A shepherd who will be a safe pair of hands

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None of us expected the declaration “Habemus Papam” within 24 hours of the start of the conclave. The 133 cardinals came from such diverse places. During Covid, the new cardinals had not got the chance to get to know each other. Like many of us, they were still playing catch-up. There was no hurry for the cardinals to make a decision.

The shortest conclave of the past century is an indication that the supermajority of cardinals was left in no doubt that Robert Francis Prevost was their man.

I knew the cardinals would not appoint another Jesuit, like Francis. I never expected the cardinals would choose a man from another religious order – this time the Augustinians.

Before Francis, all the popes any of us have known during our lifetime started life as a diocesan priest, working his way up the ordinary diocesan structures. For the past 12 years commentators were fond of pointing out, and not without reason, that Francis was a Jesuit and that many of his moves and attitudes were informed by his distinctive Jesuit training and spirituality. As most of the cardinals were not members of religious orders, I expected they would favour a return to normalcy rather than electing one from another religious order.

I never expected, especially in the age of Trump, the cardinals would elect an American, even one who had considerable experience in the global south (Peru) and had lengthy experience of governance in Rome.

We Catholics believe the Holy Spirit plays a role in the papal election, and not just because the process is shrouded in secrecy and majesty behind the locked doors of the Sistine Chapel. So here’s hoping.

The unassuming Prevost ticks all the boxes. He was well educated at Villanova University in Philadelphia and concluded his tertiary studies with a doctorate in canon law at a conservative institution in Rome.

He worked for a decade as a missionary in Peru, training new priests and working in parishes. There he knew difficult times for missionaries, especially those coming from the US. While he was in Peru, Australia’s own religious sister Irene McCormack was assassinated by the Shining Path rebels on suspicion that she was peddling American medic­ines to help the poor.

Cardinals react from a balcony of the St Peter's Basilica, as the new pope makes his first appearance. Picture: AFP

Prevost was twice elected superior general of the Augustinians. So he had 12 years travelling the globe, getting to know the church scene in every country where his men ministered. He developed a great proficiency in the key European languages.

When made a bishop he returned to his beloved Peru and then he was brought to Rome, where Francis instated him as the head of the dicastery choosing new bishops. He was sympathetic to the Francis agenda, speaking in support of care for the environment, the rights of migrants and the need for the church to reach out to the poor.

He participated in Francis’s synod on synodality and strongly endorsed the process.

All the time he was known to be careful, measured and respectful – as befits a church leader with a doctorate in canon law.

As Pope, he has chosen the name Leo. This is the surest sign that he is a safe pair of hands, acceptable to all sides in the ecclesiastical culture wars, while being committed to the vision of Francis. He has taken the name after the great Leo XIII who wrote what John Paul II called the “immortal document”, Rerum Novarum.

At the end of the 19th century Leo XIII was concerned about the rights of workers. He wrote about the relationship between church and state. He was seeking a middle path between capitalism and socialism.

He affirmed the right of private property but was insistent that the wealthy should share their excess with those in need. He was the first pope of social justice. He wrote: “Rights must be religiously respected wherever they exist, and it is the duty of the public authority to prevent and to punish injury, and to protect every one in the possession of his own. Still, when there is question of defending the rights of individuals, the poor and badly off have a claim to especial consideration.

“The richer class have many ways of shielding themselves, and stand less in need of help from the State; whereas the mass of the poor have no resources of their own to fall back upon, and must chiefly depend upon the assistance of the State. And it is for this reason that wage-earners, since they mostly belong in the mass of the needy, should be specially cared for and protected by the government.”

These were revolutionary words back in 1891.

In 1991, John Paul II celebrated the centenary of Rerum Novarum with an encyclical entitled Centesimus Annus. He meant “to show that the vital energies rising from that root have not been spent with the passing of the years, but rather have increased even more”. Those who have been so critical of Francis for his bold teaching can be reassured that this new Pope is one who will respect the rigour and constancy of John Paul II’s thought on social issues, and the radical teaching of Leo XIII.

Time will tell how our new Pope deals with the present neuralgic issues in the church, including the possible ordination of female deacons and the blessing of same-sex unions. Being a canon lawyer, he is not likely to repeat some of the loose language employed by Francis.

But being an Augustinian committed to truth and love for all, he can be expected to extend pastoral solicitude to those on the peripheries, wrestling with the hard questions as to how the church can be more inclusive.

Addressing the crowd in St Peter’s Square, he showed most emotion when he declared: “To the Church of Rome a special greeting! We must seek together how to be a missionary church, a church that builds bridges, dialogue, always open to receive like this square with open arms. Everyone, everyone who needs our charity, our presence, dialogue and love.”

For us Australians, the good news is that Leo has been to our shores, and more than once, when he was superior general of the Augustinians. Without fanfare, he visited his men in their schools and parishes here. He was in Sydney for World Youth Day in 2008. At the same time as he was superior general of his order in Rome, our own progressive bishop Vincent Long from Parramatta was in Rome as assistant general of his religious order. They are known to have a mutual admiration of each other. In 2028, Sydney will host a Eucharistic Congress and Anthony Albanese has already extended the invitation for the Pope to attend.

All up, Catholics and all people of goodwill should be heartened that the cardinals in record time have elected a shepherd who is a safe pair of hands inspired by the words of St Augustine: “God provides the wind. Man must raise the sail.”

Father Frank Brennan SJ is adjunct professor in law at the Australian Catholic University.