A New Pope, Another Classroom Filled with Hope

I glanced over my high school chemistry teacher’s shoulder, where on her laptop screen white smoke billowed out of the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel. When school ended that day, I walked home to watch Pope Francis greet the world from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Like many Catholics, I was immediately taken with this simple Jesuit. Over the weeks that followed, I was joyfully surprised to see him check out of his hotel himself, wash the feet of incarcerated people on Holy Thursday and appear, in cartoon form, making a snow angel on the cover of The New Yorker magazine. Everything he did radiated the deep joy of the Gospel.

For the rest of my high school years, Pope Francis inspired my own commitment to the Christian life. His love of the poor, his trust in the profound mercy of God and his commitment to embodying servant leadership showed me something of who I might become as a follower of Jesus.

Later, as a college student, reading Laudato Si’ inspired my own work in an environmental writing course. Pope Francis’ call to joyful evangelization also led me to collaborative work with the FOCUS missionary team through the University of Kentucky’s Newman Center. With those experiences nurturing my dreams, the summer before my final year of college, I inquired about becoming a Jesuit. Of course, I had to mention Pope Francis in my email to the vocations office.

This past spring—no longer a high school sophomore but a teacher with sophomores of my own at University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy—I experienced another pope’s election. I put my lessons on hold that day so that all eyes in the classroom could focus on the Vatican livestream. Students chatted excitedly, speculating about who the new pope would be (Wilton Gregory and Timothy Dolan were favorites), commented on the vestments and pomp, and guessed at the Latin phrases.

When the newly elected Pope Leo XIV stepped out to greet the crowd in St. Peter’s Square, I saw curiosity and wonder on the faces of my students. I know they felt the same awe and joy I had felt as a 15-year-old—the sense of belonging to a community of faith that transcends borders and divisions, of sharing a collective hope for what God is doing in the world.

The world in which my students are coming of age can feel treacherous. I know that much of it leaves them anxious: the aggressive pace of technological development, the increasing fragmentation of their communities, the looming threats of war and climate change.

I hope they find in Pope Leo XIV what I found in Pope Francis—a leader who hears them and responds with a voice that is hopeful, prophetic and full of love. More than that, though, I hope they are inspired to give of themselves, and that they seek to follow Jesus in loving service to a world that is wounded and in need of good news. As I imagine the dreams I have for the rest of my Jesuit life, I hope that I do, too.