What an unexpected surprise. A pope from the United States!
I think the consensus was the pope would not be American. I’ve been wondering why the Holy Spirit would choose one?
There is a quote often attributed to Teresa of Avila that states, “God writes straight with crooked lines.”
While God created us in His image and likeness, giving us the ability to think rationally, God’s way is not always our way.
The reason I heard most often given was an American would not be chosen because the United States already holds too much power and authority in the world. That is a reasonable assumption I think. Fortunately, I’m not God.
The United States has done a great amount of good for the world. Its people have shed a great amount of blood in two World Wars. It shed blood in other wars with different degrees of success.
It has made great advances in technology and medicine that have aided people all over the world. It has shared its abundance of food and wealth with others as well. Of course God rewarded the United States with many resources that enabled it to thrive as well as it has.
One of God’s greatest gifts was blessing the United States with men who drafted a Declaration of Independence that acknowledged God as the source of our rights and our existence. That was followed by a government with a Constitution that stands as a remarkable achievement in human history.
On the other hand, the United States has also exported a great deal of harm to the rest of the world. Secularism has been a great threat to the United States and to the world. God frequently appears to be forgotten in our daily lives.
Then something unexpected happened. A man running for president was nearly shot in the head at a campaign event. The bullet grazed his ear. A last moment move of his head appears to have saved his life.
The man was known for having been married and divorced and remarried and had relations with other women he was not married to. He spoke crudely and used pejorative language when speaking about women.
He was not known for being a man of faith.
After the attempted assassination the man gave God credit for saving his life. In fact, after a second assassination attempt he has been quick to give God credit for his life and frequently praises God and asks for His blessing as President of the United States.
Thinking about this made me wonder if the United States could be thought of in terms of the Prodigal Son. God has given the United States so much, probably more than any nation in history, yet her people reject God in so many ways. We demand our rights and neglect our responsibilities.
The people of the United States have done so much good in the past. There is still good the people can and will do. However, there has been great harm done by some who have spread the wrong values to the world. Many have turned their backs on God.
Fortunately, God never turns His back on us.
Perhaps this is a period of change that no one has expected. When I was growing up there was more piety and people practicing their religious faith. We also were living in fear of nuclear annihilation.
I look at the event today, the election of an American who chose the name Leo XIV, as a sign of hope.
Pope Leo XIII wrote the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel. So far, Satan has not prevailed against Christ’s Church. Let us pray and hope Pope Leo XIV will be the one to lead people around the world, and especially Americans, to renew their faith in God and live their lives according to His Will.
Hope lives.
Habemus Papam!
Greg Gillen
May 8, 2025
© 2025 Greg Gillen
Image Credit/www.usccb.org/news/2025/chicago-native-cardinal-prevost-elected-pope-takes-name-leo-xiv
