LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The new pope, Leo XIV, is making history as the first pope from the U.S. Specifically, from Chicago, where he was born Robert Francis Prevost. He was raised in Chicago's South suburbs. His brother says he's a White Sox fan. Chicago's Mayor Brandon Johnson calls it the greatest moment in the history of the greatest city in the world. So how did the city of Chicago shape this new pope? Joining me now to talk about that is Susan Ross. She's a professor emerita at the Loyola University Chicago and past president of the American Catholic Theological Society. Good morning.
SUSAN ROSS: Good morning.
FADEL: Well, I want to start, Susan, 'cause you're in the Chicago area, with how the city reacted when they heard the new pope - the first American pope is from Chicago.
ROSS: Well, it was interesting because I was actually at a funeral for my dissertation director...
FADEL: Oh.
ROSS: ...David Tracy, who is a prominent Catholic theologian, and just the idea of this happening at this moment when he is, in a sense, with Francis in Heaven.
FADEL: Yeah.
ROSS: So there was quite a conversation about that at the reception afterwards. And a lot of people are very excited.
FADEL: What does it mean for Chicago to be the hometown of the new pope?
ROSS: Well, I think it gives Chicago the kind of recognition in terms of being a place where Roman Catholics can claim this person as their - as our own. And it really puts Chicago - we're already on the map in many ways, but it - I think it's just a very special moment.
FADEL: He returned - the pope returned to Chicago after college to attend seminary at Catholic Theological Union. How do you think Chicago and that school shaped him as a Catholic?
ROSS: Well, Catholic Theological Union is a unique institution because unlike a lot of seminaries where priests or priests-to-be studied together just with themselves, usually in a rural location, CTU is right in the middle of the city. It's in Hyde Park, and the students there are from all different religious orders and laypeople. And there are women students. There are women faculty. And so it gives, I think, any student there a sense of the broadness of the church. And it's also a very international school. And so religious order sends their candidates there to study. And so it's a very diverse, very international, very - well, like Chicago, it's diverse. It's international. And so it's not the usual preparation for priesthood.
FADEL: Now, Pope Francis was more open than his predecessors when it comes to things like acceptance of LGBTQ people and women's roles in the church. How do you think Pope Leo's upbringing in Chicago in the '60s and '70s will affect how he sees these issues and addresses these issues?
ROSS: Well, from everything that I've read, he's very much a man who follows the church line. So it's interesting that Cardinal George said to me one time that he thought that women were very capable of doing just about anything, but that the vocation to the priesthood is something that really comes from God, and that is of an entirely different order. So what I've read about Pope Leo is that he is traditional in terms of LGBTQ people, in terms of women's role. But that - what I've read is what he was talking about 13 years ago. So who knows if he's been able to develop or change his mind. I don't see things changing very rapidly for women anytime soon.
FADEL: Well, let me ask you about that. I mean, a lot of your career has been focused on the place and the role of women in the Catholic Church. What would you like to see? And what do you expect from Pope Leo XIV?
ROSS: Well, the first thing that I'd like him to do is to make public the documents on the ordination of women to the diaconate. There have been two commissions that have been studying this issue, and the reports of these commissions have not been made public. Pope Francis had said that there was not full agreement on it, and so he was kind of tabling the issue, but there's been a great call for the issue to be made public. There's been a tremendous amount of research on this issue, showing that women were quite active in diaconal roles in the early church and up until the Middle Ages. And so we're hoping - I'm certainly hoping that this will allow for more open discussion of this issue.
FADEL: Susan Ross is a feminist theologian and professor emerita at Loyola University. Thank you.
ROSS: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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