Since the election of Pope Leo XIV, a strange argument about the work of the Holy Spirit and God’s sovereignty is floating around on Catholic X, and it goes a little something like this:
I’m not here to pick on Matt Walsh, who’s just one of many people making this argument. But since we do need to have a “conversation about the pope,” that conversation must include the pope’s “modern political” views because, unfortunately, then-Bishop Robert Prevost chose to make those views part of the conversation by (re)tweeting about them for years. For a decade-plus, Prevost posted and reposted left-wing talking points about George Floyd, gun control, global warming, immigration, race relations, Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and more. Pointing that out isn’t a “gotcha game” or a troll. Because our theology informs our politics, a person’s politics can usually tell us a little something about his theology.
But the tweets don’t necessarily tell us what kind of leader Leo will be. The far more important part of Walsh’s tweet is the bit about God’s sovereignty.
It is a little funny to watch Roman Catholics — many of whom demand that non-Catholics “either convert, or stop yapping,” as if non-Catholics can’t possibly have an informed opinion about Catholicism — claim that we Protestants don’t believe the Holy Spirit was involved in electing this pope or that the election wasn’t “ordained by God.” That couldn’t be further from the truth. There’s a lot of question-begging going on here, including the assumption that non-Catholics don’t believe in God’s sovereignty over matters of Catholic import, the assumption that analyzing the pope’s own blatantly political retweets is “mapping” modern politics onto the pope, and the apparent assumption that God’s sovereignty equates to His approval.
Christians can and should believe that God is sovereign over papal outcomes, even if they don’t buy the legitimacy of the papacy. When Scripture is correctly viewed as one big redemptive story, GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY is like a giant flashing neon sign. You can’t miss it — from Abraham to Joseph to Ruth to David to Christ, from eternity past to eternity future. Even Judas was sovereignly selected to be one of the original 12 disciples, despite Christ knowing the betrayer would literally sell Him out. As the Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.”
At the risk of “mapping” politics onto this discussion, that’s why we can confidently say President Donald Trump’s narrow escape from an assassination attempt was God protecting him, just as we can say the Barack Obama and Joe Biden presidencies were God-orchestrated. These aren’t commentaries on the men’s souls but rather on God’s supreme rule and reign.
If Catholics really want to get into the minds of Protestants, at least those among the Reformed tradition, they should know we so trust in the biblically revealed sovereignty of God that we believe He ordains not only pastors, authorities, and events, but even the ends (through divine election) and the means (through effectual evangelism and faith) of our very salvation.
But here’s what Catholics miss (wrongly) when they insist (rightly) upon God’s sovereignty over the papacy: The Lord’s reign over all He has made isn’t proof that He approves of all He allows.
Or, as one reply to Walsh so eloquently put it, “Appealing to divine ordination as a shield against criticism is the theological equivalent of duct-taping ‘God wills it’ over every inconvenient heresy.”
King Saul is an apt example. The book of 1 Samuel is clear that God “anointed” Saul to be the first king of Israel after the period of the judges. But the selection of Saul was in response to Israel’s sin in demanding an earthly king. God told Samuel the Israelites only wanted a king because they “rejected [the Lord] from being king over them.”
In the end, after having orchestrated Saul’s kingship, the Lord rejected Saul for his disobedience, Saul went mad, and eventually, Saul took his own life to avoid Philistine torture. God was sovereign in selecting King Saul, yes, but that sovereignty didn’t amount to His approval of the Israelites’ schemes. The Lord accomplished His will in spite of man’s wicked desires and devices.
Saul’s not the only one. God has ordained every other bad world leader throughout all time. King Nebuchadnezzar was bad, then good, then bad, and then insane. Jeroboam was wicked from the get-go. Pharaoh enslaved God’s people. Herod killed babies. And Pilate handed an innocent Jesus over to be crucified. Yet God appointed them all.
But He also appointed prophets and other leaders who were clearly sinful, yet had hearts for God and displayed faithful leadership. Moses murdered a guy and let his anger get the best of him, to the point that he couldn’t enter the Promised Land with his people, yet he’s regarded as a hero of the faith. David impregnated another man’s wife and then tried to cover it up by sending that man to the front lines of battle to die, yet he’s considered a man after God’s own heart. More recently, God ordained the election of Pope John Paul II, an imperfect man who became head of the Roman Catholic Church and helped bring about the fall of communism.
Sometimes God raises up leaders for our blessing and sometimes for our punishment, but He ordains them nonetheless. It’s too soon to tell what kind of head Leo will be. There’s still a chance he can be a better leader than he was a tweeter, and Catholics and Protestants alike should hope and pray for that.
But you can criticize the pope — and even reject the papacy — without rejecting God’s sovereignty.
Jesus Christ is King
