THE SATYAGRAHA POPE
Leo XIV has a message of nonviolence for the world
Humanitarians, progressives and Christians who are truly interested in the teachings of Christ are jubilant over the choice of Robert Prevost as Pope. At a moment when American public policy reflects a moral abyss - inverting every injunction to heal the sick, feed the hungry, and help the poor into its opposite- the first American Pope stands as a reminder of the American soul we seem to have misplaced.
I don’t know if any of the Cardinals who voted for Prevost were consciously sticking it to Trump and Musk by doing so. They say not, but they knew what they were doing either consciously or unconsciously. We need a moral counterforce to rising authoritarianism in the world today, particularly given that the United States has joined its ranks. Whatever the Pope says, the world will hear. And Pope Leo XIV, we can tell already, will be saying quite a lot.
Many have noted the holiness of Leo’s visage and I agree. But I see something else there too. There’s a mischievous twinkle in those newly anointed eyes, as though he knows some things and he’s about to say them. I’m not Catholic but I believe in divinely inspired decisions. You don’t have to be Catholic to get the feeling God had His hand in this one.
Some have argued that people are making way too big a deal about Leo’s election. Not everyone likes certain things he’s said and done, after all, and the Pope has no actual political power on the world stage. But anyone who influences over a billion people with every word he says is inherently relevant. He who touches the heart holds the greatest lever of power, and it’s the only power that can possibly save the world in time. In his first homily, Pope Leo called for the Catholic priesthood to show humility. That’s a big deal, because the meek after all will inherit the earth. Their strength will take the place over.
Leo expresses a spiritual wisdom that is universal, harkening to Truths that speak to people of all faiths and to no faith. He doesn’t talk b.s. He talks about Love. Promising to further the tradition of Pope Francis, while the world speaks of war he speaks of peace. In a world obsessed with billionaires, he points to the least of these. While some are trying to colonize space, he will speak of saving the earth. As he said in his first appearance as Pope, “Evil will not win.”
Gandhi had a word for that: Satyagraha. Satyagraha means insistence on the truth of the heart even when challenged by the lies of the world, such insistence a form of nonviolent resistance to all systems of oppression. We can hold to what we know in our hearts regardless what devilish propaganda declares that cruelty is okay, or idolatry patriotic. Satyagraha, or soulforce, is the secret source of nonviolent revolution. It changes the world because it changes us.
Pope Francis had satyagraha. Abraham Lincoln had satyagraha. Martin Luther King, Jr. had satyagraha. The world’s greatest people have had and have it. They are those who refuse to forget the truth in our hearts, who refuse to look away from human suffering or ignore the call for love that goes out from every soul.
In the days ahead, the world will indeed be blessed if we have another satyagraha Pope. Many people, not just Catholics, could feel something powerful in the air when Robert Prevost was elected last week. May God work through him and stand beside him, as he so obviously stands with us.
This is a very hopeful time. I like the observations about the new pope that you shared. And speaking of SATYAGRAHE - you've got that, too, Marianne! :)
Perhaps this Pope is part of our “New World” that’s being born … while the old … hate-filled world … is dying … and in four years we’ll hopefully have a new President of the United States … that places the wellbeing of All People … ahead of Corporate Profits !!!