Looking at our world from a theological perspective, this is the Theology Central Podcast. Making theology central. Voices erupt in Vatican City. A new pope has been chosen. Here's NPR's Jason Derose. White smoke began billowing out of the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel a short while ago, signaling that the 133 cardinals cloistered there have made their decision. The newly elected pope is expected to appear soon on the balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square and offer his blessing to the city and the world. Before then, the cardinal electors sing a hymn of praise known as the Te Deum and approach the newly elected pope to pay him homage. Just before the new pope steps onto the balcony, the senior cardinal deacon will appear and declare Habemus Papem, Latin for we have a pope. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we do have a new Pope. It is Thursday, May the 8th, 2025. It is currently 127 p.m. Central Time, and I'm coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. and I'm gonna do my very best to try to tell you a lot about what's going on with the new pope, what to look forward to moving forward, some lessons gained from it. I try to keep up with the coverage most of the morning. My daughter called me, what, 23, 24, 25 times about, hey, what does this mean, and what does this mean, and what about this, and what about this, and what about this, and they just said this, and what does this mean, and did you know this, and did you know this, and did you know this, and I'm like, I know, I know, and it means this, and I mean, Hey, you can go sign up for classes at a Catholic university as well. You can work on a degree in Catholic theology. Why are you calling me 23 times?" But she was interested in, you know, all the symbolism of what does this mean and what does this mean. So I did my very best to explain it. I tried to explain to her that the white smoke thing is kind of a new invention started in, I think, 1917. Before that, you had black smoke to indicate that there wasn't a pope and then no smoke to indicate that there was. And then before, I don't even think they did the smoke. I think if we go before the 19th century, I don't even remember. I don't think they even did that. And then she was asking about why they choose a new name. And I'm like, well, they didn't. They didn't do that, well, the first time I think that occurred was in 533 A.D. I'm just going to the top of my head here, so if I get something wrong, I think it was 533 A.D. was the first time a pope changed a name, selected a new name, because his original name was connected to some pagan deity, and they didn't want that, so he changed his name. Now, some people say, well, what's the significance of changing the name? A lot of times, when they change their, when they pick a new name. They always do since 533 AD. That new name sometimes reflects what is important to them, the direction they may be taking the church. It can indicate a lot of different things and which ways they're going to go. And so sometimes you can get some kind of insight from the name that they have chosen. But yes, on this May the 8th, 2025, there is a new Pope. Everyone's talking about it. So I'm going to do my very best to break this down. I tried to put all of this together relatively fast while all of this was happening. So I hope everything is accurate. I hope I'm not missing anything. And if I am, please understand that I'm putting this together while all of this information is breaking. I did try to also look to what to be paying attention to moving forward, and some lessons and theological things that we can take from all of this. So, on this May the 8th, we have a new Pope. Here's what we need to know. On May the 8th, 2025, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected as the 267th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, taking the name Pope Leo XIV. This historical event marks the first time an American has ascended to the papacy. I want you to hear that again. So March the 8th, 2025, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected as the 267th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, taking the name Pope Leo XIV. This historical event marks the first time an American has ascended to the papacy. The conclave, which began on May the 7th, concluded after four ballots when white smoke emerged from the Sistine Chapel chimney at 6.07 p.m. local time, signaling a successful election. Now, who is Pope Leo XIV? He was born on September the 14th, 1955 in Chicago. Robert Prevost is of French, Italian, and Spanish descent. He joined the Order of St. Augustine in 1977 and was ordained a priest in 1982. Prevost earned a Bachelor's of Science and Mathematics from Villanova University and a Master's of Divinity from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. His missionary work took him to Peru, where he served for many years and became a naturalized a nationalized citizen of Peru, Peruvian citizen in 2015. I don't know why I had so many problems with that. He led the archdiocese and later became the head of the Vatican's for bishops, overseeing the appointment of bishops worldwide. So he was very much involved in the appointment of a lot of the bishops. We could get into a whole discussion about that. And I do apologize for Peruvian getting that, not being able to say that correctly, but I apologize. So his missionary work took him to Peru, where he served for many years and became a naturalized Peruvian citizen in 2015. And he led the archdiocese and later became the head, basically, of the Vatican's making the appointments for bishops. And he oversaw those appointments worldwide. Now, his priorities and challenges ahead for Pope Leo XIV. He inherits a church facing several pressing issues. Here are the big issues and challenges. Church unity. Bridging the divide between progressive and conservative factions within the church, particularly in the U.S., where political polarization has deeply affected Catholic community. Keep that in mind. You have a polarized church. And what has caused this polarization? What has caused the polarization and the divide in the Catholic Church? The politicizing of the church. What has caused the divide in much of Christianity? Politicizing. When politics get involved in Christianity, it leads to nothing but division. That's why, Christians, we need to be united. Forget the Catholic Church. For us, we need to be united in Christ, united in doctrine, united in theology, and leave the no good corrupt politics outside of the church. Everybody thinks, oh no, we need to bring them inside the church. You just divide the church. You just end up hurting the church. You corrupt the church. And well, the Catholic church is facing that because of the political polarization that has deeply affected the Catholic community. Another big challenge and priority that Pope Leo XIV will have to deal with is the sexual abuse scandals, addressing the Church's handling of sexual abuse cases with a focus on safeguarding and transparency. I mean, that's not going away. They're going to have to continue to deal with that. governance and reforms, advancing reforms to include greater participation of women and lay people in church governance. A lot of people will say that will be a big issue. I don't think Pope Leo XIV, from what I do know about him, I don't think he's, I think he is still pretty committed. the basically traditional teaching of what women can and cannot do in the Catholic Church. We'll have to see how that plays out. Financial challenges. He needs to tackle the Vatican's financial deficits and pension fund shortfalls compounded by recent financial corruption scandals. He's going to have to deal with all the financial issues in the Roman Catholic Church. He's going to have to navigate a lot of social issues. He's gonna have to navigate discussions around sexuality and identity, including LGBTQ+, inclusion, and the issue of priestly celibacy, which is always, every time there's a new pope, there's always like, oh, priestly celibacy. They're gonna finally get rid of that and allow married men to be popes, or allowed married men to be priests, because there's usually a shortage of priests. What's the best way to fix that? remove the celibacy rules so that married men can be priests, and then you basically fix and resolve that priest shortage immediately, instantaneously, basically. You probably would have the largest number of men coming in to be priests in maybe the history of the Catholic Church if you remove that. But will they ever do that? Can they do that? Is that such dogma that it would take something major to overcome that? It's always a discussion, hey, this Pope is going to do that, and then, well, nothing ever happens. So we will have to see. So those are some of the issues. So what are the issues Pope Leo XIV is going to have to face? Church unity, sexual abuse scandal, governance and reforms, financial challenges, and social issues. And then I think I'm just going to separate. I put priestly celibacy within social issues. It almost needs to be separate. whole issue of priestly celibacy will be a hot topic, at least at the beginning of his papacy. What to watch for. In the coming months, observers will be looking for appointments. How Pope Leo XIV feels key Vatican positions typically will signal his leadership style and his priorities. We'll be looking for his public statements. His addresses and writings on contentious issues will provide insight into his approach to church doctrine and social matters. diplomatic engagements, his interactions with global leaders and involvement in international issues like climate change, migration, and human rights. We always see if the Pope, what is the Pope going to say? Because it's always going to tick off someone, right? If the Pope says anything about a social issue, then because our country and the world is so politically divided, then people on, oh, he's talked about climate change. He's woke. He's liberal. Oh, he said something about migration. He's woke. He's liberal. When it comes to American Christians, they see everything in political categories. They don't see things in scriptural categories. They don't see about caring for the stranger or doing this. No, no, no, no. Everything they hear is, it's got to be labeled as woke. It's got to be labeled as liberal. It's got to be labeled as progressive. That's because the American Christian has lost their ability to think in theological terms They only think in political terms. And when you hear Christians talk more in political terms than in theological and biblical terms, you know that they've been politically hijacked, and it does nothing but damage their Christianity. American Christians need to stop looking at everything in political categories and look at things in theological categories. So it doesn't matter what the Pope says. He says anything, it's going to be labeled from a political standpoint instead of a theological one. And it drives me crazy when American Christians do that. Stop talking politics and start talking theology. Now, if you want to abandon Christianity by all means, submit yourself to the God of politics. But don't bring your God of politics into the church. Leave it outside. And when you hear pastors do that, they'll talk about woke or liberal or Democrats, and they bring in all of this political language into the church, and we need to speak biblically and theologically. I think that's something important to consider. All right. Pope Leo's 14th election represents a significant moment in the church history and his leadership will shape its direction in the years to come. And it is a significant moment in Catholic church history. It is. I mean, there's no way. It's the first American. So I think that's pretty significant. Now, when can we expect Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical letter or major teaching? Now, for me, I always look for that first encyclical. When are they going to write their first encyclical? And as soon as they do, I download it. typically try to read it. And I probably mispronounce things because, you know, I can't get the word. I don't even remember the word I was mispronouncing. It's up there somewhere. I'll have to go back to my notes. But I'll mispronounce something somewhere down the line. But I always like to read the encyclical letters because it kind of gives you an idea of where the church may be going philologically, where it's going philosophically, so you can at least get an idea. So when can we expect their first encyclical? Well, the timing, I'm just basing this on precedent. I don't have any special insight into this. At all, I'm just going to go with precedent. So historically, popes do not issue encyclicals immediately. Here's kind of a rough pattern. John Paul II, his first encyclical was issued five months after election. I think he was elected in October of 78, and I think his first encyclical was March of 79. Pope Benedict XVI. First encyclical was issued eight months after election, elected in April 2005. Encyclical was December 2005. Francis' first encyclical was much quicker. It was three months after election, but it was an encyclical that was started by Pope Benedict XVI. So Pope Francis, he really is kind of a, you can't really follow how he did things. I think it's going to be five to six months probably before we get the first encyclical. I think probably, all right. The pattern is generally three to eight months is normal for a Pope's first encyclical, though major homilies and addresses start almost immediately. Given that Pope Leo XIV was just elected, we can probably reasonably expect his first encyclical will probably be August of 2025, somewhere between August and January of 2026. August of 2025 and January 2026, that's kind of where you can probably expect the first encyclical to happen. His first major public teaching will probably happen almost immediately, most likely at Pentecost 2025, which is May the 18th. That's probably where we're going to get his first major homily, first teaching. And typically, just so that you know, if you go to the Vatican website, the encyclicals, the homilies, everything for the new pope will be right there. You can always download them if you just want to see the direction they're going, what they're teaching, what they're focusing on. Not because we agree with it, just because there's what, like a billion Catholics in the world? you can kind of see what the emphasis is, where the direction is going. And again, look at it not in political terminology, but philological terminology. And so in the upcoming, and we'll also have some upcoming general audiences, and so over the next few weeks, so we're going to probably get some teaching and a major homily probably on Pentecost. And that's when we'll start getting an idea. Now, what will it likely focus on? If we're trying to predict what his first encyclical could focus on, based on his background and the issues facing the church, I think most would think that or at least trying to predict the possible themes. Now, I mean, this is wild speculation. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe he does something really radical and he's going to address artificial intelligence instead of anything. I don't know. Maybe he's going to, but most think he's going to go somewhere like this. He's going to talk about unity and healing and divisions, especially political and ideological divides in the church. So his first encyclical may be like, hey, the church is you. It needs to be united. We've got these wild divisions, and many of these divisions are political, and they're ideological divides. Instead of being unified in Christ, unified in the teachings of the church, we've allowed ourselves to be divided by politics and ideology. He may focus on some type of, I don't know, missionary discipleship and evangelization. He was a missionary in Peru, right? Maybe he goes that direction. Maybe he goes with clergy reform and accountability. linked to sexual abuse crisis and governance challenges. Maybe in his first encyclical he addresses that. Maybe he does focus on some social justice and global issue. He has experience with poor communities and global self-priorities. If he goes with a social justice issue or a global kind of issue, that gets into the politics. And if the church is already divided, should his first encyclical address one of these issues or address the division in the church? I think maybe you go with the division in the church. You could talk about missionary work, discipleship, and evangelism, I mean, you know, I mean, he was a missionary in Peru, right? So Peruvian citizenship, right? For some weird reason, I could not say that correctly a little while ago. All right, what to watch for over the next few months. The first thing to look for is Pentecost, his homily on May the 18th. This is usually a very important teaching moment. All right? Very important. That's going to be the first major homily. May the 18th will be his first major homily. Typically, when it comes to Catholic popes, listening to their homilies are not very exciting, and it's very monotone, and it's usually in Latin. But once the transcript comes out, and it's usually posted on the Vatican website, that's usually where you can really break it down and see what they're talking about. He will have his first Corpus Christi address in June, often very theological and Eucharistic in focus, right? Because, I mean, Corpus Christi, you get into the whole Eucharist right there. Then he will have his summer general audiences. This will go through June through August, and this will probably outline his early vision. So the summer general audiences, they're always uploaded as well. Then you will look for kind of an apostolic letter, maybe late summer, fall, possible some smaller documents before a full encyclical. And then his first encyclical will probably be somewhere August to December, January of 2026. This will be formal. philological and will probably define the early identity of his pontificate. This will probably be where we really get an idea of how his pontificate is going to move forward. So that's kind of what we're going to be looking for over the next few months. The homily at Pentecost, his address at Corpus Christi, summer general audiences, They're going to be some maybe apostolic letters, some kind of letters, some kind of smaller documents than the first encyclical. And then we'll really know, okay, at that point, you're going to have a pretty good idea where he's headed, where he's going. And the reason I tell you to look for these things, you say, well, I'm not a Catholic. I don't care. I know that. But then you're going to listen to pastors yell and scream about things about the Pope and make all kinds of claims and make all kinds of statements that in many cases they haven't read the encyclical, haven't read anything, and they're just out there making wild and crazy comments. And I get sick of that. So one of the reasons I get tired of listening to Protestants talk about Catholicism is many times they do so from a position of ignorance. Now, I'm not saying all, but many do, and I get tired of it. So what I've always decided, I'm just going to listen and look for myself, and then I can address it from a position of knowledge, not a position of ignorance. If we want to summarize this, first major encyclical expected between late summer and early next year. First major teaching moments, homilies, and audiences will begin within days to weeks, starting very likely at Pentecost on May the 18th. All right, now here are some major lessons and theological considerations to reflect on regarding today's news, the election of Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope. Here are some things to consider, all right? I put these first, I think, let's see, how did I break this down? I broke this down I think I put these, did I put these all under one heading? No, I broke them into a couple of headings. The first major heading I gave was, Philological and Ecclesiological Lessons. It's easier to write than it is to say. Philological and Ecclesiological Lessons. So we're going to focus on theology, ecclesiology, that's the church, eschatology, end times, ecclesiology, the church. Here we go. So I think the first thing to consider is the church as a global institution, yet it's been historically European-centric. The church is a global institution, but historically it's been very European. Very European-centric. I think that's fair. I think I'm being accurate there. So for centuries, the papacy has largely centered in Europe, predominantly in Italy. The election of an American, former missionary to Peru, Peruvian citizenship, see how I did that? See how I did that? Marks a continued globalization of the church. I think it shows the church in a more global way, right? It's typically been European, Italian. Now we have an American pope. So it shows the globalization. So how universal is the church in its leadership and its vision? What does that ultimately mean? All right? Does this reflect maybe some desire to have kind of a from every tribe, language, people, and nation kind of concept that we see in Revelation? From every tribe, from every language, from every people, from every nation? Is this going to have a more global approach? I think only... Now, I don't have these numbers in front of me. I think it's at 3%? Only 3% or only 5% of the world's Catholics are in America. I think it's like 3% or 5% of the total number of Catholics are in America. So America is not like a Pope from America. An American Pope seems somewhat like, whoa, but does it show a global kind of a global mindset? We'll have to see. And maybe it's worth noting that being American introduces potential challenges of Western culture dominance, which may need careful theological reflection. So, you know, is it going to be a challenge that it's an American? Is it going to be a potential challenge of Western culture dominance? How is that going to all impact everything? All right? So that's kind of the church as kind of a global institution, yet it's been historically European-centric. It shows a change. How do we understand that change? A second thing to be looking for under this major heading of philological and ecclesiastical, ecclesiological lessons is the doctrine of the papacy and its development. This moment reminds us that the idea of the pope as defined today, I think almost anyone can agree, is not seen in the New Testament, especially the papacy in its later form. I don't think there's any way to get around that. It's not something in the New Testament. Now, Protestants will jump all over that, saying, it has to be like the Bible. It has to be like the Bible. Well, then you start arguing, are you arguing for a strict regulative principle versus a normative principle? Well, let me pull up your church website. Because I can probably find all kinds of things in your church website going, that's not in the Bible. That's never commanded. There's no specific command for that. There is clearly no example of that. So you're violating the regulative principle. You're going with the normative principle. And the normative principle says the church can do anything unless it's explicitly condemned. So you can't yell at, oh, this whole thing the Catholics are doing, it's not in scripture. Look at your church. got this activity in this ministry and you do this and you do this and you do where is that well it's not condemned okay well i mean we we could get into that to that whole discussion it's just if you're going to use like a regular regulative principle argument then you've got to apply that regulative principle to your own church and most churches who claim the regulative principle end up violating it and then uh of themselves. So I think that brings up a lot of issues. I think it's fair to say the papacy developed historically, especially through the medieval and post-medieval periods, and this always raises deep theological questions. How should we, as non-Catholics, view the office of the papacy? We typically do so with great suspicion, historically within the Protestant world, almost as anti-Christ, and we always get into all the things that all the controversies that always arise from it. And these issues will show back up. Once a new pope is elected, it almost immediately within the Protestant world will turn into the Antichrist and this and that. And then everybody loses their minds for about three months, six months, and then everybody moves on. And then the pope continues until that pope dies and then a new one is elected. And then the Protestants yell and scream again, the Antichrist, it's the end of the world. And then that Pope dies, and then, oh, the Antichrist, it's the end of the world. And then the Protestants just repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over. I saw this when Pope Benedict XVI was elected. I saw this when Pope Francis is elected. Now we have Pope Leo XIV, and it will be the same tired schtick. And they will sell their books and sell their videos. They will make money off fear and paranoia that this is the pope that's going to all give us the mark of the beast and we're all going to die. It's the same tired thing over and over and over again and it never ends. But we'll hear and see all of those videos popping up and it'll be like, you know, he's got devil horns under the, and it's, yeah, it'll be, he's a witch and he, okay. Burn him at the stake. It'll be all that typical stuff. I'm not saying there aren't theological concerns to have. I'm just saying this paranoia, fear kind of thing, the only people who benefit from it the people who sell their books and build their ministries off of it. Everyone pours into those. They get money. They get downloads. They get streams. They get subscriptions. They all walk away rich. Everyone else walks away a little poor, and you walk away typically Oh, guess what? He didn't get any grave insight because nothing happened. I mean, when Pope Francis was elected, I was told by everyone, this is the, that prophecy of the last Pope. He's the last Pope and it's all, and there's going to be a war and Rome is going to be destroyed and the Antichrist is going to run. And I argued with people. Well, none of those people are emailing me today saying, well, Pope Francis died and we have a new Pope. You were right. That wasn't the last Pope. I know. I tried to tell you then, but you didn't listen to me. All right. I even bought the book, The Last Pope. It's downstairs somewhere because everyone's like, oh, this has the prophecy of the last Pope. You've got to pay attention. This, whatever. Okay. Where are you today? Oh, you're nowhere to be found. Okay. You're not going to, because you've already moved on to the next conspiracy theory. You've already moved on to the next crazy thing because that's what the Protestant world is constantly does. All right. So what we should do as Christians, we should pay attention to the papal teachings, the encyclicals, the homilies, and we should just look at them and then critique them from a theological and biblical perspective rationally, logically. I know these are crazy things to do, but the Christians won't do that. They'll just be running around going, Oh, the Pope is doing this and we're all going to die. I just like, have you read an encyclical? No. Have you read a homily? No. Have you looked at it? No, but I know it's all true. And it's like, okay, nevermind. It's just, That stuff just drives me crazy. I have no tolerance for it. But hey, those people can say Peruvian much better than I can, all right? Those people will pronounce things better than I have. A third thing under this kind of heading of philological and ecclesiological lessons, the third thing is continuity and change in church teaching. A new pope always raises inevitable questions about continuity versus change. Catholic theology teaches that doctrine does not change, but it can develop. The development of doctrine is how they would typically put it. Protestants often see this as problematic, especially where papal teaching is seen to go beyond or even against scripture. So, this always becomes, okay, is there going to be a change? Is there going to be a development? You've got some people who want change, who want development. Some people want the change and development to move towards something reflecting what we would say is more biblical ideas. Others want it to reflect something more progressive, which some people would say would be moving away from a more biblical idea. But everybody wants change. That's what inevitably happens. Everybody wants change according to their plan. And this is no different than what happens when a new pastor comes into any church. A new pastor comes into any church, you almost always have two sides. They want it to change this way, and they want it to change this way. And the pastor either has to pick a side that his changes will be in agreement with, and then you usually lose the other side, and they all leave and go to another church. It's just because wherever, in any institution, you have people. And whether the people want to say they're there for God, they're really there for their own agenda, their own wants, their own needs, and their own demands. And as a pastor, I saw that over. Every time I got a phone call, someone wanted to complain because they wanted something their way. They wanted me to change something according to their belief, their doctrine, their theology, their way, or they wanted things to work a certain way. And inevitably, I would always ask them the same question. Okay, let's say I do this exactly the way you want it. What about the people who sit across the pew from you? What if they don't want it? They would always back up and go, well, I'm not telling you to change anything. Yes, you are. That's why you're calling me on a Monday, telling me all of this. You want change and you don't care if it impacts the people in front of you, across from you, or behind you. You just want your way. And inevitably when they don't get their way, I know, guess what happens? Oh, they leave and go to another church. the Pope will step in and everybody's going to want change of some in some way shape or form. And so what we need to watch closely is will Pope Leo XIV uphold historic Catholic dogmas firmly or will he signal openness to to some kind of progressive developments. And again, I don't like to use the term progressive developments because that's a more politically charged term. But what is he going to do with LGBTQ+, inclusion, priestly celibacy, and women's roles? He will face a theological testing ground and some people will be happy and some people will be ticked off. Every pastor who walks into a church faces the same thing. It's nothing new because the church is made up of people and people have agendas and wants and needs and desires. So Pope Leo XIV is going to find those same issues. 4. Again, all of these are under my heading, Philological and Ecclesiological Lessons. 1. The Church as a Global Institution. 2. The Doctrine of the Papacy and its Development. 3. Continuity and Change in Church Teaching, which we just looked at. 4. Moral Authority in a Time of Scandal and Decline. The Catholic Church faces credibility issues from sexual abuse scandals and moral failures. The Pope is seen as a moral and spiritual leader, not just for Catholics, but some would say even globally. others would argue against that. Philologically, this is a huge tension point. How does the church maintain moral authority when human sin within the church has so deeply undermined trust? What does it say about the doctrine of sin, human fallibility, and the church as a visible institution? Now, I think what every church has to acknowledge Look, there's sin inside Protestant churches, there is sin inside Catholic church, there is sexual abuse scandal in Catholic church, there's sexual abuse scandal in the Protestant world. So the reality is, it doesn't matter the name of the church, doesn't matter what you call the leader—bishop, pastor. Deacons, elders, presbytery, it doesn't matter what kind of leadership hierarchy you put in place. Denominational, independent, congregational-led, pastoral, you know what's going to happen in every single institution? There will be sin. It drives me crazy when people are like, you need a proper hierarchy and you need proper leadership in order to avoid these kinds of problems. You need accountability. These independent churches are out of control. The Catholic church has the most complicated and in-depth levels of accountability and hierarchy that you can imagine and still sexual abuse happened. Still there was a sexual abuse scandal. You see it in denominational churches. You see it in elder-led churches. You see it in congregational-led churches, pastor-led churches, denominational, independent churches, because wherever there's people, there will be sin, no matter the type of church. Next, under this heading is human leaders versus Christ as head of the church. In Protestant theology, especially, and I think this is a critical moment to reflect, I think this is important. In Protestant theology, especially, this is a critical moment to reflect. While Catholics see the Pope as the vicar of Christ, Protestants maintain that Christ alone is the head of the church. This moment reminds non-Catholic Christians to reflect on the dangers of personality-driven leadership, celebrity pastors, and ecclesiastical pride within their own tradition. So instead of worrying about the Pope, we need to worry about our own mini-popes. Because, look, we say Christ is the head of the Church, but we all know within Christianity we have the who's the Who's the flavor of the month or the flavor of the decade? Who's the ones going to be putting out their study Bible? People paying $100, $200, $300, $400 to get into a conference so they can hear them preach! Run up to them to get a selfie! Run up to them to get their Bible signed! Give me a break! We yell and scream back, look at those Catholics all going crazy over the Pope! Okay, it may not be to the same level, but Protestants flock to the newest celebrity pastor, and then that's their man, and they defend that man to no end. So we've got our own issues. And is Christ truly the head of the church? We say that. Is he? Because I know this, we may say Christ is the head of the church, and then we typically have to separate from the visible church to the invisible church. He's the head of the invisible body, but to say he's the head of the visible body, well, then that's kind of confusing, because Christ being the head of the visible body, and the visible body doesn't agree on literally anything. We don't agree on literally anything. So, well, we could get into a whole discussion about that. All right? So do we practically act as if human leader is our mediator or head? And I think in many cases, I think denominations have to ask that question. How do we perceive human leadership? Because in the Protestant church, we want to say the scriptures are the final authority, but the reality is who's really the authority in a Protestant church? Is it the pastor? Does he have any authority? No. His authority is as long as the people let him have the authority. because they can all just walk out the door, right? I think if we're honest in the Protestant world, you know who's in charge? Every individual's in charge. They determine what's right. They determine what doctrine is true. They determine what doctrine is false. Then they determine which teachers they will listen to and which teachers they will not listen to. They determine which teachers are good and which teachers they're going to speak negatively of and condemn. They determine how to interpret a passage, so they are ultimately the ones in charge. And then they're going to pick a church that agrees with them. And if that church stops agreeing with them, they'll leave that church, in many cases split that church, and go find another church or start one. So we could get a whole discussion about leadership, because there's always problems here. Let's see here, what else do we want to look at? Now let's go to our second major heading. The first major heading I have here is, Philological and Ecclesiological Lessons. And we broke that down into the church as a global institution, the doctrine of the papacy and its development, continuity and change in church teachings, moral authority in a time of scandal and decline, human leadership versus crisis ahead of the church. Second major heading, things to watch Theologically going forward. Going forward for the election of Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, here's some things to look forward from a theological perspective. Number one, I think we need to look for his first encyclical, which we've mentioned. What tone? What is his theological emphasis? Is it law? Is it gospel? Is it social justice? Is it evangelization? Is it ecumenical? We just need to look to his first encyclical. Second, we need to look to his handling of sexual abuse reform. Will his theology of church discipline and sin be biblical and serious, or will it be something else? His teaching on salvation and mission. Will he emphasize grace through Christ or maintain the typical Catholic teaching on salvation mediated through the church? his approach to—how will he approach global crises like climate, poverty, migration? How much will his theology drive this versus political and humanitarian concerns? How will he view Protestants and the Orthodox? Will he take a kind of an ecumenical approach? Will he take a more aggressive approach? Will he be more inclusive? Will he be cautious? Those are some of the theological things we need to look for going forward. His first encyclical, How He Handles Sexual Abuse, his teaching on salvation and mission, his approach to the global crisis, and his view of Protestants and Orthodox. How will he approach it? So here's some of the theological lessons. Theological reflection on church unity and global mission. The church is global, but theological unity remains elusive. That's some of the things we'll be watching for. I think a lesson we need to get here is a reminder of human fallibility and the dangers of ecclesiastical power. Even the highest offices in Christianity are vulnerable to sin and error. Tension between visible church structures and Christ as the invisible head. How much authority do human institutions truly possess? doctrinal consistency versus development, any change and continuities in teaching will be theologically significant, and spiritual leadership in an age of moral collapse and scandal. The true foundation of moral and spiritual leadership must always be Christ and His Word. It can never be a human office. It can never be a human person, because we're all fallible. And I know someone's going to say, but the Pope is infallible. He's only infallible when he speaks in a certain situation at a certain time. He's not infallible all the time. Protestants always say ridiculous things like that. So those are some of the theological lessons. I could go through them much slower, but you get the basic idea, right? So what have we looked at today? Well, we have looked at the fact that on May the 8th, 2025, that is today, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected as the 267th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. He took the name Pope Leo XIV, and this is historical because it marks the first time an American has ascended to the papacy. We talked a little bit about who Pope Leo XIV is. We talked about the fact where I messed up that he did missionary work in Peru, where he served for many years and became a naturalized Peruvian citizen in 2015. I still have no idea why I could not say Peruvian, but I now can. We looked at the priorities and challenges ahead. Pope Leo XIV inherits a church facing several pressing issues, church unity, sexual abuse scandals, governance reforms, financial challenges, social issues, and of course the issue of priestly celibacy will become an issue again. What are we watching for? We're going to look at how he appoints or fills Vatican positions. We're going to look for his public statements, his addresses and writings, and we're going to look for his diplomatic engagement. The most important thing we're going to be looking for is his first encyclical or major teachings. most likely his first encyclical will happen somewhere between August and January of 2026, so August 2025, January 2026. His first major homily will probably be May the 18th, that is Pentecost, and so we'll look for that. We tried to predict what his first encyclical may deal with. Unity and healing divisions, pastoral focus and somehow, missionary and discipleship because he was a missionary in Peru, clergy reform and accountability, or social justice issues. We looked at some things to look for over the next few months. His homily on Pentecost, his first Corpus Christi address, his summer general audiences, which will occur between June and August, Then we're going to look for smaller documents and this first full encyclical. And the first full encyclical will happen somewhere between August and January. And there you have it. There's what we do know and what to look for and some theological considerations as it comes to the fact that today there was white smoke, a new Pope has been elected. I hope that was beneficial. I apologize for mispronouncing Peruvian, and I think everything else I did pretty good. Oh, that office that he held, he's the one who appointed most of the bishops. I blanked out. I was like, it's the Vatican something bishop. I don't remember the name of the office, so I just had to... I just had to kind of stumble through that part because I couldn't remember what it's called. And for some weird reason in my notes, I just put Vatican Bishop. I left it blank. I don't know why I left it blank, but there you go. I hope that's good, timely information and hopefully gives you a good perspective. Thanks for listening. Everyone have a great day. God bless.