Praying for Pope Leo XIV

JM Kraemer
May 13
2 min read

On May 8th of 2025. The world watched in amazement as the Catholic faith welcomed a new Pope. With this news the internet went into a frenzy. Mostly with surprise given where Pope Leo XIV is from. In this case Chicago. The first Pope born in the United States.

No matter where you stand as it comes to elements of religion. It cannot be denied that The Pope, for good or for ill, has a history of being a lightening rod for all kinds of things. Some will celebrate him as a man of deep faith. Others will go after him on every front because he does not fit into the narrow minded view that they have. Some will even go out of their way to trash and attack him just because they feel The Pope does not follow their version of Christ, and by extension, their brand of Christianity.

If anything some, based on who he is, has already made broad assumptions and presume to know how he will serve the church. With each passing day the judgement will only get worse and will probably not get better. If anything while people will be saying a lot of things. They will not be talking about the most important aspect of the Catholic faith. In fact it is doubtful that many of those making comments will even come close to suggesting it.

It is our responsibility as Catholics to pray for Pope Leo. No matter who he was before. We have seen time and again the amazing gift of the Holy Spirit and the ability to transform the lives before us. Even in the Bible the conversion of St. Paul in Acts 9 shows us what God can do. So while some may make assumptions on who Pope Leo will be. That is not really fair at this moment of time.

Pope Leo XIV has the chance to be a great leader. He has this chance to be the shepherd our church needs at this critical time. We cannot allow ourselves to speculate or presume to know how things will play out.

Praying for the Holy Father is extremely important in the coming days and years. That is what we should be spending our time doing. May the Holy Spirit guide Pope Leo XIV. May the Lord help our Pope to the shepherd that we need. -JM