Pope Francis, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, died Easter Monday. You probably knew this already; his funeral and interment has been all over the news.
Likewise the church’s process of picking his successor: All the cardinals under the age of 80 have to go to Vatican City for the conclave, the process where they’re locked in the Sistine Chapel, and vote for a Catholic man—any Catholic man; he doesn’t have to be a cardinal—to be the new pope. They keep voting till one of their candidates gets a majority. Used ballots get thrown in a stove and burned; they add a little something to the fire to make the smoke white or black. Black means they’re still voting; white means they’ve picked a guy. If he accepts the job, he’s the new pope; if he doesn’t, back to voting.
Catholics are of course praying the cardinals pick a good guy. Praying the Holy Spirit lead the cardinals to pick a good guy. (Praying the cardinals even listen to the Holy Spirit. True, men are made cardinals for all sorts of reasons; some of those reasons have admittedly been political. But hopefully all were chosen because they’re good examples of following Jesus.)
And, as I’ve pointed out to some of my fellow non-Catholics, we should be praying the cardinals pick a good guy.
I get various responses to that:
- “Already am!”
- “…Oh! Yeah, I should be praying the cardinals pick a good guy.”
- “…What? Why should I pray for that? I’m not Catholic.”
- “What?” [followed by scoffing] “Who cares who they pick.”
You can obviously tell which of the responses are the anti-Catholic ones.
So he’s not your pope. He’ll still be the pope.
Being Protestant, I’m fully aware there are an awful lot of anti-Catholics among us. Lotta Protestants have been raised to hold grudges about the way Catholics treated the early Protestants. Some of those grudges broke out into open warfare, as anti-Catholics throughout history have deliberately treated Catholics like crap… and occasionally Catholics treated ’em badly right back. Protestants have told me about growing up in a predominantly Catholic neighborhood, and having to suffer from Catholic bullies. Likewise I’ve known Catholics who told me about their Protestant bullies. There’s bad behavior on both sides.
I didn’t grow up with that, but I did grow up in Fundamentalist churches, and oh boy did some of ’em have anti-Catholic attitudes. My mom, though she grew up Catholic, had some issues with ’em too. So I wound up with some of those prejudices till I grew up, met and talked with Catholics about Jesus, and realized we’re all on the same team. Yes of course there are individual Catholics who don’t know Jesus; same as there are individual Protestants in your church who don’t know Jesus. Yes of course there are individual Catholics who worship Mary more than Jesus; same as there are individual Protestants in your church who worship Donald Trump more than Jesus. No church is perfect. That’s why there’s grace. Now practice some, wouldya?
And like it or not, the Roman Catholic Church is the biggest sect of Christianity on the planet. There were 1.41 billion Catholics as of 2023. They make up 22 percent of the population of the United States; it’s the biggest Christian denomination. (Yes, I know Catholics wanna be called a church, not a denomination, ’cause of the way they’re structured. Still.) Their sheer numbers and size, not to mention their organizations they run and the positions of influence their members hold, makes ’em the most relevant church on earth. Doesn’t matter how anti-Catholic you are: They’re not something you can just scoff away.
Likewise the pope. He’s not just the head guy in the Roman Catholic Church; he’s the ruler of the city-state of Vatican City. He’s got political clout. Not much; I’ve known plenty of American Catholics who ignore their church’s teachings when it comes to their favorite liberal or conservative issues. But politicians—and not just Catholic politicians—pay attention to the pope. The U.S. Congress even let Francis address them. He can get people’s attention. He can affect their consciences.
So obviously he needs to be a good guy. So we oughta pray the cardinals pick a good guy.
And by “good guy” I mean he has good character—the very same qualifications any Christian leader should have—and he should actively try to follow Jesus. Part of what made Francis so very popular is everyone could see him trying. Trying to be humble. Trying to be gracious. Trying to establish and mend relationships, instead of rejecting people on principle. Trying to be one of the people Jesus talks about in his Beatitudes: Humble, gentle, hungry and thirsty for justice, merciful, clean-minded, peacemaking. Trying to demonstrate what God’s kingdom is supposed to be like.
You want that in a pope. I do, anyway. So I’m praying for that.
Because whenever pagans think of Christianity, they quickly—and unfortunately—think of the significant disconnect between people who call themselves Christian, and Jesus. Pagans know about Jesus. They have a lot of misinformation; stuff they’ve picked up from people who claim they know about the historical Jesus, or stuff they got from bad preaching and bad Jesus movies and so forth. But if they get everything else wrong, they do know that at his core, Jesus is a good guy. And his followers… not so much.
So it’s kinda important that the pope likewise be a good guy. Because they’ll respect a good-guy pope. They’ll listen to him. Heck, they’ll listen to any Christian whom they can recognize is making an effort to be a good person. Why do you think Paul told Timothy that Christian leaders oughta be well-respected by the general public? 1Ti 2.7 It’s not just so the pagans won’t persecute them or spread rumors about them: It’s because pagans are looking for any reason to not take Christianity seriously, and hypocrisy, because it’s so widespread, is an awfully handy excuse. But when the pope’s not a hypocrite… well now they kinda have to pay attention, don’t they?
Therefore I pray for the conclave, and for the guy they’re gonna choose. Francis was a good pick. Hope they make another good pick.
