When the new Pope Leo XIV gave his first public address from the Vatican, he spoke in Italian and Spanish, and he asked for unity and peace on earth.
Predictably, commentators on right-wing media, like Fox News and Newsmax, were outraged. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum said, “I don’t know how you claim this is an American Pope if he won’t even speak in his native tongue. That to me is very disturbing.”
I agree. Shame on the Pope! If English was good enough for Jesus, it should be good enough for the Pope! For those who don’t get I’m being sarcastic, Jesus likely spoke Aramaic.
Bob Chimis, Elmwood Park
Family affair
Having read some of the remarks attributed to Louis Prevost, Pope Leo XIV’s older brother, I can only conclude the new pope was raised in an all-too-human American family, and therefore is not some AI hologram.
Kevin Kann Libertyville
SEND LETTERS TO: letters@suntimes.com. To be considered for publication, letters must include your full name, your neighborhood or hometown and a phone number for verification purposes. Letters should be a maximum of approximately 375 words.
Bible buddies?
With the election of the new pope, I have wondered if my mom was possibly a classmate and Bible “study buddy” with him when they both attended the Catholic Theological Union in the 1980s.
The new pope began his studies there in Hyde Park in the late 1970s and graduated in 1982. My mom began in 1980 and graduated with a master’s in theology in 1985.
The school did not have a large enrollment — possibly 100 or 150 students, and it had a collaborative learning environment with students mixing together for seminars and projects.
So it’s very possible, I think, that my mom and the new pope may well have had some interactions.
CTU study groups often met at Hyde Park’s Medici restaurant after classes — so it’s fun to think that maybe my mom and the new pope were there, sharing some religious perspective or having a laugh.
My mom loved her time at CTU. The teachers and students were so welcoming to this almost 60-year-old grandma. She fit right in with the university’s focus on inter-faith, human rights and social justice.
It just made me smile to think of the new pope as a young man starting his religious career — and this Irish grandma, my mom, in her senior years, enjoying their religious studies and their hopes to help people and further moral activism.
Mary Jo Przygoda, Gurnee
Trump bumped down
Hail, Mary, full of grace, Donald Trump is in second place.
Craig Barner, Lincoln Square
Saving up for more felony days
What a conundrum for President Donald Trump: What to do with all the money that the Department of Government Efficiency is saving? I know! Let’s spend it on lawyers.
Alan Stoeck, Tinley Park