Pastor’s Desk ~ May 18, 2025

Dear Fellow Parishioners,

This week’s “From the Pastor’s Desk” was nearly completed when we received the news of the election of a new pope and, shortly after that, one from Chicago to be called Leo XIV. There was no way I could go forward without mentioning it and celebrating it while keeping in mind that this is still a fast-developing story that might change before this weekend’s Masses. Still, the essential fact of his election is now history.

Like many, I thought it highly unlikely that any American would ever be elected pope, given that the U.S. already has great world-wide influence, and given the large and growing percentage of Catholics now living in Asia, Africa and Latin America. From the perspective of an outsider (like me), some modern papal elections seemed more “predictable” than others. The elections of Benedict XVI and Francis were not exactly surprises, since the former was probably JPII’s closest adviser for the third-longest papacy in Church history, and Francis, elected in 2013, apparently was the runner-up in the Conclave of 2005 that elected Benedict. Karol Wojtyla was elected John Paul II in 1978 despite the fact that few outside of the Roman Curia or Poland had ever heard his name.

The two biggest modern changes to the election process in recent history are the voting age limit of 80 years instituted by Paul VI, and the requirement instituted by John Paul II that a pope must be elected by a super-majority vote of 2/3 of the electors. This helps to assure that the new pope has a broader base of support, and to break deadlocks if neither of two equally strong candidates can garner a majority. The effect is to surface new candidates once the original candidates have been proven unelectable. Another surprise of the election was that it was concluded so quickly.

An interesting feature of past papal elections was the “ius exclusivae” (“papal veto”) – the right of a Catholic monarch from Austria, France or Spain to veto the papal election of any cardinal. Though the Church never officially acknowledged this right, in practice it was allowed, the last time in 1903, by Franz Joseph I of Austria, in opposing the election of Cardinal Rampolla, then the leading candidate. While this intervention was not officially acknowledged, it nevertheless had the effect of weakening his candidacy and resulted in the election of St. Pius X. One of Pius X’s early acts was to explicitly forbid such interventions. The most recent known attempt by a secular power to influence a conclave was in 1963, when the dictator Francisco Franco of Spain made an unsuccessful attempt to block the election of Cardinal Montini, who became Paul VI.

There is already too much speculation about the new pope’s political perspectives and what he is likely to do in the future. I hope that Catholics (and others) will avoid pigeonholing him under one label or another. One of the most important titles and functions of the pope is “Pontifex” – i.e., “bridge-maker,” as a focus and source of unity within the Church, and an appeal to the goodwill of all others. That is usually best achieved through persuasion, charity and example.

Finally, on the lighter side, when it was announced that the Chicago-born pope was a Cubs fan, I told a few people that at least he’s accustomed to suffering. Then I found a far better posting in headline form: “Cubs Fan To Lead Padres.”

Blessings, Fr. Bill Donahue