By Ray Cardello for May 9, 2025, Season 31 / Post 7

Robert Prevost ceased to exist on Thursday afternoon. Only in the Catholic Church can you go from anonymity to the most recognizable person on Earth in the beat of a heart. Robert Prevost, Cardinal Prevost, became Pope Leo XIV when he garnered 89 votes from his fellow Cardinals sequestered in the Sistine Chapel to elect a new Pope. I experienced conflicting emotions today when the white smoke billowed from the stack high above the Vatican. I flashed back to seeing my Mother and Grandmother shedding tears of sadness at the death of Pope John XXIII, only to shed tears of joy a couple of weeks later as the new Pope, Paul VI, stepped out on the balcony. I think Catholics have been caught between two worlds. There was the traditional mysterious Church we grew up with, and the latest modern version that was built to attract a new following, only to have done the opposite.

I was hoping that the Church would take a more traditional, conservative path to attract people like me, who were disillusioned by the many changes of Vatican II. Some things in this world cannot be modernized or improved upon; one of them is the 2000-year tradition of the Catholic Church. I thought the Cardinals would look to Africa, where 20% of Catholics live and where the Catholics are very traditional. Instead, they look to America. You can argue that Leo XIV is Peruvian, but he was born in Chicago, educated at Villanova, and is a Cubs fan. He is American. There was so much joy on the faces of the masses gathered at the Vatican, with every eye focused on the smoke stack. There must have been a collective gasp as word of the “American Pope” spread throughout the crowd. As far as the world is concerned, there is already too much power concentrated in the United States, and now we have given the world a Pope. I fear we will live to regret this move, but Prevost has been on the fast track since being named a Cardinal in 2023. He was chosen to come to the Vatican to serve on the board to vet and name Bishops, a vital role in the Church. He is considered a superb administrator, and the Vatican needs help getting it financially healthy. The Church has billions in debt and needs help finding revenue and cutting expenses. Cardinal Prevost must have made quite an impact on the College of Cardinals for them to rally around him in only four ballots.

Pope Leo XIV chose the name of a previous Pope known as a progressive leader, yet chose conservative vestments to greet the public for the first time. It would be unfair to label this man before we know him, and with the pace he has shown since being elected, we will get to know him quickly. All eyes now drift from the smokestack to the altar of the Sistine Chapel, and the Pope will be examined by every member of the media.

One final note in closing. I was up early on Friday and watched the 4-square news. FOX News, the BBC, and even CNN were airing the Pope’s first mass. MSNBC chose to cover The View with Joe and Jill Biden. This network is not only dead but soulless. They have no interest in religion as they worship at the WOKE Altar of the Progressives. It could have been worse. They could have run a pro-abortion documentary or maybe an expose into where the 300,000 immigrant children who the Biden administration lost. At least they did not have the two most famous Catholic Democrats, Pelosi and Biden, on a panel covering the new Pope.