Leone: the Surprising Pope with an Historic Name

Simone Riva - He took everyone by surprise, but now there is a race to see who knows him best. It was to be expected because, ultimately, it is our way of softening the blow of that face, of that name, “Leone,” which took us back more than a hundred years in our memories. The nauseating television gossip is already applying the categories of the world to the new Pope: what he is in favor of and what he is not, who his friends are and who they are not, what he said on hot topics and what he did not say…. The Pope, on the other hand, presented himself with great freedom.

The first words he uttered were those of the risen Christ: “Peace be with you all.” He then immediately declared himself a son of St. Augustine, an Augustinian. Finally, he entrusted himself to Mary, asking the whole square to pray together. By then, the crowd had begun to sense a delicate trait in the new Pope, who asked for more silence and attention. Everything else seems secondary to discovering this man.

When the white smoke appeared, I was at school for class meetings. We were finishing up, and some colleagues and I stayed at school to follow what was happening live. I was struck by this natural desire to be present, even from a distance, at an event like this. In recent days, the people’s anticipation has been evident with unique intensity. Everyone had their heads turned toward the sky, waiting for that smoke as if it were a natural part of their lives, as if it were something we were waiting for ourselves.

And the promise of the Apostle Peter’s return through each of his successors was fulfilled once again. What a gift it would be to preserve the intensity of that waiting without giving in to what we already know. Familiarity can kill the wonder of anything new. What a gift it is to remain present in reality as it is. We have much to learn from God’s method, which surprises us in an instant, giving us the chance to start anew.

The 267th Pontiff is only the latest sign of this method, which starts from a preference for our lives and reaches into the most mysterious details of reality. The Pope’s life is being dissected to find every possible and imaginable reference: politics, geography, culture, language—but the one who has been elected is not Superman; he is the Pope: a guarantee of that universal fatherhood that, from now on, will be expressed through his humanity, which we have yet to discover.

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