Once Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the news anchors and reporters and podcasters -- and anyone else with an excuse or a budget to go to Rome -- have gone home, there will still be a market for details about the new pope.
There are insta-books in the works -- at least one of them published this week --- about the papacy of Pope Leo XIV, at least three of them by people I know. One is a biography. Another is going to tell something from the conclave of cardinal electors (who are essentially sworn to secrecy) that met in the Sistine Chapel to elect him as the world watched a chimney in Rome. I never bothered to find a count of livestreams on the Internet waiting for the white smoke that would billow to indicate that a new pope for the Catholic Church had been chosen, but I saw enough to know it was a big number. And isn't that wonderful? Maybe the world wants to know about Pope Leo because we want to know God.
Sure, you can be cynical and figure that all the hubbub surrounding the funeral of Pope Francis and the rituals leading up to his successor is simply the latest distraction from our responsibilities and concerns. Or you can see it for what most of my conversations with people from all walks of life in recent weeks confirm: People were -- and are -- watching the Vatican because we are all looking for something more, whether or not we know it
"Take courage! Without fear!" Leo said on his first Sunday as pontiff, celebrating Mass at the tomb of St. Peter in the crypt of St. Peter's Basilica -- one of the coolest, holiest and most historic spots in the place. He echoed the last few household-name popes in calling for courage in the world-changing revolutions for freedom and our daily bouts with tyranny. Leo, Francis, Benedict and John Paul were all, of course, echoing a higher power. Pope Leo continued: "Many times in the Gospel, Jesus says, 'Do not be afraid.' We need to be courageous in the witness we give, with the world and above all with life: giving life, serving, sometimes with great sacrifices, in order to live out this very mission." We must realize that this life is not about ourselves.
"It is the responsibility of government leaders to work to build harmonious and peaceful civil societies," Leo said. And then he went for it: "This can be achieved above all by investing in the family." He went on: "[N]o one is exempted from striving to ensure respect for the dignity of every person, especially the most frail and vulnerable, from the unborn to the elderly, from the sick to the unemployed, citizens and immigrants alike."
He had a personal connection to the last-mentioned group. "My own story is that of a citizen, the descendant of immigrants, who in turn chose to emigrate," he said to diplomats. "All of us, in the course of our lives, can find ourselves healthy or sick, employed or unemployed, living in our native land or in a foreign country, yet our dignity always remains unchanged: It is the dignity of a creature willed and loved by God." You could also say we are all in a temporary home. That's why we need God.
On our best days, all believers help bring others closer to God by the way we live and love. So it is with the pope in Rome.
(Kathryn Jean Lopez is senior fellow at the National Review Institute, editor-at-large of National Review magazine and author of the new book "A Year With the Mystics: Visionary Wisdom for Daily Living." She is also chair of Cardinal Dolan's pro-life commission in New York, and is on the board of the University of Mary. She can be contacted at klopez@nationalreview.com.)
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