Are All the Answers in the Bible? Does Your Pastor Know All the Answers? Here's a Pope Who Doesn't

[Fantine]

Looking for inspiration before evening prayer?
I am. I called my friend in California whose daughter had a dissected aorta last Mother's Day and only survived three days after surgery. She didn't answer the phone, and I left a message: "I'm thinking of you. I love you. I loved _________. I'm here for you if you need me." So inadequate....

But that's faith. Reaching out to comfort someone when only God can give her the peace she needs--and it might not come in this lifetime.

And then I read this quote from Pope Leo. While he admits he doesn't have the answers, he certainly is a shepherd worth following.
*Quote from Pope Leo X1V.*
" Brothers, sisters…
I speak to you, especially to those who no longer believe, no longer hope, no longer pray, because they think God has left.
To those who are fed up with scandals, with misused power, with the silence of a Church that sometimes seems more like a palace than a home.
I, too, was angry with God.
I, too, saw good people die, children suffer, grandparents cry without medicine.
And yes… there were days when I prayed and only felt an echo.
But then I discovered something:
God doesn't shout. God whispers.
And sometimes He whispers from the mud, from pain, from a grandmother who feeds you without having anything.
I don't come to offer you perfect faith.
I come to tell you that faith is a walk with stones, puddles, and unexpected hugs.
I'm not asking you to believe in everything.
I'm asking you not to close the door. Give a chance to the God who waits for you without judgment.
I'm just a priest who saw God in the smile of a woman who lost her son... and yet she cooked for others.
That changed me.
So if you're broken, if you don't believe, if you're tired of the lies...
come anyway. With your anger, your doubt, your dirty backpack.
No one here will ask you for a VIP card.
Because this Church, as long as I breathe, will be a home for the homeless, and a rest for the weary.
God doesn't need soldiers.
He needs brothers.
And you, yes, you...
are one of them."
Robert Prevost (Leo XIV)

Read a book once called "Messy Spirituality," and this is a prime example. Looking for your feedback.

 

[d taylor]

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Popes are just another political figurehead in the world of politics

 

[Meowzltov]

Looking for inspiration before evening prayer?
I am. I called my friend in California whose daughter had a dissected aorta last Mother's Day and only survived three days after surgery. She didn't answer the phone, and I left a message: "I'm thinking of you. I love you. I loved _________. I'm here for you if you need me." So inadequate....

But that's faith. Reaching out to comfort someone when only God can give her the peace she needs--and it might not come in this lifetime.

And then I read this quote from Pope Leo. While he admits he doesn't have the answers, he certainly is a shepherd worth following.
*Quote from Pope Leo X1V.*
" Brothers, sisters…
I speak to you, especially to those who no longer believe, no longer hope, no longer pray, because they think God has left.
To those who are fed up with scandals, with misused power, with the silence of a Church that sometimes seems more like a palace than a home.
I, too, was angry with God.
I, too, saw good people die, children suffer, grandparents cry without medicine.
And yes… there were days when I prayed and only felt an echo.
But then I discovered something:
God doesn't shout. God whispers.
And sometimes He whispers from the mud, from pain, from a grandmother who feeds you without having anything.
I don't come to offer you perfect faith.
I come to tell you that faith is a walk with stones, puddles, and unexpected hugs.
I'm not asking you to believe in everything.
I'm asking you not to close the door. Give a chance to the God who waits for you without judgment.
I'm just a priest who saw God in the smile of a woman who lost her son... and yet she cooked for others.
That changed me.
So if you're broken, if you don't believe, if you're tired of the lies...
come anyway. With your anger, your doubt, your dirty backpack.
No one here will ask you for a VIP card.
Because this Church, as long as I breathe, will be a home for the homeless, and a rest for the weary.
God doesn't need soldiers.
He needs brothers.
And you, yes, you...
are one of them."
Robert Prevost (Leo XIV)

Read a book once called "Messy Spirituality," and this is a prime example. Looking for your feedback.

This is exactly the sort of humility and realness I admire in true spiritual leaders. I'm not Catholic. I'm not even Christian. But I have to say, I think they chose a good one.

 

[Meowzltov]

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Popes are just another political figurehead in the world of politics

Political figures rule via military might. Pope Leo has no authority other than the moral authority given to him by those who admire his character. There was a time in history that Popes were political leaders with armies. But that stopped quite a while ago.

 

[d taylor]

Political figures rule via military might. Pope Leo has no authority other than the moral authority given to him by those who admire his character. There was a time in history that Popes were political leaders with armies. But that stopped quite a while ago.

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Popes are elected

 

[RDKirk]

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Popes are elected

But do they run?

 

[d taylor]

But do they run?

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Unlike any other religious leader around the world, the leader of the world's one billion Catholics is also the leader of a sovereign nation. And Pope Francis hasn't been shy about using that political power.
Rest at the link: https://www.npr.org/2025/03/02/1235522645/the-political-power-of-the-pope

 

[BCP1928]

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Unlike any other religious leader around the world, the leader of the world's one billion Catholics is also the leader of a sovereign nation. And Pope Francis hasn't been shy about using that political power.
Rest at the link: https://www.npr.org/2025/03/02/1235522645/the-political-power-of-the-pope

You forgot about the Anglicans--the head of the church is is the English monarch. I don't know if that helps whatever point you are trying to make or not.

 

[Fantine]

But do they run?

The cardinal electors put their ballots in the box one by one, announcing their choice. When Pope Leo learned the vote was turning towards him, he put his head in his hands.
In his speech to the Cardinals, he accepted it as "carrying this cross."
A reluctant acceptance bowing to God's will because the world needs his witness of servant leadership--a fitting successor to Pope Francis.

 

[d taylor]

You forgot about the Anglicans--the head of the church is is the English monarch. I don't know if that helps whatever point you are trying to make or not.

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This thread is not about Anglicans, so why bring them up.

 

[Desk trauma]

But do they run?

They have usually aged out of that kind of physical activity by the time they are picked.

 

[Fantine]

They have usually aged out of that kind of physical activity by the time they are picked.

This one is 69. I saw a picture of him in Peru, riding a donkey, surrounded by little children.
Missionaries are no slouches.
No red shoes for him--we might even see Nikes beneath his white robe.

 

[Meowzltov]

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Popes are elected

But not always listened to, and not always followed, not today at least. For example, most American Catholics use contraceptives. Now, if the Cardinals had elected someone TODAY like Borgia, do you think for one moment that Catholics would give his admonitions the time of day?

 

[BCP1928]

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This thread is not about Anglicans, so why bring them up.

You said the Pope is the only religious leader in the world who is also head of a sovereign state. I pointed out that King Charles III is also a religious leader who is head of a sovereign state. It's a minor error I admit, but since I can't tell where your argument is going I didn't know whether it was important or not.

 

[Fantine]

But not always listened to, and not always followed, not today at least. For example, most American Catholics use contraceptives. Now, if the Cardinals had elected someone TODAY like Borgia, do you think for one moment that Catholics would give his admonitions the time of day?

The holiness Pope Francis was challenging us to was so much more difficult than "contraceptives." Americans take comfort in thinking they can just oppose contraception and gay marriage and be holy.
Our new Pope, the man on the donkey surrounded by children, the man who wears beat up black shoes and continues to live in modest quarters outside the Vatican--will be offering the same challenge.

 

[Aryeh Jay]

Strange, I couldn't find any reference to round vs flat earth in the opening post. Oh, wait, Pope's and Catholic Church, that explains it.

 

[d taylor]

You said the Pope is the only religious leader in the world who is also head of a sovereign state. I pointed out that King Charles III is also a religious leader who is head of a sovereign state. It's a minor error I admit, but since I can't tell where your argument is going I didn't know whether it was important or not.

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I did not write that, it is the opening sentence to the article i linked to.

 

[d taylor]

But not always listened to, and not always followed, not today at least. For example, most American Catholics use contraceptives. Now, if the Cardinals had elected someone TODAY like Borgia, do you think for one moment that Catholics would give his admonitions the time of day?

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To be followed and listen to by everyone is not a requirement to be a political leader. All required is to make social issues part of their agenda.

https://www.npr.org/2025/05/09/nx-s1-5393705/pope-leo-stance-issues-lgtbq-climate-women-politics

 

[David Lamb]

You said the Pope is the only religious leader in the world who is also head of a sovereign state. I pointed out that King Charles III is also a religious leader who is head of a sovereign state. It's a minor error I admit, but since I can't tell where your argument is going I didn't know whether it was important or not.

But you cannot rightly compare King Charles III in his role as titular head of the Church of England, with the Pope who is the actual head of the Roman Catholic church. The Church of England is governed by a Synod, Yes, the king does, under advice, approve the appointment of higher-ranking bishops, but that is all. He has no role in deciding on doctrine, worship, and other spiritual matters.

 

[d taylor]

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If this Pope or any other Pope believed God and loved their fellow Catholics.

They would stop the political involvement and focus on properly instructing his church on how to receive God's free gift of Eternal Life, by belief in Jesus.