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Commentary: In celebration of Pope Leo XIV: A secular Jew’s perspective

St. Peter's Square
Jean Clare Sarmiento/KJZZ
St. Peter's Square

The announcement of Cardinal Robert Prevost as Pope Francis’s successor moved me in a way I did not expect.

As a secular Jew — one deeply familiar with the fraught and often tragic history between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people — I found myself stunned, and, to my own surprise, uplifted.

There was something about this moment that transcended doctrine and denomination. It felt like a reaffirmation of conscience in a time of chaos.

Read the entire commentary on Substack In The Center Lane With Herb Paine →

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Commentator Herb Paine is president of Paine Consulting Services in Phoenix.