Easter 4C
May 11, 2025
St. Dunstan’s
The Rev. Patricia Templeton
Today is the fourth Sunday of the Easter season, a day that is known as Good Shepherd Sunday. Every year on this Sunday the prayers and scripture readings reference shepherds and their flocks.
We see that in today’s gospel reading from John. “My sheep hear my voice,” Jesus says. “I know them, and they follow me.”
And of course, we see that imagery in the 23rd psalm, perhaps the most beloved of alll psalms, that remind us that the Lord is our shepherd.
This week that many Christian denominations focus on this imagery it seems appropriate that the 1.4 billion Catholics around the world have a new shepherd, Pope Leo XIV.
Who will be the new pope is always wildly unpredictable. Even so, the selection of Leo, a Chicago native who spent decades as a missionary in Peru, was a shock to most of the world.
Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, once said that church leaders should have “the odor of the sheep,” meaning that they should not be sitting at a desk, or spend all their time as administrators, but should be out among the people, working with them, caring for them, advocating on their behalf.
We’re still learning much about Pope Leo, but from what I’ve read he smells like sheep. After a catastrophic cyclone in Peru he waded through the flood waters to deliver supplies. He drove an old pickup truck around his diocese, and when the area was not passable by his truck, he a horse into the most remote villages, taking communion and love to his far flung flock.
When Peru was flooded with refugees from Venezuela, he established shelters and ordered churches to start soup kitchens to feed those who had fled looking for safety.
One of the first things a newly-elected pope does is choose his new name. That name is often a signal of what the new pope holds important, and who he admires.
In choosing the name Francis, a saint known for his compassion for the poor, and renunciation of worldly goods, the previous pope signaled what was important to him. Those concerns became one of the hallmarks of his tenure.
The name Leo has a strong history. The new Pope Leo is an admirer of Leo VIII, who ruled from 1878-1903, and is admired as a strong proponent of social justice. Leo VIII wrote one of the church’s most important encyclicals during the Industrial Revolution, a time when there was massive exploitation of workers.
He called for the Church to address social and economic issues, emphasizing the dignity of individuals, the common good, the community, and taking care of the marginalized.
Those themes have been the hallmark of the new Pope Leo’s ministry for decades. They were reflected in the first public words he spoke as pope, talking of peace, humility, and building bridges.
It is significant that those words were spoken in Italian and Spanish, but not English, which is his first language. In doing so, Leo sent a message that he is not the American pope, he is the pope of the faithful around the world.
Of course, that kind of talk and action is seen as political. That’s because it is. Faith is political. Our faith teaches us to care about how the poor, the outcast, the downtrodden, and immigrants are treated; to speak out on their behalf; to advocate for their care and well being.
In this country some greeted Leo’s election with outrage and scorn. Some on the far right cried that Leo’s election was an insult to our current political administration.
Trump loyalist Steve Bannon railed that Pope Leo is the anti-Trump pope.
That is a very narcissistic American way of thinking — that decisions in every corner of the world are made with the United States in mind; that the cardinals meeting in conclave were first and foremost concerned about insulting this country’s president.
But this pope’s election does send a message to the world.
At a time when the winds of authoritarianism and fascism are blowing in this country and around the globe, a time when people who claim to be Christians embrace hatred and cruelty, the conclave sent a message that this is not the way of Christ.
Pope Leo is not the anti-Trump pope; he is the pro-Jesus pope.
And that means he is not afraid to criticize those in power whose policies are unjust and cruel, without compassion and care for the outcast, the immigrants, and the poor.
After Trump’s disgraceful Oval )ffice meeting with El Salvadoran dictator Nayib Bukele, where he boasted about deporting immigrants and suggested that he would also send American citizens to El Salvador’s infamous prisons, then Cardinal Bob Prevost tweeted these words:
“Do you not see the suffering?
“Is your conscience not disturbed?
“How can you stay quiet?”
In a time when the predominant image of our faith in this country is Christian nationalism, a movement whose creed is cruelty, whose language is hate, whose evil policies make a mockery of the teachings of Jesus, the election of Pope Leo is a breath of hope in a world that desperately needs it.
He will not be perfect, and we will not agree with many of his positions. Catholic Church teachings on women and issues of gender and sexual orientation are very different from what Episcopalians believe.
But he is a welcome antidote to much of the cruelty and hate that pass as Christianity for so many in this country.
In his first appearance on the Vatican balcony, addressing the people gathered in St. Peter’s Square and around the world, he said these words that we all need to hear.
“God loves us.
“God loves you all.
“Evil will not prevail.”
Amen.