The Hope of a Pope: When One Person Captures All Our Hopes and Fears
For a moment President Trump wasn't the only American getting the media's attention
President Trump’s ability to hold a news cycle is a super power — but it was undone, if only briefly, by a cloud of white smoke last Thursday.
The announcement of a new Pope — the first American, no less — seemed to break four months of rapt media attention to President Trump’s actions. The new Pope, by virtue of being an American, a relative unknown and someone with a unique past, grabbed the news cycle’s attention.
Just as with Trump, a singular focus or all of one’s hope or fears on Pope Leo XIV has some real dangers to it.
An early call in the Papal Conclave was a surprise. I was watching in real time. My family on both sides is all Catholic. As readers know, I also watched Conclave, said it was the movie to define the year, fascinated by the power dynamics that I believed had far broader implications than just for the Catholic church.
Like many observers, I expected if the conclave wrapped so quickly, it would have elevated someone who had been widely speculated about. But when they announced the name, I suspect I wasn't alone in thinking: Who?
What was even more interesting was the after-effect of this unexpected decision. An American Pope. A kid raised near the south side of Chicago (sound familiar?), though this time mostly in the suburbs. My feed was lighting up.
I talked to my mom who imagined her Catholic parents would have been tickled with the decision. Pope Leo XIV could evoke anything anyone wanted, it seemed. There was so much hope from some corners—he would be a pope of the laborers. He would continue Pope Francis' legacy.
On Fox News, he was portrayed as a math graduate from Villanova who could finally bring some fiscal sense to the nearly bankrupt church.
"An American," the American media raved, "we weren't expecting that."
The Projection Machine Begins
Evidently Steve Bannon had a different take. "A woke Pope," he said of the Republican-primary-voting Chicago Catholic. Others called him a moderate who could bring people together. The Pope’s brother also became a figure where people looked to glean ideas about the new leader of the Catholic church — his brother’s posts social media posts were evaluated as were posts from an account alleged to be the new Pope himself.
As I watched it unfold, it was like all at once all of some people’s hopes and dreams, or fears, hinged on one person. Just one person. The new Pope.
I'll admit I had a more skeptical view (I guess I'm a skeptic at heart). When I heard that the person in charge of vetting the Papal electors won the vote himself, well, yes, he can clearly do math. But was he angling for power, or to make a difference? It's a question I ask all the time about those in politics, faith, and business. I always hope it's to make a difference.
"He'll stand up to Donald Trump," some mused. Will he? We don't know.
"He believes in the rights of migrants," some said. I would think so. That's kind of the role of a Church whose very foundation was that an outcast single mother could become mother to God's son.
But even on this issue, the issue of defending migrants, I'm reminded of how limited individual influence can be. Under President Biden, the Catholic Church received substantial federal contracts to assist with migrant services. Just months into Trump's return, those contracts have been terminated, thanks to DOGE’s heavy influence, with forced layoffs and funding cuts that in some cases ended decades of service.
The grand rhetoric meets the hard reality of policy and budgets.
The Power of One
But what is it about one person that gives some so much hope or gives others so much despair?
Is it that we're in a moment where we're just so inclined to trust or despise individuals that we are unwilling to even look at the broader picture?
In the end, the new Pope will likely give hope to at least 1.3 billion Catholics worldwide. And I guess that's the point. We trust in one person to help us all, or to change our futures, without looking deeper at what we're doing ourselves.
That's why when a new person emerged — an American person emerged — U.S. media continued with that narrative that one person can change it all, and well, they played right into it.
I remember the story Barack Obama told that got everyone so excited during the campaign. He had gone to South Carolina, and a woman in the room started to chant "Fired up, Ready to go," which changed the momentum in the room and changed his perspective on the day. He would use it to say it goes to show one voice can change a room, a state, the nation, the world. Maybe so. But in my experience, it took a chorus. And that chorus has to sing together for change to truly sustain.
I saw this up close during the Obama administration.
Everyone was so excited when he was elected, thinking he could change everything with a magic wand. Meanwhile, I witnessed the reality: The President was managing a financial crisis, navigating delicate foreign policy challenges, and attempting to reform healthcare, all while having to carefully prioritize which changes he could actually accomplish. The limitations of the presidency became starkly apparent despite the soaring rhetoric of campaigns. And that’s even true with President Trump’s chaotic but swift action.
Now What?
An American Pope. A lot to learn. And hopefully, we'll see a full evaluation of outcomes instead of just fixating on the person.
That approach could help when it comes to any facet: politics, religion, or business.
But for now, we're still so focused on the power of one, the power dynamics that can be complicated, as I wrote in my piece about the movie Conclave. We might be missing the bigger picture — the actual policies, positions, and concrete changes that will affect real people's lives.
We’re already seeing this action play out with President Trump.
He tries to take on everything through executive action, but those powers are limited, and many initiatives have already failed the test of full implementation. And what happens? We end up ping-ponging back and forth between leaders with wholly different agendas, creating confusion rather than sustainable, long-term policy.
A TV executive once told me that America needs heroes and villains — that's what plays well on television. Maybe so. But I believe people can understand that sometimes things are more complicated than that.
I'll wait and see what Pope Leo XIV actually does, how he wields his power and his bully pulpit. Just as I've learned to wait and see what Presidents actually accomplish. The personality makes for exciting headlines, but the substance is what truly matters in the end.
What’s the lesson for all of us?
The narrative of a single person — whether Pope or President — having the power to fix everything isn't just simplistic — it's counterproductive to achieving real, lasting change. It’s time to focus less on one person and more on the systems they operate. That's where the real story, and true change, often happens.