Shut Up About Pope Leo

Coverage of the Bishop of Rome is now a bona-fide industry, with journalists scrutinizing his every aside, old lecture, and offhand gesture in search of clues about his views on doctrine or culture. The insatiable appetite of American Catholics for papal content exposes the very ills of the modern Church that many observers hope Pope Leo will address. In an age of instant news and constant commentary, the faithful have become conditioned to consume the papacy as spectacle. Yet Leo’s pontificate may offer the chance to recover a quieter, older form of devotion, one less dependent on press conferences and soundbites.