The second the white smoke appeared above the Sistine Chapel, I instantly turned on my tv, as a result of I wished to see who the brand new pope could be, after which hopped on social media, as a result of I knew that the web may inform me extra concerning the new pope quicker than tv may. That, and the memes could be good.
The memes got here first, naturally, flying in tougher and quicker than they ever did with Pope Francis, as a result of the brand new pope was American. Not simply that — Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, was from Chicago, with a bio stuffed with cultural touchstones that the American meme financial system grasped instantly: Did the pope ever drink Malort? Was the pope a Cubs or a Sox fan? Was God going to intercede on behalf of the Knicks within the NBA playoffs as a result of the pope graduated from Villanova? The subsequent wave of data was, I’d suspected, going to be information and articles about his upbringing, pastoral historical past and spiritual stances — issues that may inform the world what kind of chief this new pope could be.
After which somebody I adopted posted a screenshot from an X account with the deal with @drprevost: three retweets, over the previous three months, that linked to articles harshly criticizing Donald Trump’s immigration coverage. True, they weren’t phrases straight from then-Cardinal Prevost himself, however they had been indicators of life and intent nonetheless: a short, unguarded second, a marker that he was lively and engaged, that spoke volumes concerning the new pope’s innermost ideas. I assume he didn’t have time to wipe his socials, I assumed first, figuring out {that a} big MAGA political backlash was on the horizon. The pope solely has an hour — if that — between being chosen and revealing himself to the world. Undoubtedly not sufficient time to verify his timelines are clear.
After which I paused. Wait. Why am I fascinated about the POPE cleansing up his timelines?
I’m not a Catholic, and didn’t develop up one. The perfect description of my spiritual affiliation might be “lapsed Buddhist.” However I’ve all the time been intrigued by the Catholic Church as an establishment: its deep historical past, its huge theology, its creative affect and societal dominance, the inner politics and exterior diplomacy of the fashionable Vatican. I typically joke that I deal with and exoticize Catholicism the identical manner that white males exoticize Japan, however my fascination itself is honest: I’m astonished that in some way, the Vatican has maintained its mysticism within the trendy period — an earthly waypoint between the bodily and the divine.
Which is why I nonetheless have a tough time wrapping my head round the truth that lower than two hours into his papacy, I discovered extra concerning the pope by way of his digital footprint than I did by way of the data filtered by way of Vatican press releases or interviews along with his family and friends.
I discovered from his retweets (and the discourse across the retweets) that he supported gun management laws and Syrian refugees, opposed the repeal of DACA, condemned the 2017 bloodbath at Charlottesville, and referred to as on Trump to help local weather change laws. I discovered that he’d written a book on religious statistics (accessible on JSTOR). I discovered from one submit that he’d been a registered Republican, solely to be taught moments later that Illinois doesn’t have partisan voter registration. (The Washington Free Beacon experiences that Leo XIV has previously voted in Republican primaries.) I wouldn’t have been stunned if somebody posted a screenshot of the pope’s Venmo transactions.
After which I got here throughout one thing extra intimate: Pope Leo XIV’s private Fb profile.
I didn’t even must go digging for it. A good friend of mine who’d attended an Augustinian highschool despatched it to me, as a result of it was apparently going viral amongst individuals who’d attended Augustinian academic establishments, as a result of everybody who ever went to an Augustinian faculty in the USA in some way is aware of somebody who is aware of him. Robert Prevost’s account is at present set to personal — wild, as a result of 68-year-olds hardly ever set their Fb accounts to personal by default — however there may be one public picture accessible: the long run Pope Leo XIV, carrying aviators and a black windbreaker, atop a pony. That’s a meme proper there, thought my horrible, earthly, secular thoughts.
With out fascinated about it, I copied the hyperlink and practically despatched it to a bunch chat, earlier than catching myself in disgust. Viral or not, this was the personal account of a person who’d had a point of a personal life when he bought off the bed this morning, and clearly had not anticipated being elected pope. Anybody who harbored the ambition of changing into the non secular chief of 1.4 billion individuals worldwide would, at a minimal, in all probability ensure his socials had been safe — that his 172 Fb mates had been masked from the remainder of the world, or that his retweets from 2017 wouldn’t set off a diplomatic firestorm from an impulsive president or a spiteful vp — earlier than he surrendered his digital gadgets on the conclave.
I don’t assume I might have paused to ship that social media profile if it had belonged to anyone else: a politician, a star, a coworker whom I didn’t know nicely, a blind date who wanted vetting. And there’s a powerful argument to be made that mining any public determine’s digital exercise is truthful sport, notably in the event that they’re political leaders held to a point of accountability. Venmo requests are sufficient to tank congressmen’s careers. Outdated tweets can land somebody in sizzling water within the current day. Discovering a former Fox Information anchor’s telephone quantity linked to a public Google Evaluations account can point out an enormous nationwide safety disaster.
The second you attempt to apply that customary to the freaking pope, although, the logic simply grinds to a halt — not as a result of a world chief shouldn’t be held to this customary, however as a result of it’s completely baffling that one may even mine the socials of the Vicar of Christ. The truth is, it’s baffling to assume {that a} spiritual determine may be subjected to scrutiny of their web historical past, or that they possess one thing as anodyne as a digital footprint — notably somebody inheriting a job that supposedly dates again to the time of Jesus and was established by Saint Peter the Apostle, whose predecessors are historical saints and medieval rulers, and who claims the title of God’s consultant on Earth, in response to the 1.4 billion members of the church he leads.
Possibly obsessing over the pope’s retweets is a uniquely secular, American solution to assess an American pope — not by way of his management of the Order of Saint Augustine or his ministerial work in Peru, however by way of his voting document, sports activities loyalty, or whether or not he’s retweeted imply issues concerning the President. (We are a really tribalist nation that solely thinks about issues by way of the lens of being American.) We at the moment are collectively engaged in mining the metadata of Pope Leo XIV’s former life for clues as to the course of his papacy simply as a lot as we try to divine which means from his alternative of regnal identify and the 13 Leos that got here earlier than him. Frivolous or not, the digital historical past of a spiritual determine is now a factor that exists.