Pope Leo XIV: I’m Spiritual, but not, Like, Religious, Y'know?
Pope pumps the brakes on "organized religion stuff"
RELINQUE ILLUD IN ECCLESIA AMICE
ENCYCLICAL LETTER
OF THE YEAR 2026
LEO XIV
BISHOP OF ROME
SERVANT OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD
TO ALL WHO READ THIS LETTER
LET’S NOT TAKE ALL THIS BIBLE STUFF SO LITERALLY, OK?
The universal Church changes slowly by design, but I reckon that after more than 2000 years, it’s time to let go of some of this “organized religion” stuff. The fact is, I’ve been thinking and reading a lot on r/unitarian, and I’ve been watching a ton of Tik Tok videos from people who have stopped going to mass. I just feel like in the 21st century, do I really need to go tell an old dude who’s never had sex about all my personal failings every week?
That’s why I’ve decided that I’m “spiritual”, but not religious.
I definitely still believe in a God or whatever. At least, something greater than myself. But is that something like, a literal God on a white cloud? I don’t know, man. Maybe. But I’ve realized that’s not what’s important to me anymore, you know?
When you become pope, it really makes you think deep about the Big Questions. Like, who even wrote the Bible? It sure wasn’t God, not directly. And was Jesus even, like, a real dude? I’m pretty sure there was at least some guy that inspired the whole “Christ” character, but the information we have is like, from a 2000-year old game of Telephone. Some of the deets are bound to get a little garbled.
My family are all still pretty religious, so I’m not sure how they’re going to take it. I just want to reassure everyone, I’m still going to go to church once in a while, and I’m still going to do the big holidays. I like the whole community aspect of it. I’m just not that into all the ceremony and gilded cathedral stuff anymore.
I had this crazy thought the other day when I was blessing ten thousand worshippers in St. Peter’s Square: what if, like, we are God. Like, when we die, do we return to some sort of ineffable universal consciousness that permeates the universe? Mind blown.
Then there’s the whole money side of things. I just feel like, you shouldn’t have to give tithes to be a good person, or whatever. Isn’t it better if I give directly to the Vatican food bank, rather than going through some intermediary that doesn’t look like they even need the money?
Anyways, I just wanted to get that off my chest. I’m still going to be doing Pope stuff, for now. I might not always wear the hat, though. And I just think it would be cool if I could have a spiritual side without getting so dogmatic and Christy about it.