Today, May 8, 2025, at 7:15 pm, the Catholic church elected its 267th pope, Cardinal Robert Frances Prevost, now named Pope Leo XIV. Â
The last time the Catholic church got a new pope was when I was seven years old, and we celebrated in my first-grade classroom while watching the smoke turn white. This time around, I’m nineteen years old, and I sat in my dorm with my friends jumping up and down with excitement as we watched the smoke turn white again. Many of my close friends and family members messaged me full of anticipation as we all waited for the pope to be announced, and even people who I knew were never religious were also chiming in and talking about their excitement. It was such a beautiful moment of bonding for everyone in the world, and for someone like me who has been in the Catholic church my entire life, it was a moment to reflect on why I love my Catholic faith.
My family is exactly what many Catholics would call “cradle Catholics,” which essentially means that my siblings and I were all raised in the church, going to mass every Sunday, and being completely involved in any way we could. While I spent many years as a kid despising mass because I thought it was “boring,” the Catholic church teachings and mass are somethings that I have completely fallen in love with as I’ve grown up, and I am proud to say my faith is one of the most important things about my life.
 I am fully aware of how incredible a privilege that is to have, and how lucky I somehow am to have grown up in a church that has in so many ways hurt and disappointed so many people. Not every story is the same, and I know there are so many opportunities people had, and circumstances that could’ve been different, which could’ve completely changed my view on religion and the church. Yet, somehow, by the miraculous grace of God, here I am today.
I don’t know why I, of all people, was born into such a love-centered religious family that has given me every opportunity to succeed, while another person just the same as I live an opposite life. It is something that I will never understand, yet I will never take for granted. I am eternally grateful to my parents for influencing one of my most cherished and valued beliefs that I was taught growing up. The focus that they raised my siblings and me under was the phrase “what would Jesus do, he would love first,” and applied it to every single aspect of life they could. Jesus taught us that every single human being and being of life on this Earth has dignity and worth, is a gift from God, and is deserving of unconditional love, no matter who they are. He never judged people for the lives they lived, he stood up for those who were in need, and he fought for peace between people, even to the point of forgiving those who tortured and killed him. This is the model that people in the church are supposed to live their lives by, and unfortunately, it is not the model that many churchgoers follow. Instead, they are blinded by their prideful understanding of what it means to “love” and their selfish misinterpretations of Jesus. I’ve never understood why this was such a difficult concept to understand for people in the church, and I will never understand people who don’t get that our job as people is to love as much as we possibly can.
Nevertheless, the love I chose to give others stems from my upbringing in the church, and ultimately meaning the Catholic church has always been the place I feel most at home in.  This is what Pope Francis advocated for, this is what Jesus wanted, and this is what the saints all tried to help others understand. It’s a place that brings me unimaginable peace, no matter where my faith is, and there is something about the Catholic mass always being the same everywhere you go, no matter where you go, that is so comforting and beautiful to me. The rich tradition the church holds, and the beauty behind each piece of the ceremony, is something I’ve yet to find replicated in anything outside of religion itself. It makes moments, too, like when a new pope is elected, so special and sacred and brings so many people together in celebration. It shows how beautiful the traditions of faith are, and how it’s supposed to bring us all together in support and love of one another, just like how it was always supposed to be.