Our new Pope has fascinating traits, as all Popes do.
One that stands out is his comportment, which in intriguing ways recalls Pius XII.
Leo XIV manages to emanate both joy and sadness in his countenance.
Some have commented that he rarely seems to provide a wide smile.
(Does he know something we don’t?)
The rumor: that he suffers from an old jaw injury during an accident.
The other: that he carries a past wound from a time he stepped in front of danger to protect a young girl from an oncoming vehicle that then struck him.
But as one fact-checker reported, “There is no reliable record that then-priest Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, was involved in any accident of this nature. The story is not mentioned in any official biography or reputable report on his life. The Vatican News site, the Vatican’s official channel, makes no mention of a jaw fracture or anything similar. Nor do any Catholic or secular media outlets, which strongly indicates the story was invented.”
That it isn’t mentioned doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. But he seems to have no difficulty talking, and most likely: it’s part of his subdued, introspective, contemplative, serious personality.
In fact, despite his inner peace and joy (and yes, his smile), his eyes often look somewhat sorrowful.
Is it also a “sign of the times”?
Few Popes have ever entered the scene at such a roiling time, a serious Pontiff for a serious time. Thus far he seems to be bridging what became a yawning gap between Church conservatives and liberals. (We wouldn’t be surprised if he eventually reinstitutes full freedom for the Latin Mass. Often, he speaks Latin himself.)
There are other interesting things.
A New York Times investigation unearthed the following:
“His diverse ancestry reflects the history of American immigration. The forebears identified so far were born in France (40), Italy (24), Spain (21), the United States (22), Cuba (10), Canada (6), Haiti (1) and Guadeloupe (1),” notes The Times. “The birthplaces are unknown for another nine ancestors who have been identified.
“Seventeen of the Pope’s American ancestors were Black, described in historical records in terms ranging from ‘negresse’ and ‘free person of color’ to ‘mulâtresse créole’ and ‘quadroon.’ Another Black ancestor, the Pope’s grandfather Joseph Nerval Martínez, was born in Haiti, to which his African Americans parents migrated from New Orleans before returning to the city in 1866.”
Meanwhile: “Through a distant maternal ancestor, who was born in the 1590s, Pope Leo is ninth cousins, various times removed, with some well-known figures, including Pierre and Justin Trudeau, Hillary Clinton, Angelina Jolie, Justin Bieber, Jack Kerouac, and Madonna.”
As far as more consequential matters, the Supreme Pontiff’s focus on artificial intelligence shows, notes the newspaper, he is a church leader who grasps the gravity of this modern issue.
Serious times indeed.
[resources: “Special Reports”]