Leo XIV’s appointment of Fr. Kenneth Thorson as Bishop of Prince Albert would have been almost unimaginable in the age of Pius XII. Consider the themes that emerge from his public statements.
The traditional missionary model is criticized as colonial. The effort to convert indigenous peoples is portrayed as harmful. The belief that salvation comes only through the Catholic Church is treated as a theological mistake of the past.
Catholicism itself is described as having wrongly considered itself “superior.” The missionary is no longer the teacher but the student. The evangelizer is no longer sent to bring truth but to discover truth. The Church is no longer the ark of salvation but a conversation partner.
Notice how dramatically the center of gravity has shifted. For centuries Catholic missionaries crossed oceans believing they possessed something the world desperately needed: the fullness of divine revelation. They endured disease, persecution, exile, imprisonment, and martyrdom because they believed souls were at stake.
St. Francis Xavier traveled to Asia and the North American Jesuit martyrs were boiled, tortured, and mutilated because they believed Jesus Christ founded one Church. That conviction animated the missionary age. Today the missionary is often told to apologize for having possessed it.
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