Epilogue to POPE LEO XIV: THE FIRST AMERICAN PONTIFF by Paul Kengor, Ph.D. AN AMERICAN POSTCRIPT Though this book's title underscores that the new pope is an American pontiff, I have tried to make this biography accessible to readers worldwide. Of course, they surely expected that an American writing on the first American pope would naturally accentuate that element. And no doubt, the biggest surprise about Leo XIV was and remains that he is the first American pontiff. Still, the goal was to make this book first and foremost about the new head of the universal Roman Catholic Church. The pope is pope to the world. Nonetheless, I would like to share a few closing thoughts on some quintessentially American aspects of the new pope--some very American insights. The most famous American Catholic has been Bishop Fulton Sheen (1895-1979), rightly called by one of his biographers "America's Bishop." Sheen was widely beloved. I have written on him at length in articles and books and have been intimately close to his home parish, his museum, and his distinctly American town of Peoria, Illinois. It almost pains those of us who admire Sheen to concede that with the election of Leo XIV, Sheen no longer bears the crown of most influential American Catholic. But alas, such is now the case. Fulton John Sheen passes the torch to Robert Francis Prevost. And Sheen, who Pope John Paul II called a "loyal son of the Church," would have been happy to do so. It is interesting that both Sheen and Prevost--America's bishop and the American pontiff--come from Illinois. In my 2017 book A Pope and a President, which was about John Paul II and Ronald Reagan but had much material on Fulton Sheen, I noted the irony that the two greatest communicators of the 20th century (Reagan was dubbed "the Great Communicator") hailed from small farm towns merely miles apart in northwestern Illinois, the American Midwest, the Heartland. Add Leo to that distinction, growing up in little Dolton, Illinois. To be sure, Leo does not have Sheen's communications skills (no one does), but he will have a platform far larger than Bishop Sheen ever had. Sheen was incredibly influential on radio and television, but his microphone pales to the megaphone that Leo XIV now possesses. Hopefully, the American pope shall use it well. Here it should be noted that Leo XIV a few weeks after his installation told a young newly married couple in Rome that Fulton Sheen "had an influence" on him, and that he grew up watching Sheen on television. That young couple, Kristen and Austin Savage, first met at a Sheen-themed event at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Peoria, the very parish where Sheen had been ordained a priest and that today holds his remains. Kristen and Austin asked the new Holy Father and fellow Illinois native to consider picking up Sheen's cause for canonization that was so oddly and suddenly dropped during the Francis years. "Venerable Fulton Sheen played a major role in our relationship," said Kristen. "And during our marriage preparation, we always asked for his intercession. So he's always been someone who we wanted to see canonized." And thus, "when I saw the Holy Father, I said, 'We'd really like to see his canonization'--and what better person to plead our cause to than the Holy Father himself?" What was Pope Leo's response? "The Holy Father did specifically say he would remember what we said," said Kristen. "So that definitely did give us hope for Fulton Sheen's canonization. Maybe we will see it during Pope Leo's pontificate." Maybe so. The Sheen period represented a golden era of American Catholicism. It reminds of a remarkable statement by another influential American bishop, John Lancaster Spalding (1840-1916). A cofounder of the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, Spalding was the first bishop of Peoria (1877-1908), where he encountered a precocious altar boy named Fulton Sheen. There at that same St. Mary's Cathedral in Peoria, Spalding stunned the boy with a prophetic prediction forecasting big things ahead for him. The eight-year-old altar boy was shaken up after dropping a wine cruet on the floor, which loudly shattered. Rather than scold or further embarrass the child, Bishop Spalding pulled him aside after Mass and predicted that he would one day study at the esteemed Louvain University in Belgium (as Spalding had) and that the boy would one day become a bishop: "someday you will be just as I am." That was quite the prophecy. But beyond the person of Fulton Sheen, Bishop Spalding also predicted big things for the future of American Catholicism. In 1880, Spalding had forecast: "there are many reasons for thinking that no other religion is so sure of a future here [in America] as the Catholic." That Spalding prediction might at long last be consummated in this election of the first American pontiff. Perhaps. Of course, that depends on what type of pontiff Leo XIV turns out to be. Some on the traditional side might hope that this extraordinary surprise of an American pontiff is a gift to the American Church for its suffering under Francis. Traditional Catholics had been so strong, flourishing, and faithful, and yet Francis targeted them. Could the election of Prevost turn out to be a reward for their suffering? Truly only the Lord knows. Overall, the tone of this biography has been hopeful, but the author most certainly has no idea how the pontificate of Leo XIV will turn out. Personally, I was very positive about the Francis papacy in its opening months and years and spent the vast majority of his pontificate defending him and not criticizing him in public. Even when I finally decided and agreed (with Cardinal Pell) that his papacy had been a catastrophe, I bit my tongue until after he passed out of respect for the position of the papacy. Will my same positive feelings about Leo be dashed as they were under Francis? That remains to be seen. Overall, however, Francis surely was an anomaly. Most popes were not like Francis. Most popes bring order and stability, not chaos and confusion. Most pontiffs do not desire to make a mess of things. Returning to my point: Will Americans find this new American moment with the American pontiff to be a grand one for them and the Church in their country? Will it bring another Sheen-like golden era? Will they witness the realization of Bishop Spalding's prophetic vision? Let us hope and pray so. And of course, those Americans must pray not only for the American Catholic Church but for the worldwide universal Roman Catholic Church. The pope--Leo XIV, American--is pontiff and shepherd to us all. Excerpted from American Pontiff: Pope Leo XIV and His Plan to Heal the Church by Paul Kengor All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
