Pope Leo XIV, Our man at the Vatican.

May 8, 2025. A man for all seasons, it appears.

First American pope in a very long line of Popes. America has only had an opportunity to offer a candidate for less than 250 years. And he’s from Chicago. And yet, not sporting a hotdog on his hat. No deep dish pizza pie either. Very chill man. Good Pope material says this admirer from a personal religious distance.

By all metrics known in the last few hours of his young papacy, Pope Leo XIV has the backs of union workers, the planets climate, and promises to speak for the poor an serve the people with humility. A quote from last year shows his approach to his work, “the bishop is not supposed to be a little prince sitting in his kingdom" and that a church leader is “called authentically to be humble, to be close to the people he serves, to walk with them, to suffer with them.”

The phrase "a man for all seasons" is the title of a play by Robert Bolt about the life and death of Sir Thomas More. The quote itself doesn't appear verbatim in the play, but rather the title, which was borrowed from Robert Whittington's 1520 reference to More. The phrase is used to describe someone who can adapt to any situation while remaining true to their core values and beliefs.

White smoke from the Vatican came swiftly. The camera that watches the chimney caught a seagull nibbling on bits of things only to stop to listen as cheering erupted. He then walked over to the ledge to join his seagull pal. You can see the white smoke just beginning and off he goes to join in the curiosity.

Also waiting and watching were the MAGA folk concerned about the direction of the church generally as the Magasphere is taking hits even though Trump is installed.

They stuck with him, seeing through our every truth. Now, DJT is seen as drifting from his base by his failures to deliver on campaign promises. The Epstein tapes not yet revealed, ending the war in a day never did stop it. One doll and 5 pencils, oh… no, no one voted for that. But the National Christian movement has been stalled or perhaps killed. They spent a lot of money too. Made us stop having abortions, tore up women rights. Where are they now? Bake sale? Unlikely.

Why is it important for them to have a Trump friendly Pope? Wait, what did I just say? Trump friendly Pope? Cracking myself up. How,... who,… simply can’t imagine.

Starting freshly, Maga churches, although a stripe of Christian, are aligned with Evangelical Presbyterian denominations and do not recognize the Pope as their leader. Although, to the faithful, he can be seen as “a” leader if not “their” leader.

Anyone familiar with the newer brand of Christianity brought forward in our times to relieve us of those birth control and abortion rights, LGBT rights may know, outside of church, Maga followers act contrary to their own teachings that center around the teachings of Jesus and specifically the bible. They behave very contrarily. So much so they voted for and likely elected that. That Regime that promised in the campaign to be rough on those that don’t belong. Very rough racist views. They voted for lower prices at the pump and at the grocer. They voted against women’s rights, against themselves for less of everything.

The new Pope was announced,… he gave an address,… he started thusly,…

“Dearest brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting of the Risen Christ, the good shepherd who gave his life for God's flock. I too would like this greeting of peace to enter your heart, to reach your families, to all people, wherever they are, to all peoples, to the whole earth. Peace be with you!

An American may be the best person to understand the American mind and difficulty in this time. An American who leads the Roman Catholic Church may, with fingers crossed, be heard in a way that we are desperate to have people here spoken with and to.

American eyes have been uncharacteristically on the Vatican as JD Vance’s meeting with both the Cardinal that would become Pope and Pope Francis were in the news over Easter. Vance was asked to show more leniency regarding immigrants it was told.

The Pope’s death following just a day afterward spurned plenty of memes wherein Vance offs the Pope. Not true but in some circles it may be Hoyle by now that he did it. More importantly, Vance’s view of life as told to the Cardinal, is to love oneself first and best and radiate your influence from there to family and country then the world. Sounds troubling to me. I mostly see self loathing when I see Vance’s face. No wonder the rest of his roll out of love is problematic. Interestingly, JD is a recent (2019) convert to Catholicism. I can see room for easy dialogue. In public. It will be good,… What do you think?

Laura Loomer the leader of whatever, is very upset with the choice. Not surprising. Being repulsive is her brand. Calls the Pope “Marxist”... silly bitch.

Thanks for being here. I wouldn’t be here without you.

❤️