Popes rise to challenges of their times, Pittsburgh-area Catholic experts say

The next pope will have the weight of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics on his shoulders.

That’s how the Rev. Daniel Carr, 40, pastor of St. Regis Parish in Trafford, sees it.

Carr, a priest for six years, has only served under Pope Francis. He has taken Francis’ message of caring for the people he serves to heart.

In his view, the spiritual lives of about 1,000 members of St. Regis are his responsibility, Carr said.

“Think about having the entire world on your shoulders,” Carr said of a pope. “So we should be praying for this human being who filled those shoes for more than a decade.”

The new pope will be chosen by members of the College of Cardinals. They are bishops tasked with meeting in what’s called a conclave to vote for a new pope.

Aside from being a baptized Catholic, there are no restrictions about who can be pope, but practically speaking popes are generally chosen from among the cardinals. There are 135 cardinals younger than 80 who are eligible to vote for the next pope.

Among them is Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, retired archbishop of Galveston-­Houston. DiNardo was raised in Castle Shannon and served as a priest in the Pittsburgh diocese.

DiNardo’s spokespeople did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Cardinals are charged to pray for divine wisdom in choosing a new pope. That method has worked for two millennia, Greensburg Bishop Larry Kulick said.

The person needed for each age and moment in time has been chosen, Kulick said.

“I have confidence the Holy Spirit will give the church what it needs,” he said.

The process provides a lesson for the secular world, Kulick said.

The wisdom of the church as a whole was likened by Kulick to that of grandparents.

The church remains in need of a leader who views the position as that of a shepherd, said Vincent Reilly of Unity, managing director of faith family and discipleship for the Greensburg Catholic Diocese.

“The next pope is going to have to address the differences in the church politically, not just in the U.S., but worldwide,” Reilly said. “The next pope is going to have to be a man of prayer and listening to the counsel of the clergy and the laity.”

Although the church moves slowly, changes do happen, Mother Superior Mary Anne Noll of St. Emma Monastery in Hempfield said.

“We have a 2,000-year history of trying to come together and say, ‘Jesus, how do you want us to do it now? What is the best way we can do this now?’ ” Noll said.

People have wrestled with those questions since the church’s beginning, Noll said, and now’s the time to pray: “God, lead us further.”

Europe and North America will pose challenges to the next pope as they continue to become less religious, said Daniel Scheid, associate professor of theology at Duquesne University.

“These are real powerful social forces,” Scheid said.

It’s important for the next pope to continue Francis’ outreach to people to address what Scheid termed “real existential needs and fears.”

“I don’t think we can think about this in terms of American politics or ideology,” said Stephen Calme, assistant professor of theology at Carlow University.

Although united under the pope’s leadership, the U.S. church is different from the African, Asian, European and South American churches, said theology professors and others who spoke to TribLive.

As the first non-European pope since Pope Gregory III in 741, Francis opened the door for a successor who also bucks the trend of popes who hailed from Europe.

Benedict XVI was German, and St. John Paul II was Polish. Gregory III was Syrian.

Francis’ message of coming together and listening to one another is also apt as the cardinals prepare for the conclave.

“Because of his style, he humanized the papacy. He came across as a man,” said Monsignor Roger Statnick, chaplain of Seton Hill University in Greensburg. “A person who was on the same journey that all of us are. That was and is a needed message in our world.”

Statnick continued: “We need to walk with each other. In walking with each other, we will come to understand each other. Hopefully, the spirit of God will show us how we proceed.”