In two weeks, while I am at the annual meeting of the International Catholic Legislators Network, I expect to have the opportunity to meet Pope Leo XIV.
I’m obviously looking forward to it, but I’ve also been turning over some unusual questions ahead of the chance to meet a hometown pope.
Can I give the world’s most famous Sox fan a Cubs hat and see if he will wear it? Should I ask for his autograph on the program from the Chicago Archdiocese’s celebration of his papacy? Should I give him a bottle of Catholic-themed beer brewed by a friend of mine?
Should I ask if he is a Pillar reader (in a good way) and, if so, does he agree with my take on the portrayal of the Penguin in the Blues Brothers movie?
These obviously aren’t the questions I was contemplating before I met Pope Francis ten years ago.
Back then, I was worried whether I was supposed to genuflect and kiss the ring or shake hands, and wondering if I’d be able to engage at all through a translator.
So why do I feel like I can be so free-wheeling approaching Leo? Am I guilty of not paying the new pope proper reverence? Would the Penguin hit me with her ruler if I did any of these things?
To some extent, I think, the temptation to assume familiarity is inevitable. But at what point does it become disrespectful?
Obviously, any conversation would be made much, much easier because his native tongue is English — American English with a Chicago accent at that. It is still jarring when I see a pope open his mouth to speak and hear my language and accent come out of his mouth.
Even more than this, as I wrote a week after Leo’s selection, my first impressions made me feel that not only is he a Chicagoan, but he is “my kind of commonsense Chicagoan.” This has only been reinforced by his actions in the past three months. Chanting “White Sox” with a group of students. Wearing a ballcap. Signing a baseball. Catching a plush doll as only someone who played baseball could.
Those of us who grew up in working-class Chicago neighborhoods are generally laid-back, informal people. Pope Leo seems like a normal guy I could meet down the street and strike up a conversation.
But what does reverence for a pope require?
As I have gotten older, I have increasingly understood the importance of appearance and formalities. They are outward expressions that remind us and others around us of what and who we owe respect to.