And so with the election of Pope Leo XIV closes a historic chapter, and opens another. The eyes of the world have been more or less glued to Rome since the death of Pope Francis, a fascination that reached its peak yesterday evening as the first American in history, Robert Prevost, stepped out onto the loggia to declare “peace be with you all”.
A whirlwind couple of weeks, especially for Catholics, but now that Pope Leo has taken to the throne, the tempo is slowing and offering some opportunity for reflection and analysis. And that is certainly required, because regardless of whether or not one adheres to the Church, that its leadership has global implications cannot be denied. There are some 1.4 billion Catholics spread across the globe, at every level of (almost) every society. The leader of such an organisation would naturally, then, have some serious sway.
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