What it means to have an American on the throne of St Peter
美国人登上圣彼得宝座意味着什么

DONALD TRUMP was not in the end chosen to be pope, as he had jokingly suggested. But on May 8th the cardinals of the Roman Catholic church did elect an American, breaking a taboo against the identification of a geopolitical superpower with a spiritual one.
唐纳德-特朗普最终没有像他开玩笑说的那样被选为教皇。但在 5 月 8 日，罗马天主教会的红衣主教们确实选出了一位美国人，打破了将地缘政治超级大国与精神超级大国相提并论的禁忌。

It is unlikely that the American president will be overjoyed by the choice of Cardinal Robert Prevost. The new pontiff sent out a first message of his intent by choosing as his papal name Leo XIV: a homage to the last pope to adopt that name, who reigned from 1878 to 1903. Leo XIII was a progressive by the standards of his times. Known for his efforts to find an accommodation with the modern world, he was the father of the Catholic church’s social doctrine and the author of a seminal encyclical, Rerum Novarum (Of New Things).
罗伯特-普雷沃斯特枢机主教的选择不太可能让美国总统欣喜若狂。新教皇选择了利奥十四世作为自己的教皇名，这是他发出的第一个意向信息：向 1878 年至 1903 年在位的最后一位教皇致敬。利奥十三世在他的时代是一位进步人士。他因努力寻求与现代世界的融合而闻名，是天主教会社会教义之父，也是开创性通谕《新事物》（Rerum Novarum）的作者。

But the cardinals also voted for unity and compromise. Pope Leo has a reputation for discretion and reserve. He is no radical. The cardinals who chose him eschewed others more clearly associated with the liberal wing of the church and voted instead for someone with a good chance of bridging the chasm that has opened in Catholicism between progressives and traditionalists.
但红衣主教们也投票赞成团结和妥协。教皇利奥以谨慎和保守著称。他并不激进。选择他的红衣主教们摒弃了与教会自由派有更明显联系的其他人，转而投票给了一个很有可能弥合天主教中进步派与传统派之间鸿沟的人。

Speaking vigorously and in good Italian from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, the new pope, who is 69, began his first address as pontiff with the words “Peace be with you all.” Repeatedly in the speech that followed, the tanned and bespectacled Leo invoked the concept of peace, coupling it with those of justice, charity and, in one instance, a church “open to all”.
这位 69 岁的新教皇在圣彼得大教堂的中央阳台上用流利的意大利语铿锵有力地开始了他作为教皇的首次讲话，他说："愿和平与你们同在"。在随后的演讲中，肤色黝黑、面容俊朗的利奥多次提到和平的概念，并将其与正义、慈善以及 "向所有人开放 "的教堂等概念联系在一起。

The Chicago-born pontiff is scarcely typical of his fellow Americans. He has spent a large part of his life in Peru as a missionary, serving as a parish priest, teacher and later bishop. He became a Peruvian citizen in 2015 and thus has dual nationality. Leo headed the Augustinian order to which he belongs. And for the past two years, he has been in charge of one of the most important Vatican departments, which oversees the vetting of candidates for bishop.
这位出生于芝加哥的教皇几乎不是典型的美国人。他一生的大部分时间都在秘鲁传教，先后担任过教区牧师、教师和主教。他于 2015 年成为秘鲁公民，因此拥有双重国籍。利奥领导着他所属的奥古斯丁修会。过去两年来，他一直负责梵蒂冈最重要的部门之一，该部门负责监督主教候选人的审核工作。

Among the most pressing questions the cardinal-electors had to answer was whether, at a convulsive moment in international affairs, they wanted a pope ready to use the moral authority of the pontificate in the same way as his predecessor, to challenge the precepts of the new, populist right, notably in respect of migration. In electing Leo, who cited Francis in his first address, they have opted for a fair measure of continuity with the late pope’s approach. And the election of an exceptionally cosmopolitan American smacks of outright defiance of Mr Trump and his aggressive nationalism. On X, a social-media platform, then-Cardinal Prevost rebuked Vice-President J.D. Vance for his views on immigration. He also retweeted a post decrying the president’s attitude towards Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported from America to El Salvador.
红衣主教选举人必须回答的最紧迫的问题之一是，在国际事务的动荡时刻，他们是否希望有一位教皇能够像前任教皇一样利用教皇的道德权威，挑战新的民粹主义右派的戒律，尤其是在移民问题上。在选举利奥时，他在首次讲话中引用了方济各的话，这在一定程度上延续了已故教皇的做法。而选举一位特别具有世界性的美国人，则是对特朗普先生及其咄咄逼人的民族主义的公然反抗。在社交媒体平台 X 上，时任枢机主教普雷沃斯特抨击了副总统万斯（J.D. Vance）对移民问题的看法。他还转发了一个帖子，谴责总统对被从美国驱逐到萨尔瓦多的基尔马-阿布雷戈-加西亚（Kilmar Abrego Garcia）的态度。

The American pope shares the environmental concerns of his predecessor and supports the decentralisation of the church that Francis encouraged (within strict limits). “Dominion over nature”—the task that God gave to humanity—should not become “tyrannical”, he told a seminar in Rome last year. It must be a “relationship of reciprocity”.
这位美国教皇与前任教皇一样关注环境问题，并支持方济各鼓励的教会权力下放（在严格的限制范围内）。他去年在罗马的一次研讨会上说，"对自然的统治"--上帝赋予人类的任务--不应成为 "暴政"。它必须是一种 "互惠关系"。

But Leo is firmly opposed to receiving women into holy orders as deacons, let alone as priests. And he is unlikely to be as welcoming in his approach to gay people as his predecessor was. In a 2012 address to bishops, he regretted the promotion of “sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel”, citing as examples the “homosexual lifestyle” and “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children”.
但利奥坚决反对接受女性担任圣职执事，更不用说神父了。他也不可能像他的前任那样对同性恋者持欢迎态度。在 2012 年向主教们发表的讲话中，他对提倡 "同情与福音相悖的信仰和做法 "表示遗憾，并列举了 "同性恋生活方式 "和 "由同性伴侣及其收养子女组成的另类家庭 "为例。

The conclave once more validated the saying that “he who enters a pope leaves a cardinal”. Pietro Parolin, Francis’s secretary of state, had been the firm favourite of betters and bookies. The outcome also confounded predictions of a drawn-out election. Pope Leo was chosen on the fourth ballot on the day after the opening of the conclave. He becomes the 265th occupant of the throne of St Peter at a time of crisis and change. But in its two millennia the papacy has seen plenty of both. ■
这次会议再次验证了 "教皇入世，红衣主教出世 "的说法。方济各的国务秘书皮埃特罗-帕罗林一直是赌徒和博彩公司最看好的人选。选举结果也打破了人们对选举旷日持久的预测。教皇利奥在会议开幕后第二天的第四轮投票中当选。在危机和变革的时刻，他成为圣彼得宝座的第 265 位继承人。但在两千年的历史中，教皇制度经历了大量的危机和变革。■