WE FOLLOW A lot of negative or policy-heavy breaking news for our work. Which perhaps is why we were so captivated when white smoke signaled that a new pope had been chosen to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. Exclamation emojis multiplied in our editorial Slack channel when we learned he was American. Someone jokingly posted a photo of Jude Law as TV’s “Young Pope.” We shared hyperlinks that might hold clues to the new leader’s position on things like women’s ordination or Palestine. Rose Marie Berger reflects on the selection of Robert Prevost as the first U.S.-born pope and what he may face as Pope Leo XIV.
From history being made to history that helped make us: July marks 100 years since the Scopes trial, a key moment for church-state separation and public education in the United States. Brenda Wineapple writes about Scopes and how new factions are attempting to control education. Similarly, Michael-Ray Mathews compares today to the post-Reconstruction period, drawing prophetic guidance from Black churches in that dangerous time. Maybe history is more a spiral than a straight line. That can be discouraging, but it also gives us models and inspiration for the facing of our days.
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