Someone's Got to be the Pope, Part 2

Whom is God calling to lead the 1.2 billion Roman Catholics? As the 115 eligible Cardinals get set to enter their conclave the world has set about trying to guess the answer to that question.  I wonder if God is listening. There are 115 men (of the 208 Cardinals in the world) who stand before God and the world eligible to lead a denomination which represents about one-half of all Christians. All of the candidates are men under 80 years old.  In a few days one of them will be have the most bully of pulpits in the world.

The concept of “call” goes back to at least Abram in Genesis.  God called Abram and his family to go where God would show them.  Abram didn’t choose God’s mission for Abram. God chose Abram for God’s mission. That distinction makes all the difference. The problem is that we, today, do not hear God quite so clearly.  I don’t think the problem is that God has stopped speaking; in fact I know that God continues to communicate with God’s created ones.  But, it certainly seems that we have done our best to remove the mystery from the concept of a religious calling.  If you read the news articles which have led up to the conclave you would have a hard time knowing that God is anywhere in the process at all.  Secular writers weigh the political factors of geography, population, language, even posture.  There seems to be a good deal of concern that the next pope have an upright posture and a nice smile, while being able to relate directly to the 67% of the denomination which resides in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Hence the popularity of one Cardinal who is fluent in 6 languages. Peggy Noonan writes that the next pope should be a man “who can greet the world with a look of pleasure on his face….” Rather than moving ahead in a “bent posture”, as if bearing the weight of the world, the next pope should be “joyous anyway.” (WSJ 3.9.13).

The process of discerning God’s call upon any leader has the potential of turning into the equivalent of a political campaign.  Whether the “search team” is a mixture of congregation members or the appointed Cardinals, the risk is that those doing the selecting vote with a specific idea of the type of person they seek for the office to be filled.  The problem with that approach is that it seems to leave so little room for the Holy Spirit to work.  From what I can tell, God always saves his most exciting work for the men and woman who seem least qualified for the job.  Read the stories of the boy David and the prostitute Rahab to get a flavor for my point.  God doesn’t choose based on the criteria humans use. So, I hope to be utterly amazed at God’s choice for the next pope.  It matters to the world. It matters to God. Pray with me that God’s vote counts most.