"The only time I could really be considered a saint is when I was a child. God was my friend and my innocence kept me away from sin" – Pope Stephen X
It is hard to believe that the Church never had an Irish Pope until now. The Catholic Religion is a vital part of the Irish heritage. It is not just something people do every Sunday, it is part of an Irish person's personality. The Irish people have fought for the right to be Catholic and they suffered for it. The Church had helped society by giving the people moral standards, as well as helping with education and health and of course the poor.
The Church had a lot of influence. Some people say that it had more power than politicians. People flocked to Churches every Sunday and listened to every word the priest had to say. The Priest was a respected celebrity in every town and was more important than the town mayor!
This was the world that an Irish boy was born in. He was baptized as Andrew Sullivan, but we all know him as Pope Stephen X.
Who would guess that an Irish boy would one day become the Pope? He was born in an ordinary family, where his mom worked at home and his dad worked with construction. The family was devout Catholics. They went to Church where they sat in the same pew every Sunday. They prayed the Rosary and the Angeles. They went to confessions. In fact, the only strange thing about them is that they did not own a Bible! But all in all, they had a good reputation for being a good Catholic family.
Religion was not just something that Andrew was interested in. It was a vital part of his life. This could be seen in his relationship with God. In other words, God was not a concept or something abstract to Andrew, God was his best friend. From early on Andrew was pious and never hid the fact that his friendship with God was the most important part of his life.
Despite he was so pious and religious, Andrew led a normal life. He had friends at school and they did not question his faith. I fact, many of them had a similar faith and being a good Catholic was nothing to be ashamed about. Andrew done well at school and in his free time, he was a scout.
This did not mean that Andrew was without sin. He often had a fight with his mother, especially as a teenager. He even was caught stealing from a store once! On top of all this, his parents did not like that he was a huge Madonna fan. This was a pop-star that often was involved in controversy and challenged the Catholic Church.
There was no sign that this boy would one day be the Pope!
When Andrew was old enough to read books, he read books about saints. He loved reading about Saint Bernadette and Thérèse of Lisieux. These books strengthened his Catholic Faith. Andrew had an ambition that he wanted to be a saint. This worried his parents, that worried that Religion was being like a drug for him. They were proud of him that he had faith, but was scared at his ambition of being a saint.
During one of their fights, Andrews's mother told him that he is the last one that will be a saint. She reminded him that Saints did not give cheek or argue with their parents, and did not complain when it was time to do chores. She also noticed that he had one girlfriend after another girlfriend. This is not something that a saint would do.
I spoke with Father Sheehan, who was the parish priest at the time and remembered Andrew, "There was nothing special about him. He was like any other boy in the parish. I knew that he was a good Catholic. He was never an altar boy. He told me that he was not fit to be one as he sinned a lot. However, I did notice that he was in the scouts."
Father Sheehan smiled and told me that he remembered that Andrew was adored by the girls. At school dances, he would dance with many girls. He also remembered that he told the confirmation class that his ambition was to be a saint. "This was not a bad ambition," he said, "After all that is the major reason we have saints, so we can try and imitate their lives."
One major figure in Andrews's childhood was his grandmother. She would take him to the Church and light candles, where after they would sit in silence and pray. She told her friends proudly that Andrew always wanted to pray. It was there that he felt closest to God. She also told friends that he asked a lot of questions, like why were there not women priests? Why were there protestants? In fact, these questions were the same he asked when he became the Pope.
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