As a record of how likely people considered this outcome: Prevost was hovering around 1% on Polymarket, and was <0.5% between white smoke and announcement.
Well, seems that conclaves really are notoriously unpredictable
First American pope elected and will be known as Pope Leo XIV
481–490 of 1001 posts
Re: First American pope elected and will be known as Pope Leo XIV
#482Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think "progressiveness" isn't necessarily a good metric to judge an entity that believes itself to be a moral guide. It's very job is to deal moral teachings, rather than follow the crowd. That's not to say the teachings are right, and of course no one has to follow the teachings. But it'd be a bit like saying, dunno, dismissing a judge's verdict on the basis of it not reflecting popular opinion. It's not meant to…
How men of cloth treat gay people is a good litmus test for whether they’re following the Christian tenets of love and forgiveness. Like, you’re dealing with one of God’s creatures, per the Christian worldview. You can’t claim to respect God’s plan and then turn around and say you know better when it makes you feel icky. > job is to deal moral teachings, rather than follow the crowd An American Catholic hating and de…
I think it's also important to recognize that while the Catholic church has values and principles they adhere to and are unlikely to change because they are so deeply founded in tradition and scripture - for example, that marriage (as in the sacrament) is between a man and a woman - the "men of the cloth" are expected to take care of their ministry as caring and loving sheperds. But that process is often based on personal and individual relationships and they will not reach headlines in the media.
Re: First American pope elected and will be known as Pope Leo XIV
#483Earlier quoted context omitted.
Seems like he's spent 2 years in the US since he was 27.
At 69 that's pretty close to half of his life, and since it's the early half there is more weight to it as it forms the context from which the rest is understood.
Well, I don't know if it would be fair to compare him to your typical midwest American boomer who's been living in the suburbs since they were 27 and shows up in the middle of the day to protest against apartments going up in their neighborhood.
/s
Re: First American pope elected and will be known as Pope Leo XIV
#484Earlier quoted context omitted.
[flagged]
The Bible agrees with your musing as it says bishops are to be be married with kids. Peter (who the Catholics claim as the first Pope) was married as the Bible says Jesus healed his mother-in-law. 1 Timothy 3:1-7 [1] This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. [2] A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospital…
I would suggest you read the original Greek if you want to hang your textual arguments on specific words, and then also realize that the Latin translation which is canonical for Catholics is also a translation. A lot is lost in both directions.
Re: First American pope elected and will be known as Pope Leo XIV
#485Is Pope Leo eligible to be voted President of the United States?
Is he the first US Citizen to be head of a foreign state or have their been others? Edit: Did some googling and found Toomas Hendrik Ilves was a naturalized US citizen who renounced his citizenship before becoming an Estonian ambassador and later President of Estonia. Not seeing any who actively held US citizenship while being head of state.
This is some excellent trivia. Thanks!
Re: First American pope elected and will be known as Pope Leo XIV
#486Earlier quoted context omitted.
Now the real question: Is he a Cubs or Sox fan?
Cubs
Indeed, and he's from Dolton (a southern suburb) and lived in Hyde Park (south side of Chicago) for awhile. (Not that it's uncommon for south siders to favor the Cubs, but it certainly is amusing.)
https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/05/08/pope-leo-xiv-is-a-cu...
https://abc7chicago.com/post/2025-is-new-pope-cardinal-rober...
Re: First American pope elected and will be known as Pope Leo XIV
#487"Whereas Francis said, “Who am I to judge?” when asked about gay clerics, Cardinal Prevost has expressed less welcoming views to L.G.B.T.Q. people. In a 2012 address to bishops, he lamented that Western news media and popular culture fostered “sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel.” He cited the “homosexual lifestyle” and “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their ado…
Curious, do you think he's wrong that it's at odds with what was taught by the apostles? It's obviously unpopular, but I have yet to see a convincing argument (based in the teachings of the Bible) that promotes same-sex marriages. If I were in his position, and part of my duty is to interpret and lead via "the holy scriptures," then I would probably want to be as accurate as possible.
Jesus travelled around the land healing the sick and helping the poor. He didn't travel around the land with a sign saying "God hates fags".
There are just a few (oblique) mentions of homosexuality in the New Testament. It clearly wasn't a main concern. Pope Francis' interpretation always seemed completely consistent with scripture. It's the extremely heavy emphasis on homosexuality that's inconsistent with it.
Also: being gay and gay acts are two different things. Catholic priests are not supposed to engage in any sexual acts, so in that sense, it doesn't really matter if a priest is gay.
Re: First American pope elected and will be known as Pope Leo XIV
#488The pope is not a subject that typically interests me, but I must admit that I find announcing a decision with changing smoke color rather delightful. I wonder how long ago that started.
From Catholic News Agency [1], for your convenience: The history of the white smoke, which indicates that the cardinals have elected a new successor of St. Peter, is ancient. In 1274, at the Second Council of Lyons, Pope Gregory X, in a document titled Ubi Periculum, determined the procedure for holding a conclave. There he specified that the election would be done in isolation and with strict secrecy. For this reaso…
That's a confusing paragraph.
> The addition of the white smoke to announce the election of a new pope is more recent, however. Baumgartner traces it to 1914 [...]
but also
> In ancient times, the method to give the smoke these colors was to burn the ballots used in the voting with a bit of wet straw [...]
In ... the ancient times of 1914? Something's wrong here.
(For what it's worth, the Wikipedia article about this says that before 1914 black smoke meant "we held a ballot but it didn't successfully choose a new pope" and no smoke meant something other than that, though it's not clear there what the "we got one" signal was. The Wikipedia article, unlike the Catholic News Agency one, cites some references, but I haven't checked them.)
Re: First American pope elected and will be known as Pope Leo XIV
#489[flagged]
Re: First American pope elected and will be known as Pope Leo XIV
#490Earlier quoted context omitted.
even as a joke of Aristotle living 2,000 years before the United States existed, I don't get the comedic affect
It's a play on the popular quote "Give me a child until he is 7 and I will show you the man", attributed to Aristotle
Attributed to Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, although this is disputed.