Habemus papam

When the white smoke belched out of the Vatican, and we knew that habemus papam, I was curious about what direction the Roman Catholic Church would take. Would the new pope continue in the shoes of Pope Francis - imperfect, of course, but more open to change and certainly more liberal than his immediate predecessors? Or would he be one of the arch-conservatives who wants to drag the Church back into the dark ages?

Should have known that, with so many of the voting cardinals appointed by Francis, the new man would lean at least a tiny big progressive on some issues. 

Anyway, when they announced that the new pope was an American, my first thought was that my mother would be over the moon. My mother, a liberal who wanted a modernized Church: women priests, etc., would have loved Pope Francis. But she was not a fan of John Paul II and, although JPII's successor, Benedict XVI, was - like my mother - a German, my mother would not have liked him in the least. 

She would have welcomed an American-born pope, and have been optimistic about the direction the new guy would take.

And the fact that Pope Leo XIV had been born Robert Prevost in my mother's hometown of Chicago...Well, Liz would have been even more over the moon.

When I saw that Bob Prevost had grown up on the South Side, my ears really pricked up.

My mother was a North Sider, but my Aunt Mary and Uncle Ted had moved to the South Side in the early 1950's because of Ted's work. (If I've got this right, Ted worked for the B.T. Babbitt Company, makers of Bab-O, a powdered Comet-like cleanser that was pretty popular when I was a kid.)  Anyway, the South Side is where the Dineen kids grew up. 

Pope Leo XIV, South Sider? Could he have gone to Bede the Venerable Grammar School with all my Dineen cousins? Could he have gone to St. Lawrence, the South Chicago Catholic high school where the Dinnen boys - Tim and Mike - had gone? I saw that the pope was born in 1955. Same as Mike. Could they have been classmates?

Alas, I quickly found that the new pope hadn't grown up in Bede's. And he'd gone to a seminary high school, not a normie high school like St. Lawrence.

But still pretty close. I'm guessing that my Dineen cousins aren't all that many degrees of separation from Robert Prevost.

So this was pretty exciting. 

And to find that he's a pretty good guy - willing (as Francis had been) to criticize the bogusity of so-called Catholic J.D. Vance; willing to challenge the rancid treatment of immigrants; willing to call out the cockamamy attack on Iran - makes me happy.

I also like that he's a baseball fan. (Chicago White Sox.) And I almost like the fact that one of his brothers is a loud-mouthed MAGA. 

No, I don't expect that Pope Leo XIV will be any super-liberal. I understand that he's theologically pretty status quo. So no women priests. No normalizing gay marriage. Etc.

Still, I'm kinda liking this guy.

Even though it really doesn't matter to me.

I'm a cultural Catholic, not a believer. I'm one of those baptized a Catholic but born an atheist types.

But I'm a strong cultural Catholic. 

How could I not be?

My parents were both very religious, absolutely stalware Catholics, and our family life revolved around the parish: church and school. My father was a member of the Holy Name Society and the St. Vincent dePaul Society. 

I went to Catholic schools for 16 years. My mother served as president of both my grammar school Mothers' Club, and the snootier, fancier Mothers' Guild of my high school. She taught CCD. 

Other than a Hummel Madonna on the fireplace mantel, we didn't - to my childhood dismay - have a lot of statuary. I really, really, really wanted one of those snappy Infant of Prague statues that came with costume changes to observe the different seasons. And I wouldn't have minded having a bathtub Madonna like the Fitzgibbons. 

But there was a crucifix in every bedroom, and the main "artwork" in the living room was a painting of Christ (the one where it looks like he has a chalice in his hair).

Unlike my friend Susan's family, we didn't say the nightly rosary. (Thank God.) But we all prayed. And a high point of the year was Good Friday, when we traipsed around the Diocese of Worcester to visit three churches we hadn't been to, which I believe earned us all plenary indulgences. (Just in case, I hope they're still in force.)

Anyway, throughout my chidhood, I walked the Catholic walk, talked the Catholic talk. And then, I reached my personal age of reason...

But there is no escaping the strong pull of Catholicism, and I guess you can say that watching the Church is something of a hobby.

Thus, I keep an eye on things RCC-ish with keen interest.

And so far, I'm kinda liking this Pope.

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