Pope Leo XIV is certainly a world-class crowd-puller. In Madrid, well over a million people turned up when, five months ago, he hosted an open-air Mass. In September, almost as many Parisians and tourists flocked to hear him preach during his brief apostolic visit to France, a country that for centuries took pride in being called the “eldest daughter of the Church” before it became strenuously secular. It was therefore not that surprising that in Argentina, where assembling enormous crowds is something of a local speciality, they were even bigger than in Europe.
Though many of those who lined the streets here and in Europe to applaud Leo for what they thought he stood for must have been devout Roman Catholics who regularly attend Mass and do their best to live up to the demands made on them by their faith, it is reasonable to assume that most take little notice of what their priests have to say about divorce, abortion, the perils of materialism and other such issues. If more did, as still seemed to be the case half a century or so ago, the relevant laws would have remained as they were when the prestige, and therefore the influence, of the Roman Catholic Church was far greater than it became after an apparently endless series of sexual scandals involving even archbishops brought it back down to earth and deprived it of the moral authority it once had.
So what, other than the evident pleasure many take from being part of a huge multitude and are attracted by the gravitational pull of large crowds, were they all looking for? According to many observers both here and in Europe, large numbers of people, perhaps a majority, have come to feel that for life to have a meaning it needs a religious dimension which the allegedly rationalist modern societies are simply unable to provide. Though in recent years, Catholicism has had some notable converts, among them former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US Vice-President JD Vance, its efforts to fill the gap left by the decline of faith have been less successful than those of evangelical congregations which, in Brazil, could soon have more members. They are also doing well in Argentina.
If Christianity as a whole does enjoy a revival in the Western countries it did so much to shape, it will in all likelihood be thanks to the challenge that is posed by Islam. In Europe and, so far to a lesser extent, the US, the inroads being made by Islamists who make no effort to hide the contempt they feel for all unbelievers has led even outspoken atheists to express their support for the “Judeo-Christian tradition” that underpins Western civilisation and the need to defend it against its many enemies. However, it is one thing to be in favour of religion on principle, and quite another to swallow one’s doubts about the claims made by the representatives of the organisations that are competing for the hearts and minds of people who have been brought up to regard them as sentimental Bible stories that only the incurably credulous could possibly take literally.
As was bound to happen, much was made of the difference between Pope Leo’s modest behaviour and that of President Javier Milei. Unlike the Bishop of Rome, who came across as a broadminded gentleman who thinks that opposing views should be heard with proper respect and has no time for heated rhetoric, Milei is internationally notorious for his willingness to hurl obscene insults at anyone who disagrees with him.
In his way, Milei has a great deal in common with the fire-and-brimstone preachers, among them members of generation after generation of Catholic clerics, who throughout most of history automatically heaped abuse on the vile creatures who dared to stray from the path of orthodoxy. Back in those benighted days, which lasted until quite recently, intolerance was taken for granted because religious beliefs were thought to be of fundamental importance. After all, they determined whether a person went to Heaven, where he or she would spend eternity praising the Lord, or end up getting roasted in Hell by packs of sadistic demons, a fate that awaited those wicked enough to question papal dictates.
Be that as it may, when it comes to religious fervour, Milei clearly outperforms the “Holy Father.” By and large, he is probably the “most religious” president that Argentina has ever had and, although the creed he has fashioned for himself is hard to define, he seems to believe in it far more intensely than Leo does in the one that was bequeathed to him and which, changing slowly as time went by, stretches back 2,000 years. One must hope this is merely an illusion brought about by the pontiff’s easy-going personal style. In any event, as he is infallible when doctrinal matters are concerned, it would be very hard for him to stop being a true Catholic
In addition to objecting to Milei’s habit of berating his critics in a manner that even that well-remembered Florentine Girolamo Savonarola might have found somewhat excessive, Pope Leo took him to task for his economic policies, making it plain that he should treat the poor, the sick and the disabled with far greater kindness. Had he wanted, Milei could have responded by pointing out that it is easy to deplore austerity measures when you are not in charge of an economy as problematic as Argentina’s and that, while benevolence is a fine thing, an overdose of it is liable to have unhappy consequences for the most vulnerable. It is no secret that much of Western Europe is going down the drain as a result of overspending on welfare, a practice governments are prone to indulge in not because they are kind-hearted but because it brings them votes.
Pope Leo says he does not want the Catholic Church to be seen as just a charitable NGO, but neither does he want it to revert to being a militant faith willing to take up arms against its mortal enemies. This may please leftists who regard Leo as a useful ally in the cultural struggle they are waging against the increasingly rickety established Western order, but it does not go down at all well among the Christians who remain in the Middle East where communities which, not that long ago, were numbered in their millions, have been driven to the verge of extinction by the Islamists surrounding them who have nothing against ethnic cleansing or religious persecution. The Christian holdouts would dearly like to see the return of the Church militant of former days under a Pope ready to mobilise their fellow believers elsewhere to come to their aid.
Unless Leo changes his mind soon, before his papacy reaches its end Christianity will have vanished from countries in which it thrived for almost two millennia.