What a day that May 8th was!! Grumble, grumble, no pope would ever come from these United States as white smoke floated skyward!  Whattya know!

Fr. Rocky and others agreed, yes he came from my Polish mom Irene’s ChiTown, Soxville, Windy City, whatever you call it…but he belongs to the world!  Pope Leo XiV is smart; ask his brothers; not every sane soul gets a math degree like Robert Francis, cardinal extraordinary (and my headmaster of Chesterton Academy son Nathan sporting 4 adopted fosters and a math master’s degree)

He LOVES Mary and like Pope Francis, she will be an important part of his papacy. Why else elected on a Mary date, May 8th?  I love my dad Paul, but he wasn’t a prophet so I’m no prophet nor son of one.  Like you, I sin, take an occasional show, love my kids and grandoffsprings.  Drive my Mary nuts.

So, being it is too early to define his papacy, we can certainly conjecture a bit.  He grew up it seems in one of those Freedom homes built post WWII like my family of 13 headed by a German dad and Chicago Polish mom plus pets in the 50s thru 80s.   More will come out, some true some not so true as he has experienced already.

A man of peace elevated in the Jubilee year of HOPE!  Popes often choose names to signify something.   John Paul the Great followed the 33 days of Pope John Paul, and became JPII. Benedictus XVI follow his predecessor’s suit, like a confirmation of much good.  Pope Francis, not the Sales man but of Assisi, chartered a new road sometimes of good, often of controversy.

I still struggle with Pope Francis’ buying the JFKerry line that God’s greatest atmospheric gift, carbon dioxide (the Trinity molecule) that feeds the world and keeps us alive somehow, is pollution. What total fools we are, believing 1 molecule in every 2500, CO2, is melting the earth.  This gets parlayed by the godless into Mary’s warned evil, communism to control life and production, waste precious resources of the 3rd world and… I better stop here.

The Leo line is amazing.  Leo XIII unmistakably envisioned the war of the culture of death vs life; the bill of goods of the fallen angels and the need to seek St Michael’s help, with the Father’s authority, to thwart the minions of misery.  What a backdrop at this time in history, as the death and life cultures battle more ferociously.  If you don’t see this need for boldness, fearlessness, courage and renewed devotion, roll over and wake up: it’s everywhere we kill kids prebirth, or the two God designed and made sexes, male and female, are poisoned with homosexual unions and cutting off breasts and vaginas to help a girl become suicidal in a few years.  Yes evil abounds and grace abounds more, yet why are so many so passive?

The suppressed prayer of the great 19th century pontiff will be back in vogue; in Orange County, most Masses experience it as the priest ends Mass.  As Mr Madrid put it on Relevant Radio, the Low Masses used to conclude with this mighty “ask” that we should follow with our Guardian Angel acknowledgement prayer.  My goodness, I used to serve at traditional Latin Masses in the 50s/early 60s before we began suppressing them in seasoned people parishes for still not completely understood reasons.  Why 400 people attending a Mary by the Sea had to lose their joy banning Mass in Lingua Latinam like it was Pentecost 2022 and the upper room doors were chained shut out of fear of King Pfaucinstein’s lies.  similar to Joseph d’ Arimathea’s building in Jerusalem.   You think the devil doesn’t know his time is very short?   Look around, smell the sulfur among the rose fragrances.

God has often sent the Regina Coeli (the daughter in law I helped name 25 years ago, has that name) to earth with focused messages.  Places like Pompeii mentioned by Leo XiV, Fatima, Lourdes, Mexico City Guadalupe, OLChampion, Ecuador etc.

But Jesus makes His own guest appearances often, like to St Mary Aloque.  Fr Rocky calls the balls and strikes: ”

In October 2024, the late Holy Father Pope Francis published his last encyclical: Dilexit Nos, which translates to “He has Loved Us.” It is 220 paragraphs all about the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

In it, Pope Francis quotes Saint Gertrude of Helfta, a nun in the 1200s. Pope Francis writes, “Gertrude concludes that ‘the sweet sound of those heartbeats has been reserved for modern times, so that, hearing them, our aging and lukewarm world may be renewed in the love of God’. Might we think that this is message for our own times, a summons to realize how our world has indeed “grown old”, and needs to perceive anew the message of Christ’s love?”

Pope Francis suggests that this devotion was given in modern times to awaken our love through encountering Jesus’ love in the Sacred Heart. In fact, Jesus Himself promises that “Lukewarm souls shall become fervent.” and “Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection.”

A revival means the patient is half dead, like a dying dog or feral cat; 65,000 showed up for the National Eucharistic Congress near Chicago in Indianapolis last July 2024.  I believe this massive increase in conversions and reverts to the welcoming Catholic church this year, is proof we should at least consider or are in the:

Eucharistic Renaissance of Love, Hope and Faith

St Margaret Mary Alacoque was such a gift and gifted to us visions from Our Lord.

Len Beckman

Minor Catholic Apologist and Exhortationist