Msgr. Paul V. Garrity
The ink was barely dry on the official document that made Cardinal Robert Prevost the 266th successor to St. Peter when right wing pundits began branding him as woke. Before he became Pope Leo XIV, he had previously corrected Vice-president Vance over his misrepresentation of St. Augustine. Contrary to Vance’s assertion, St Augustine’s wisdom cannot be used to justify mass deportations and the shameless way the current administration is ignoring the human dignity of migrants.
Care for migrants was one of the cornerstone principles of Pope Francis. His first visit outside the Vatican in 2013 was to the island of Lampedusa off the Italian coast. This is where many African migrants end up who successfully cross the Mediterranean seeking a new life in Europe. Tragically, many die in making the crossing. Channeling the migrant history of his family from Italy to Argentina, Pope Francis insisted that the globalization of indifference was ignoring the intrinsic worth and dignity of all migrants everywhere.
In choosing Leo as his name, Cardinal Prevost called the world’s attention to the last Leo, Pope Leo XIII. This man was a bridge between the monarchies of Europe and the modern world. Against the backdrop of the Industrial Revolution, he called attention to the plight of average workers and their right to form unions. He carved a path between socialism and unbridled capitalism that remains a mainstay of Catholic Social Teaching.
CTS is often referred to as the best kept secret of the Catholic Church. It simply seeks to apply Gospel principles to social issues like racism and care for the poor. Leo XIII is seen as the Father of CTS for his famous teaching, Rerum Novarum, that elevated human dignity and the common good above the amassing of wealth. Pope Leo XIV has since confirmed that his selection of Leo is an affirmation of the insights of Leo XIII and a continuation of the social consciousness of Pope Francis.
Being woke is hard to define. It seems to be associated with treating all people with a certain sense of equality. It is connected with being welcoming and inclusive. It also underscores the value of celebrating diversity in contrast to elevating, straight White men above everyone else. DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) are probably the hallmarks of being woke. Anyone who espouses these concepts earns the accusation of being woke. Pope Leo XIV, along with Leo XIII and Francis, are easily identified as being woke since these are fundamental Gospel values.
Sadly, being woke, awake to injustice in the world, has become a pejorative term that disparages people who support social Justice. It has become a shorthand way of marginalizing and dismissing people who demonstrate a social conscience. Emblematic of how positive concepts can be politicized into negative ones, being woke is a poster child for the divided world in which we are now living.
Pope Leo XIV has become the leader of 1.4 billion Catholics. The values he has already endorsed, however, go far beyond Christianity. Like a free press and free speech, which he recently applauded, these values are equally espoused by Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists. When right wing pundits accuse the new Pope of being woke, thinking people should understand that this supposed insult is really to be worn as a badge of courage.
Msgr. Paul V. Garrity is a senior priest of the Archdiocese of Boston and former pastor at St. Mary’s Church in Lynn.
