Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled that “Father Bob” got elected. The more I read about his background in New Orleans and Chicago and Peru and his career as a global diplomat, the more he seems to be the inspired choice that his fellow cardinals were praying for.
What does worry me, however, is how many people—disheartened and frightened by the rising tide of anti-democratic forces all over the planet—want to see the new Pope as a man on a white horse, using his diplomatic savvy and Papal power to become a political counterweight to the Donald Trumps of this world.
That’s not his job. His power to affect change will not come from his political skills—which apparently he has in abundance—but from his role as a spiritual leader.
That doesn’t mean that Pope Leo can’t have a profound impact on world events.
War, poverty, inequality, migration, climate change— are all issues that are intensely political. Pope Leo’s job is to bring a message into individual minds and hearts around the world that every political, social or economic issue should be seen through a lens of compassion and morality.
Of course, autocrats and their acolytes will view any such analysis as lightweight and inconsequential. “How many divisions has the pope?” as Joseph Stalin famously asked.
One of the stupidest foreign policy initiatives Donald Trump has launched so far is to destroy the enormous impacts of American soft power overseas—power based not on military or economic might, but on the simple principle that freely helping people improve their lives builds their trust and respect for us. Trump and the transactional idiots around him ignore the enormous political dividends of such programs.
And so they will remain blind to the fact that a Pope’s power is entirely soft power, ignoring its potential to be a decisive instrument for change.
This blindness will open opportunities for Pope Leo. He comes to office recognized as a man of peace, justice, and compassion—all components that boost his credibility to reach deep into the hearts and minds of hundreds of millions of people, helping them identify and ponder the moral components of the actions. that affect their lives.
Donald Trump offers a racist, white male Christian fundamentalism as a blueprint for living. Pope Leo offers the Sermon on the Mount.
Donald Trump would affect our behavior through fear and avarice. Pope Leo’s example is that compassion is a far more powerful tool for making sense out of a world now spinning out of control.
Donald Trump demands blind obedience. Pope Leo, as he did to the world’s journalists May 12, advises a resolute search for truth.
Donald Trump offers people a deal. Pope Leo offers people hope.
My bet is on Father Bob.
John Graham