Pope Leo XIV

The decision by Cardinal Prevost to take the name ‘Leo XIV’ draws our attention to the striking parallels between Continental Europe (c. 1875) and Planet Earth (c. 2025). As it  was then, so it is now, the future of the Church, and the World, seems to hang in the  balance. 

Leo XIII (1878) faced the scourge of communism and the inhumane socio-economic  conditions that led to its rise. Like his eponymous predecessor, Leo XIV must also juggle a  dual mandate. He must confront the ideology of militant secularism rampant in the world  today and even more importantly, he must shift the intellectual paradigm that breeds many  of our contemporary ‘ism’s’: economic materialism, philosophical nihilism, radical  skepticism, de facto solipsism, political anarchism, and scientific pragmatism. 

It is said that the teachings of the Church never change…and on important matters of  doctrine, that is true. 17 centuries later we are still rooted in Nicaea (325 CE) which in turn  is rooted in the Scripture and Tradition of the early Church. 

That said, these never changing doctrines of Roman Catholicism need to be updated continuously to reflect the idiom of the day. 4th century formulae, which express something  that is forever true, struggle to be inspiring, or even understood, in our scientific age. 

There is no shame in this. The Greek Bible had to be translated into Latin and then into  hundreds of languages worldwide. The essential content remains unchanged, hopefully,  but without ongoing linguistic updates, it risks becoming a litany of rote incantations. Leo  XIV is uniquely called, and uniquely qualified, to update the idiom…not from Latin to  English, Spanish, or Italian…but from linear to non-linear models of reality. 

Pope Sylvester II (c.1000 CE) was widely considered to be the preeminent scientist and  mathematician of his day. How many other second millennium popes could have made  the same claim? Now, Leo XIV, armed with a degree in Mathematics from Villanova, is  positioned to reclaim the Sylvesterian tradition. The intellectual foundations of our  civilization need to undergo a radical reformulation and Christianity, with its unique Gospel  message, is well positioned to lead that process. 

It all begins, you guessed it, with mathematics. Most of us, dear readers, were raised on  arithmetic, linear algebra, Euclidean geometry…and calculus, i.e. the reduction of non linear phenomena to linear algorithms. These ‘hacks’ have taken us to the Moon and back, but they are still just hacks; they tell us nothing about the real structure of the world.

That’s a problem…a big problem! We have come to regard the flat map (math) as if it were the territory (world) and so we have come to believe, once again, that the world too is flat.  We are like ancient mariners, staring at our charts and expecting to sail off the edge. We  need a new Galileo to say, “It’s round!” 

If Leo XIV is to be the new Sylvester, the new Galileo, who are we then in this mock drama?  We are the Inquisitors of course. We are the defenders of all things flat. We are happy to  ignore all empirical evidence in order to defend our linear presuppositions.  

As children of the Enlightenment we are mesmerized by cause and effect: A → B, a straight  line (actually a vector). But in nature, nothing is flat, no lines are straight, and no space is  strictly Platonic. Even more alarming for every A and B in the real world, A ↔ B and A ↔ A.  

All process is reciprocal and recursive. The linear is an abstraction, a degenerate case of  the non-linear, useful for calculation, useless for any deeper understanding. 

Christian cosmology is non-linear at its core. Just a few examples: 

➢ The creator of ‘heaven and earth and all things visible and invisible’ is incarnate as one quantum (Jesus of Nazareth) in that sea of beings. 

➢ The author of eternal life and the savior of the world was executed for treason and  blasphemy by political and religious opponents. 

➢ “Love your neighbor as (not like) yourself.” (Mt. 22: 40) 

➢ “Take and eat; this is my body…this is my blood.” (Mt. 26: 26 - 30) 

➢ “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in them.” (Jn: 6:  56) 

➢ “Blessed are the merciful for they will obtain mercy.” (Mt. 5: 7) 

➢ “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” (Mt. 6: 12) ➢ “I am in my father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” (John 14: 20) 

In fact, non-linearity permeates the Bible and the Liturgy of the Church but these citations  should be enough to convince you that Christianity cannot be understood or fully  appreciated from a purely linear mindset…and for 500 years we have trained ourselves  only to think in straight lines. 

When we were kids (before Vatican II), it was commonplace to criticize the church for its  reliance on Latin. “How is anyone supposed to understand this stuff?” Little did we realize,  Latin was not the problem; linearity was. How is anyone with a linear mindset supposed to  understand a non-linear universe? 

From this perspective, the current state of the Church should surprise no one. We are  witnessing the final stages of Christendom’s 500 year fall from a universal ideology to a  quirky artefact of intellectual history. “The wonder is, (it) has endured so long!” (King Lear) 

Fortunately, there are indications from his initial papal greeting that our new Peter  understands the problem: 

“Even today, there are many settings in which the Christian faith is considered absurd,  meant for the weak and unintelligent. Settings where other securities are preferred, like  technology, money, success, power, or pleasure.” – Leo XIV 

Your mission, Leo, should you choose to accept it, is to fix it! Buena Fortuna! God speed  you on your way. 

Image: Caravaggio’s The Calling of Saint Matthew (Vocazione di San Matteo), painted between 1599 and 1600 in oil on canvas, measures 322 by 340 centimeters and is housed in the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome.