First, I should mention what I am not excited about with the new Pope. I am not excited about many of the theological differences that exist between the Roman Church (a.k.a., Catholic Church) and those who come from a theologically reformed tradition like myself. Certainly my politics do not match the politics of most of my fellow believers from the Reformed traditions, but many of my theological beliefs about subjects like Communion, Soteriology, the Saints, and the office of the Pope are very different from what the Pope believes.
In addition, his Villanova credentials do nothing for me. Why? I grew up a Big-5 basketball fan with Penn being my favorite team. The view of many Big-5 fans about Villanova can be summed up in a St. Joe's banner displayed at a St. Joes vs Penn game. It said to Penn, 'At Least You're Not Nova.'
But because Americans from the Reformed traditions have done little to no real work on social justice issues, it is refreshing to world leader address social justice issues. And it is in this field of social justice that the Roman Church, which is what we from the Reformed traditions call the Roman Catholic Church, is way ahead of those of us who are from the Reformed traditions.
Anyway, a meme which was alleged to come from the Pope has made itself around social media. A picture of that meme is below:
I was notified by a couple of Facebook friends that the Pope never made that statement. But I responded, though the Pope never made those exact statements, he has been teaching those concepts. I made that point because it was something I heard theological professor say something to that effect when I was in seminary. To be more precise, the professor said something to the effect that theology is not a study words but of concepts.
And that is exactly why I am excited about the new Pope. It isn't about whether he actually made the above quote. It is whether he is teaching and promoting many of the concepts that are associated with the above meme and wokeism. And in this age of growing authoritarian regimes, such as Trump's Presidency, hearing a person of status promote woke concepts is more than just a breath of fresh air; it also gives us hope. It gives us hope because there is nothing that authoritarian leaders like President Trump can do when the Pope challenges him.. Even he knows that his usually schtick of responding to messages that challenges the morality of his decisions with insults and vindictiveness would be harmful to his goals in responding. He can't insult or threaten him without drawing too much negative attention than even he cannot stand. Nor can he put tariffs on the Roman Church.
Those of us from the Reformed traditions have a lot to learn about social justice from Pope Leo XIV. And with the emergence of authoritarian technocracies, many of which are really fronts for oligarchies, it is refreshing to hear a world leader who is taking on the abuses of authoritarian regimes and and their leaders. And not only that, Pope Leo XIV pushes back against perpetrators of injustice in ways that provide, for the rest of us, examples of how to respond to unjust power. For in not responding to horrific injustices bombastically, he can speak truth to power more effectively than if he flew off the handle.
And so there are things that us activists who oppose Trump's Presidency can learn here from Pope Leo XIV. For he is just speaking out for social justice in elegant ways, he is providing examples of how to speak truth to power. And so Pope Leo XIV is a resource for us who are defending and speaking out for social justice. And that is something we can greatly appreciate even though there we would disagree with him on many other issues.
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