Why The Pope Matters In A World Of Rivalries
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(OPINION) “Cheering for the Cubs is like praying to Allah,” my cousin, a White Sox fanatic and evangelical Christian, once quipped over Christmas dinner. According to such logic, the mislabeling of Pope Leo XIV as a Chicago Cubs fan must have been a grave sin.
Somewhat sacrilegiously, my cousins topped their Christmas tree with a Marlins hat that year after the team had prevented the Cubs from reaching the World Series. As a pluralistically minded Catholic Cubs fan, I retorted that “Allah” just means “God” in another language. Two years later, my dad attended Game One of the White Sox World Series, along with the future pope. I was happy to celebrate their World Series win with my Sox-loving dad and cousins.
Now, the Archdiocese of Chicago is hosting a celebratory Mass for the world’s most famous White Sox fan, Pope Leo XIV, at the Rate Field on June 14. My sanctimonious reflection on my family's baseball rivalry speaks to what may be a defining characteristic of the new Chicago pope — and to the continued importance of popes in the 21st century.
“Da pope” is more than an interesting novelty. At a time when our country and world are as divided as Cubs and Sox fans, Pope Leo XIV has the potential to lead us away from our rivalries.
Many people walk through the world with a perspective of rivalry — of good or bad, in or out, winner or loser. Some Catholics would like the church to be a “small tent” — a church of true believers. In this worldview, cradle Catholics who disagree with or fail to live up to the church's ideals are not deserving of inclusion.
The place of non-Catholics may be even more precarious. Before the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church's theology justified pogroms against Jews. We only have to reverse course two years to regain the Doctrine of Discovery, which justified the genocide of Indigenous peoples. The spirit of the Holy Crusades against Muslims seems to animate the current U.S. secretary of defense.
We are all curious to see how Pope Leo XIV will engage with the Trump administration. The Chicago Archdiocese’s upcoming celebration of the pope, an American-Peruvian dual citizen, stands in contrast to the military parade being hosted in Washington, D.C., on the same day.
At the same time, the Catholic Church has seen empires rise and fall. I am confident that the cardinals — or the Holy Spirit that guided them — were considering the long game when choosing Pope Leo XIV.
Like Pope Francis, Pope Leo XIV imagines Catholicism as a "big tent" that includes everyone, with synodality the method for dealing with the diversity within that tent. In a synodal church, leaders are guided by theology, tradition and consultations with ordinary Catholics – the “People of God.”
Listening is not values free. It requires opening the tent doors and brings those on the margins into the center, even if they do not determine what results from the conversation.
Grounded in a moral perspective, this approach to pluralism provides a model of leadership for our society.
Many spoke of a “Pope Francis effect” after he was elected. I reported on this “effect” on Europe's migration crisis in Italy and saw how Francis inspired Catholics to open doors and hearts to the mostly Muslim migrants arriving on Italy’s shores. Many credited his moral leadership with the funding of the naval operation that saved hundreds of thousands of migrants from the Mediterranean Sea. Francis argued both that Jesus compels his followers to welcome the stranger (Matthew 25:35) and that Europe's humanist values require care for those beyond its borders.
Popes and religious leaders may not solve humanity’s great crises, but they shape the narratives that shape our world.
Before Francis, Pope John Paul II played a significant role in the fall of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War. Environmentalist Bill McKibben recently argued that Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment helped spur on the Paris Climate Accords. The lead diplomat of the Paris Climate Accords also credits the teaching of Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh with helping her generate consensus for the agreement — thanks to a process of listening that reflects the idea of synodality.
Exemplary people, the philosopher Linda Zagzebski argues, are foundational to moral theory. In other words, we learn morality through our admiration and emulation of extraordinary individuals — saints — in the Catholic tradition.
Certainly, our world is filled with greed, anger and violence. My colleagues at the University of Southern California and I studied the lives of 100 "spiritual exemplars" across faiths and found that religion inspires and sustains them to be counter-cultural, to go against the stream in their efforts to care for others. They show us what humanity is capable of at our best.
If moral voices are absent — if religious leaders look inward in a small tent — society is left with self-interested political leaders promoting destructive worldviews.
In addition, the American pope has a brother who embraces the MAGA narrative, which labels empathy as toxic. While Pope Leo XIV may not be “liberal,” his online criticism of the Trump administration’s treatment of migrants stands in contrast to that of his brother, who said he will “tone it down.” My own extended family remains as divided, not only in baseball, but also in religion and politics.
It's hard to know what the “Pope Leo XIV effect” may look like, but like his predecessor, he could leave a mark on the church and the world by promoting morally grounded dialogue and compassion. Pope Leo XIV already asked media professionals to “say no to the war of words.”
When Vice President J.D. Vance, whose has been chastised by two popes, gave a gift to the new pope, he avoided the Cubs-Sox rivalry in favor of symbol of unity for Chicagoans: a Chicago Bears jersey.
“Good choice,” Pope Leo XIV responded.
He then gave Vance a gift with a strong message: “Peace is a fragile flower.”
Megan Sweas is an editor at University of Southern California’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture. As a journalist, she has written about the Catholic Church and social issues for 20 years. She’s also the author of “Putting Education to Work: How Cristo Rey Schools Are Transforming Urban Education” (HarperOne, 2014).