Madden Mischief

If you were the papal publicist, would you simply provide media with all the latest medical reports on his condition, or would you see this also as an opportunity to generate deeper faith in God by making prayer the most potent medicine for Pope Leo XIV and his flock of believers?

I’m sure the Pope would urge you to especially do the latter as it would be not just medicine for himself but a prescription for invigorating Catholic faith worldwide.

As the papal publicist, of course, you must report all the latest medical findings but focus more hopefully on the doctors’ upbeat prognosis that the lung cancer should heal, yet perhaps not as soon as expected.  Yes, I would urge that you amplify the healing part of the story.

PR also should focus on any predictions as they occur of how soon Pope Leo will be returning to good health so he can continue working for the Almighty and all souls awaiting ascension to heaven.  

Of course, this would be seen as a blessing, a clear sign to the nearly billion and half Catholics worldwide that God wants the first American Pope, today’s Geoge Washington of Catholicism, to succeed. 

Pope Leo is the leader of nearly 20 percent of the global population baptized as catholic. And for America’s Catholics, this is especially true as the U.S. holds the largest share of this far flung, but what many believe is the holiest of the spiritual tribes on earth.

Roughly 45% of the global Catholic population resides in the United States of America where Pope Leo once lived in Chicago.

While Pope Leo’s family has had its health issues from his mother Mildred, succumbing to cancer in 1990 and his older brother Louis also having faced a cancer diagnosis, Pope Leo at 71 years old has remained physically active, working out weekly, playing tennis, horseback riding and not smoking.

And he has been a true fighter for what is right and staying healthy and vigorous for serving the greatest cause of all, serving our Lord and all those who believe in Him. 

Let us all pray that upcoming reports show that all the cancer was removed.

As Pope Leo’s current health battle has attracted global attention, it has sparked a memory in author, publicist Tom Madden as well.  Madden had his own health battle while he was a young lifeguard in Atlantic City, NJ.  On one hot summer day after work, he dove from his lifeboat onto what suddenly had appeared out of nowhere on the ocean floor, a sandbar on which he hit his head and broke his neck.  It took him many months to fully recover but left him always appreciative of those who fight and win health battles as he expects and prays for Pope Leo also to do.