Hearing yesterday that the new pope was American reminded me of October 1978, when, living in Warsaw, I learned that the new pope was Polish. That choice was more surprising – popes for centuries had been Italian – and probably more political. But there is something beautifully subversive about putting on the world stage right now a compassionate, multilingual American.
On a more personal note, the new pope was a freshman at Villanova University (majoring in mathematics) when I was a senior (majoring in English). So our paths probably didn’t cross, though it’s possible he read me in The Villanovan.
