched between the two mad Piuses.
Am I being small-minded by being a bit disappointed that he chose to revert back to imperial colours?
Where will the new pope live? I suggest that he might choose St Monica’s, his former residence, which is as the edge of St Peter’s Square (beside the Augustinianum). There he would be on a normal street and not suffer the loneliness with the gregarious Francis felt in the guesthouse within the Vatican enclosure. Not sure about security issues.
Irish connection!
Leo XIV (Bob) was born on 14 September 1955 at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center in Chicago, established in 1852 (on another site) by Irish Mercy sisters who had arrived in Chicago in the 1840s. It’s now Insight Hospital and Medical Center.