Dear CHRISTINE, first, but all other friends as well,                 Pope in white Sox 

we now have a Chicago-born Pope who is a Sox fan! He also has impressive credentials as a defender not only of the working class but of the poorest of the poor, he has spent decades in some of the most impoverished areas of Peru. In taking his name Leo XIV he announced his descendance from Leo XIII whose encyclical, Rerum Novarum, 1891, for the first time recognized the working-class as specifically under the concern and the care of the church.

Rerum Novarum is not a revolutionary manifesto. It enshrines private property and recognizes the capitalists along with the workers. But it also recognizes the workers along with the capitalists, it makes an absolute claim for the workers, for their labour, for their good, for their human dignity. You cannot expect the Pope to proclaim communism. Under the circumstances Rerum Novarum is pretty good.  

Leo 14 adds decades in the poorest provinces of Peru, among the poorest people. I don’t know of any other pope who has lived anything like this.  

But Catholicism is never simple, and largely because it refuses, and in principle, to eliminate ambiguity. (Protestantism is for another time.) Yes, it refuses to eliminate ambiguity, and yet there are limits. Leo xiv, unfortunately, is going to come up against these in his defense of the working class, the poorest of the poor.

Another ambiguity may work better in his favor, as it did not for Francis. LGTQ+ rights. I have no idea as to what Francis’ own feelings were about this, but he seems to have  wanted to protect the LGBTQ+ community as much as he could. But how much can the Pope protect a community that is condemned by the entire doctrine of his [sic] church?

Leo 10+4 seems to be far more “traditional” in his views on the LGBTQ+ community, and especially on transgender rights. Right now, it seems that he will deny most positive support. Yes, universal human dignity is one of his big (Augustinian) things. But …

So here’s something where old commies like me may differ from our liberal, and dear, friends. How could you possibly expect a Pope, a Pope, to come out with a broad statement favoring women’s reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, same-sex marriage, transgender rights?

We’re going to see the same thing with Leo 15-1 when it comes to the working-class and the poor. He will not be able to advance an adequate policy. He will try to advocate for workers and for the poor.

Don’t expect much from Popes, be generous when they can offer anything.

For me, though, the great thing is that my friend Christine, good Chicago working-class girl, diehard Sox fan born catholic,  now has a Chicago-born, White Sox, aka working-class, Pope, even though Popes aren’t really her thing.

Love and solidarity,

            Bobby