Like many Catholics, I recall following the events in Rome this time last year with great trepidation, as the Church received and welcomed a new pope.
I graduated college in 2011, and two years later watched the election of Pope Francis on TV during my stint in seminary — so effectively my entire ministry “career” had been spent during his papacy.
I had observed in Pope Francis the power of prophetic witness in a pope; his Evangelii Gaudium, in my view, had been a powerful charter for 12 steady years of renewal in parishes and dioceses since.
I had also watched as the Church, since the 2014 synod on the family, at least, had been increasingly marked by entrenched divisions that seemed to worsen with each passing year. Because of that, my honest emotion going into last year’s conclave was fear, more than anything, that the next pope would not be the man, either in personality or ideology, who could heal those divisions.
Needless to say, year one of Pope Leo XIV has been a remarkable blessing. I am not ashamed to admit that I get choked up to think of how grateful I am for this man.
The pope is, like me, from the Windy City. Through the year I have watched my fellow closely, trying to understand him, or, admittedly, perhaps, “waiting for the other shoe to drop,” worried that my initial enthusiasm would be unfounded.
My observation has led me to a useful hermeneutic key:
I propose that Leo is best understood as an honorary member of what we used to call a member of the “JP2 Generation.”
If you see him that way, some pieces will click into place.