American Parochialism and Roman Catholic Church

 

American Parochialism and Roman Catholic Church

This was written soon after a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church Robert Francis Prevost was elected Pope. This event turned out to be the most inappropriate occasion for the multi-headed Hydra of parochialism to put in its presence; this is proof enough that parochialism can never be extinguished. The loudest criticism for Pope Leo XIV not speaking in English, one Republican Congressman let out his spleen. There must have been others of his ilk, definitely Marjorie Taylor Green.

Never mind that Pope Leo IV holds passports of both the US and Peru. I do not know whether Peruvians are thumping their chests like the Americans are doing. If I know Americans, they are beating the drums, and there are enough references in the news media and TV shows on this.

Ironically, I got a loud list of drumbeats from across the pond, the Atlantic Ocean. It was in the London based paper, The Guardian that spared some space in its website for the reactions from the US. I give below a few of these:

The Guardian – The American Pope

PBS News Hour – The first American Pope (Socialist-Marxist Pope, said a NYT columnist)

Fox News – The first ever American Pope

The Daily Show (Desi Lydic) – The first American Pope

Jimmy Kimmel – We have an American pope (and a Russian president)

And, compared to the above, some American outlets did say/print “American-born Pope”, “an American Cardinal” and such. These are the few saner heads.

Though I read the following I am not able to find a reference for the following, but that should not deter the reader from enjoying it.

Anonymous (through the mouth of Donald J. Trump) – “We are picking our own American

Pope right here in America”

The Pope is the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. I do not recall whether Pope Francis was ever referred to as the Argentinean Pope. I would guess not. Had anyone mentioned Pope Francis as Argentinean, Americans would have been up in arms! Unless someone is theirs, they are not to be admired/celebrated etc.

The finals (a seven game series) of Major League Baseball is World Series, and that includes a Canadian team. That is the whole world for Americans! No wonder Trump wanted Canada to be the 51^st state of the US! In the National Hockey League there are 32 teams and seven of them in Canada. Trump’s mood must agree with a dissatisfied grunt; he could be thinking that the US got shafted, giving away seven teams to Canada!   There is one team in Canada in the National Basketball Association, and no teams from Canada in the National Volleyball Association, but includes a team from a US Protectorate, Puerto Rico. In Trump’s scale, Puerto Rico is just one rung up from the shit-hole Haiti. He would be pulling the league’s strings to cut the size to 11 or shift one franchise up into the Rockies!

After this long detour, let me get back to the Vatican, which is different than Italy. For the uninitiated, Vatican has a separate seat at the UN General Assembly!

Pope Leo XIV, despite being, or because he is, an American, has already rubbed Trump and his VP, J D Vance (this, ahead of becoming Pope Leo XIV). Obviously, parochialism would pop up now and then; would you ever play whack-a-mole on an arcade machine that cannot be whacked down, or let you score? I guess not!

Who said the choice of the Pope is not political? It definitely is. And, no wonder you have the news media (except Fox News) and the late night shows are thrilled to high heavens! They want all anti-Trump American, Roman Catholic or not, to be pumped up, and they are responding, as the media tells us.

I would excuse them.

Raghuram Ekambaram

P. S. A few days after I typed out the above, I read in a newspaper that the president of Peru mentioned this ascension of Robert Francis Prevost to the papacy as, “historic moment for Peru”, meaning that the disease has spread southward! There is no inoculation against parochialism.

Raghuram Ekambaram