When the cardinals in the Sistine Chapel on the fourth ballot of the conclave of 2025, elected an American to become the 267th Bishop of Rome in life. His name has been Robert Francis Prevost. Born in Chicago in 1955, but from here on out he will be Pope Leo the 14th. In our wildest imagination, I don't think we could have guessed that God, the Holy Spirit, was going to choose an American to lead the Catholic Church. But this particular American brings a lot to the table.
Pope Leo the 14th wasn't just a priest. He is part of a religious order, and some people don't understand the difference.
And so I'm going to go into that a little bit before I offer some thoughts on where I think Leo is going to take the church. I am what's called a diocesan priest, a secular diocesan priest. I was ordained by a diocesan bishop for service in a local dioceses religious order of priests like the Augustinians of Leo the 14th or the Franciscans or the Jesuits such as Pope Francis our late Holy Father belong to.
They do not belong to a geographical diocese. They are ordained for service of a religious community. And wherever on earth that religious community has roots, those priests can serve. And Augustinian then could be sent anywhere on planet earth, whereas a secular diocese and priest like me is going to spend the rest of my life right here in the Diocese of Lansing, Michigan.
The Augustinians were really a collection of various religious communities of hermits that came together under one rule in the fourth century.
That was the time that Augustine lived. That was the century in which he died. And after that, many people looked to his rule of life. The statutes that he believed one should live by in order to be a good Christian on earth have become a scene in heaven.
And they were persuaded. That's what they wanted to give their lives to. And so they became the canons regular. No saint is going to name a religious order after himself. Saint Francis founded the orders of Friars Minor, not the Franciscan. And Augustine did not found this community at all. It is simply based on his charisms, which focus mainly around study.
And that is why it's very fitting that Leo the 14th, before he was a bishop and a cardinal and an archbishop, and now our Pope, was a teacher for us who live here in Michigan. We're especially pleased that this first American pope grew up next door in Illinois, having been born in Chicago and went to high school right here in Michigan at a former Augustana and Seminary in Holland, right along the Lake Michigan shoreline.
And that is why it's very fitting that Leo the 14th, before he was a bishop and a cardinal and an archbishop, and now our Pope, was a teacher for us who live here in Michigan. We're especially pleased that this first American pope grew up next door in Illinois, having been born in Chicago and went to high school right here in Michigan at a former Augustana and Seminary in Holland, right along the Lake Michigan shoreline.
We don't know what the future brings, but we know who holds the future.
And I believe that God has great things in store for Pope Leo the 14th and for the Catholic Church many people in America have become, how shall we say, apathetic or critical of the Catholic Church globally, and especially in our own country, where they thought it was only about money or scandal?
But now that we can lay claim to the papacy, I think it means that, the Catholic Church in America is going to experience a resurgence of interest, but also greater ties with the universal church. And that's really what Catholic means. It's all of us working together, striving for heaven and holiness by means of humility. And in that, I believe that Leo, like his predecessor, will excel and love for the care, of the least among us, caring for the poor and showing us how we are all our brother's keeper.
Pope Leo, we wish you well. We hope you'll come and visit your native America soon. And we look forward to making our own pilgrimage to Rome to come see you in your new home. God bless you.
ALL ROADS CATHOLIC MEDIA
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