New Pope Robert Prevost from USA

I saw the smoke come out white when I was watching the news and waited for the announcement of who was the new pope. I was surprised he was an American but he seems to be the right choice to me.
 

old medic said:
He has taken my Grandfather and Fathers name..... Leo Francis.... they were 1st and 2nd.... don't know who the other 11 were.....

God bless him
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Here you go
  • Pope Leo I (The Great): (440–461)
  • Pope Leo II: (682–683)
  • Pope Leo III: (795–816)
  • Pope Leo IV: (847–855)
    • Pope Leo V: (903)
    • Pope Leo VI: (928–929)
    • Pope Leo VII: (936–939)
    • Pope Leo VIII: (964–965)
    • Pope Leo IX: (1049–1054)
    • Pope Leo X: (1513–1521)
    • Pope Leo XI: (1605)
    • Pope Leo XII: (1823–1829)
    • Pope Leo XIII: (1878–1903)
    • Pope Leo XIV: (2025–presen
 
spectratg said:
And that is hubris on our part.
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I think calling ourselves Americans is just an oddity of our situation. I think for most of us, it's just what we were taught to call ourselves. We may be guilty of hubris in many situations, but I'm not sure it's the case in this situation. We are after all, just as American as Canadians or Mexicans, or someone from Tierra del Fuego.

OK, maybe that misses the point. There is the possibility that people from Europe expect us to be more specific in our self identification, but there is no special word that we can use to identify ourselves as from the United States, like Canadian, or Mexican, or Brazilian. There is no United Statesian, so things get kind of cumbersome. Of course it's not a big deal to say I'm from the United States of America, but it lacks the convenience of brevity.
 
This is how the media divides us. Without the internet, this conversation is not happening somewhere around the world. With the internet it is happening all over the internet. All you have to do is pull a noun or good solid verb from a sentence, isolate it, and point out some ridiculous flaw in it. It works every time! :)
 
JustDave said:
I think calling ourselves Americans is just an oddity of our situation. I think for most of us, it's just what we were taught to call ourselves. We may be guilty of hubris in many situations, but I'm not sure it's the case in this situation. We are after all, just as American as Canadians or Mexicans, or someone from Tierra del Fuego.
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Well, I work in an academic context, where even minor variations in meaning, or interpreted meaning, come under scrutiny. I just finished working on a book where this exact example (i.e., "United States" vs. "America") came up, and the authors had distinct preferences.

And even 'way back in journalism school (back when journalism was still a profession ( :rolleyes: ) we were taught to pay careful attention to nuances in terminology.
 
Irishdude said:
The Church needs reform. It needs to end clerical celibacy and allow priests to marry, to acknowledge the virtues of birth control, and to ordain women. Recognizing gay marriage and tolerating abortion may be wishful thinking, but it could at least be discussed. Once these structural issues are addressed the Church can take on the larger issues of peace, equality, and compassion.
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Irishdude, totally agree with you. But I doubt any of that will occur in our lifetime, nor in the lifetimes of our great grand kids. It took at least 400 years that burning witches was not a good idea.
 
KSav said:
Well, I work in an academic context, where even minor variations in meaning, or interpreted meaning, come under scrutiny. I just finished working on a book where this exact example (i.e., "United States" vs. "America") came up, and the authors had distinct preferences.

And even 'way back in journalism school (back when journalism was still a profession ( :rolleyes: ) we were taught to pay careful attention to nuances in terminology.
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I won't argue that not paying attention to nuances does not cause problems. We have enough problems with sloppy communication, and we don't need to add to it.

As for authors having distinct preferences, do you mean distinct as opposing each other, or distinct from the often common usage?

Here is something else to throw into the discussion. Years ago, I was in a global forum where someone brought up this same issue, and criticized people from the United States for the audacity of calling themselves American. It was not someone from either of the America's, and this drew a lot of agreement from others across the pond who then began finding all sorts of faults with Americans. Note: They used the term "Americans" to fault people from the United States for calling themselves American, as well as for the rest of all our faults. Apparently, that particular door can swing both ways.

So years later, in forums like this one I try to pay careful attention to that particular nuance, so as to avoid thread drift, and arguments that I'd rather not start. However, it's possible to make that mistake. It's as possible as making a grammatical error.
 
JustDave said:
I won't argue that not paying attention to nuances does not cause problems. We have enough problems with sloppy communication, and we don't need to add to it.

As for authors having distinct preferences, do you mean distinct as opposing each other, or distinct from the often common usage?

Here is something else to throw into the discussion. Years ago, I was in a global forum where someone brought up this same issue, and criticized people from the United States for the audacity of calling themselves American. It was not someone from either of the America's, and this drew a lot of agreement from others across the pond who then began finding all sorts of faults with Americans. Note: They used the term "Americans" to fault people from the United States for calling themselves American, as well as for the rest of all our faults. Apparently, that particular door can swing both ways.

So years later, in forums like this one I try to pay careful attention to that particular nuance, so as to avoid thread drift, and arguments that I'd rather not start. However, it's possible to make that mistake. It's as possible as making a grammatical error.
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Thread drift -- that's where all the fun is!

You're so right about "Americans." No Canadian would ever call himself an American (especially nowadays) but every Canadian is happy to criticize us when we do call ourselves Americans.

The very good series The Americans wouldn't have the same ring if it were entitled The People from the United States. Nor would the Tom Petty song American Girl.
 
spectratg said:
By the way, Pope Leo is not the first American pope! His predecessor Pope Francis was. Good choice on the part of the Cardinals.
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When US persons are discussing whatever within a US only audience, to refer to us as "Americans" works well. We citizens have always used the term that way. However today given the Internet and its worldwide exposure to news, that is something that should change within global audiences lest we be increasingly criticized as inconsiderate and arrogant. And that does not mean instead using awkward terms like United Staters". Instead it is easy to slightly modify the term, especially on informal boards like this with say "US Americans.
 
The newly chosen Pope is a language master. He speaks English, French, Italian, Spanish, and Portugese. Before the Conclave made their choice, I had remarked to my Wife that perhaps the new man would be a "Non European" , from China, India, or Africa as a move away from the choices that were made in the past. It remains to be seen what way he will steer the Roman Catholic church, in the future. JIM.
 

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