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I recently offered up my list of qualities I hoped to see in the new pope and asked you, dear readers, to share with me your hopes.

Now that we joyously have welcomed Pope Leo IV we can begin to match up our lists and his papacy. I did not include in my list a pope who is a White Sox fan, who has a COSTCO card, who loves Chicago deep-dish pizza, and who speaks English – but we should all give thanks for small favors.

My main desire was for a pope who was primarily a Christian and not primarily a pundit. I want a pope who can return Catholicism to its ancient and authentic vocation of saving souls through belief in the atoning death of Jesus as the Christ. I support the church’s role in offering wisdom about the political and ethical challenges of our world, but those issues will be debated and resolved beyond the doors of St. Peter’s.

Catholicism, like Judaism and Islam, is a religion and it must offer up its hope and salvation to people of every political persuasion and every race. I want a pope who understands that sacred difference between religion and politics. Yes, yes, religious folks must attend to the brokenness of our world and must lift up those who sleep in the dust, but the dust is not our home. We live here but our kingdom is not here.

So glad that M agrees with me.

Dear Rabbi Gellman, what a beautiful column you wrote today about the qualities you would like to see in the new pope! More than many who identify as Catholics, you get it: the reason for the Church IS to save souls through belief in the atoning death of Jesus, the Christ. And so the Church must articulate the Truth which alone can set us free and lift us out of the despair and hopelessness of sin, doubt, hopelessness and aimlessness. When that Truth is lived, when it is shared compassionately but without dilution, when the joy of living the Gospel and loving each of God’s children is seen, there can be no greater “witnesses to hope.” Thank you for your always-respectful comments about Catholicism and religions other than your own beautiful Jewish faith.

PS. One point I’d like to make is that women in the Church DO have the same spiritual horizons as men and that is eternal life. It is a culturally driven insistence that creates discontent on this issue, I think. Jesus never hesitated to break cultural norms yet didn’t make His own holy mother a priest. – M

A: Thanks, M. More to say about women in the church in the future. Let's let Pope Leo XIV have the first words.

From C I received this thoughtful response:

Dear Rabbi Gellman, I just read your column in the Palm Beach Post, about your thoughts regarding the new pope. As a Jew, I was very pleased to see that you made mention of the 2,000 years of antisemitism in the Church! Unfortunately, even though the Nostra Aetate was enacted in 1963-65, antisemitism is growing openly worldwide, and your mention of the studies of Glock and Stark only support my concerns. I do want to say that I heartily agree with your assessment of the qualities that the pope should possess, and I enjoyed reading them. Your weekly writings always give me something to think about, and I’ll look forward to reading more of them in the future! – C

A: Thank you, C, for your kind words and for your concerns. The rise in antisemitism worldwide is indeed a grave and deepening concern. However, its sources in my view do not include the Catholic Church. The purification of the church from the taint of antisemitism was historic and fundamental and effective. Today Jew-hating is being birthed and nurtured outside the Church and its authors must be called out. I also believe that the first American pope can have a major role in calling out this ancient and despicable hatred.

Little Bobby Prevost grew up with and played with Jews on the South Side of Chicago. He did not leave America for his Peruvian missionary work until he was almost 20. I look forward to hearing from some of his childhood Jewish friends about that formative time in his life. I have always believed that the way prejudice is healed is from the bottom up rather than from the top down. Personal friendships change us far more than grand encyclicals. Father Tom used to say, “We need to have the courage to look across the fence.” To which I said then and I say now, Amen.

(Send ALL QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS to The God Squad via email at godsquadquestion@aol.com. Rabbi Gellman is the author of several books, including “Religion for Dummies,” co-written with Fr. Tom Hartman. Also, the new God Squad podcast is now available.)

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