Veni, vidi, pileum Cubs Papae tradidi!
Sorry. Two weeks spent among the reminders and remainders of ancient Rome has me harkening back to four years of Latin at St. Ignatius College Prep.
When I sat down to write my last column, I was about to embark for Rome to participate in the 16th annual meeting of the International Catholic Legislators Network — and looking forward to a potential meeting with Pope Leo.
Popes have traditionally granted our group a private audience and when Francis was pontiff he would greet all of us individually.
I was excited about the chance Pope Leo might, too, and pondered what was appropriate to say and do, as I approached a Holy Father who seemed so familiar to me — and I appreciated the feedback I received.
As the Latin lede suggests, I did get to meet the pope. I came, I saw, I handed him a Cubs hat. And I had a unique opportunity to take the measure of Pope Leo XIV in person.
One week after Leo’s election, I wrote about how my thoughts about the new pontiff quickly transformed from serious concern to high hopes. My observations from afar led me to conclude, “He appears to be a holy and brilliant man with common sense who is observant – in both senses of the word – and will take a methodical approach, steering the Church in a Catholic – not left or right – manner.”
I had come to see Leo as “my kind of commonsense Chicagoan.” That’s an extremely high complemint in my book, but I wondered how he might appear closer up.