FRIDAY marks the anniversary of Robert Prevost’s election as Pope Leo XIV.

It was a truly remarkable event in the life of the Catholic Church.

For the first time, cardinal-electors chose a man who was born in the United States, arguably the world’s last remaining superpower (though for how long is anyone’s guess).

Although Donald Trump claims Prevost owes his position to his presence in the White House, he was perhaps the least of the cardinals’ concerns when they placed their ballots in front of the high altar in the Sistine Chapel.

The Italians have a saying that conclaves always follow ‘a fat pope with a skinny one’. It sounds better in Italian: ‘Fate sempre seguire un papa grasso a uno magro’.

The classic example is the election of the jolly John XXIII after the acerbic pontificate of Pius XII - the man dubbed Hitler’s Pope, rightly or wrongly, for his caution during the Second World War.

Papa grasso/papa magro is a metaphor for the Catholic Church’s ability to duck and dive as it negotiates an increasingly hostile world.

It allows what is very much a broad church to shift priorities, adjust doctrinal emphases, and effect change while giving the appearance that everything remains the same.

That was perhaps most dramatically seen with the election of Jose Borgoglio. Outspoken and progressive, Francis was the antithesis of his........

© The Irish News