Our New Pope

I WAS IN my office on The Bluff when I got the news from a group text chat from my Jesuit Volunteer friends. White smoke was rising from the Sistine Chapel; it had surprised a baby seagull on the roof. University of Portland’s bell tower began to ring and ring and ring. “Habemus papam!” another friend wrote. For the past week or so, we’d been offering up our ideas and predictions, but now a decision had been made and we had to wait.

My friend, a high school theology teacher, texted: “My class is paying attention for the first time all year!” 

We were all paying close attention. It’s humbling to think of all the people around the globe, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, pausing their busy lives to look toward the news unfolding in Rome. Like all good stories, we didn’t know there would be a twist. 

Another friend who grew up in the Windy City wrote: “A Chicagoan!” 

Aha! We didn’t predict Pope Francis in 2013, and we didn’t predict an American in 2025. As one ABC reporter said, “This 2,000-year-old institution can still surprise.” We learned his name was Cardinal Robert Prevost, he’d been prior general of the Augustinian order for 12 years, he had lived in Peru for about two decades, and he’d chosen the name Pope Leo XIV. 

“Seems to be a social justice name,” my Jesuit priest friend wrote, possibly a nod to Pope Leo XIII, who wrote the 1891 encyclical “Rerum Novarum,” “On Dignity and Labor,” in response to the industrial revolution. 

The new pope soon emerged on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, and my emotions got the best of me. He spoke of peace and building bridges, words I needed to hear, that we all need to hear. 

Only nine days had gone by since University of Portland had held a Mass in honor of the late Pope Francis. Fr. Tim Weed, CSC, spoke of Pope Francis’s legacy of mercy. I thought of how Pope Francis had been washing the feet of people the week before he died, his call to care for our environment, his steadfast commitment to listening to those who live in poverty. 

And now we will be listening closely to Pope Leo XIV. It is early yet, of course. But when I read his May 17 remarks, I found myself nodding along: 

In the context of the ongoing digital revolution, we must rediscover, emphasize and cultivate our duty to train others in critical thinking, countering temptations to the contrary, which can also be found in ecclesial circles. There is so little dialogue around us; shouting often replaces it, not infrequently in the form of fake news and irrational arguments proposed by a few loud voices. Deeper reflection and study are essential, as well as a commitment to encounter and listen to the poor, who are a treasure for the Church and for humanity. Their viewpoints, though often disregarded, are vital if we are to see the world through God’s eyes. 

I couldn’t help but hear a challenge to higher education in these words—and a charge to Catholic education in particular. And I thought about how our community of faculty, students, and alums is already leaning in to address these very real needs today.