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An American pope brings American-style governance to the Vatican, even in a health crisis · Best of: Features

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  An American Pope brings American style governance to the Vatican, even in
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  a health crisis. This article is being read
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  by an automated voice generated by Everlett. Vatican CITY, the AP
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  There's a telling anecdote from Saint John Paul the Second's Pontificate that
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  illustrates how Pope Leo the Fourteenth and his American style of governing
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  have changed the Vatican and the way it handles papal health crises.
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  The Polish Pope, eighty four at the time, was back at Gemelli
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  Hospital battling an acute respiratory infection, breathing problems, And the worsening effects
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  on his larynx of Parkinson's disease, which had made speaking nearly impossible
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  and breathing difficult. Doctors performed a tracheotomy under anesthesia, an incision in
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  John Paul's windpipe, to help him breathe, and yet the next morning
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  his spokesman gave reporters a remarkably rosy, seemingly implausible update. John Paul
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  had eaten his regular breakfast of coffee with milk, ten cookies, and
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  a yogurt. Something that would suffocate anyone. Church historian Alberto Meloni recalled
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  Friday, but it was normal then that they told lies about the
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  Pope. Those were the rules of the game. Two papacies, and twenty
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  years later, Pope Leo the Fourteenth has changed the rules of the
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  game. Not only did history's first American Pope announce himself that he
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  had a lung nodule that required surgery, live on television during his
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  Sunday noon blessing from the Apostolic Palace, but Leo's doctors have been
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  providing the medical updates for his recovery. Not the Vatican Every day
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  since Leo's surgery Tuesday, Leo's personal physician Doctor Luigi Carbone, and the
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  head of thoracic surgery at Gemelli, Doctor Stefano Margheratore, have signed the
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  medical bulletins updating the world on Leo’s
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  recovery. The Vatican spokesman has provided information primarily involving non medical details,
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  the mass Leo celebrated, the Vatican officials who visited. The written medical
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  updates are spare but provide authoritative information, with a degree of accountability
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  and transparency that has long been anathema to the Vatican. American style
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  good governance practices at play, Leo's handling of his cancer is in
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  many ways textbook American style corporate good governance, applied to the Catholic
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  Church, said Julie Rubio, a professor of Christian social ethics at the
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  Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University. Even though it doesn't
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  seem all than
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  revolutionary, best practices of relying on experts, transparency, evaluation, all those kinds
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  of things are practices that are good for an institution, she said.
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  She said Leo, the American math major pope, had already brought such
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  best practices into his governing style at the Vatican, most visibly in
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  the official rollout in May of his encyclical on artificial intelligence. Rather
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  than have a handful of prelates talk about the encyclical at a
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  Vatican press conference, Leo himself presided over the presentation. To provide a
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  spectrum of voices, perspective and experience, Leo had on the stage with
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  him three cardinals, two O lay female theologians, from Britain and Congo,
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  and the co founder of AI developer Anthropic. Rubio said. The inclusive
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  presentation was in keeping with the effort, begun by Pope Francis, to
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  make the church less clerical and more reflective of the real world.
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  It's a church that relies on lay expertise in the way that
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  Leo relied on media advice to have the nodule removed, she said.
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  Those kinds of practices actually can be pretty transformative to a place,
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  she said, though obviously the transformation is a process. Francis governed alone
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  and declined medical advice. The process began to some degree under the
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  Francis Pontificate, when the Argentine Pope took the reins of the Vatican
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  communications apparatus and gave dozens of sit down interviews over the course
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  of twelve years, often without informing his media handlers. That level of
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  control precluded a Vatican media operation from spinning tall tales as occurred
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  during John Paul's reign. But when it came to his own health
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  and governing style, Francis was opaque, stubborn, and often shunned expert advice.
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  His go it alone attitude in everything from Vatican diplomacy to communications
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  extended to his view of doctors. He repeatedly refused medical advice, even
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  as his already fragile respiratory health and mobility deteriorated. Francis had strained
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  ligaments in his right knee that made walking difficult, but he refused
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  to operate on it, saying he didn't like the effects of anesthesia.
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  Eventually he was unable to walk and had to use a wheelchair.
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  He similarly refused to go to the hospital, as his pneumonia worsened
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  toward the end of his life, even as he swelled with the
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  effects of cortisone and other treatments. Maloney recalled that Francis was very
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  much a Jesuit, a militant style religious order, and its pope a
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  Rambo style fighter who governed alone. He was, Maloney said, a man
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  who takes care of himself, a man who, if injured, fights back,
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  a man who always had to give his proof of military style
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  valor. Leo, on the other hand, is the perfect civilian patient. He
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  listens to expert medical advice and follows it. Like most people who
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  get sick, Maloney said. Leo moved quickly to remove the nodule. Considering
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  other cases of cancer in his family, with his brother currently being
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  treated for blood cancer, he said. He knows that this disease, as
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  is obviously the case with all diseases of that sort, is unpredictable,
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  he said. Other ways Leo is changing the Vatican. Leo is making
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  his mark on governing, even from the hospital, and showing who is
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  in charge in other ways, too. Late Friday The Vatican announced he
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  had spoken by telephone with Russian President Vladimir Putin and expressed his
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  deep concern about the grave humanitarian situation in the city of Oleshki,
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  in the Kherson region, and called for a ceasefire to allow the
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  delivery of food and medical assistance, and the voluntary and safe evacuation
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  of the civilian population. The statement was significant, showing Leo was well.
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  Enough to conduct official diplomatic business from the hospital, was keeping up
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  with world events, and was continuing to promote his message of peace
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  as he recovers from surgery. The Kremlin readout of the call suggested
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  progress had actually been made on the humanitarian front. But the demonstration
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  of Leo's leadership was significant also because it came as intrigue was
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  consuming the Vatican over the fate of the Secretary of State, Cardinal
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  Pietro Perolin. The seasoned diplomat had said Leo's pontificate may have to
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  be adjusted. Given his cancer diagnosis, a bold claim given all indications,
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  were that Leo was recovering well. Perolin, who had been Francis top
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  deputy but remains in the job, was considered a leading contender in
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  the conclave that elected Leo, and was recently passed over as Dean
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  of the College of Cardinals. Perhaps tellingly, he was not among the
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  Vatican officials who visited Leo Friday. Associated Press Religion Coverage receives
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  support through the AP's collaboration with the Conversation US with funding from
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  Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.