Sharing Papal Realities with Children

Megan Cottam reviews Pope Leo XIV: The Election of a Pope in Pictures from EWTN Publishing.

Pope Leo XIV: The Election of a Pope in Pictures

Published by EWTN Publishing

Everyone has their “Where were you?” story for the moment they found out the Catholic Church had a new Pope. I was travelling with a priest mentor as we experienced the news one wave after another in a series of revelations: Yes, the Pope was American. Yes, he attended Catholic Theological Union where I met my husband. Yes, he is the exact same age as my priest friend.

The connections to this Pope just kept surfacing. We were listening to the news on the radio as coworkers and professors whom I’ve known throughout my time in Chicago were interviewed and floods of memories returned. I swelled with the profound sense of pride I had for my Church and how far we have come in the past decade in the United States. 

Lost in Translation 

However, I found it difficult to express all of these layers of emotions with my own children. They had not experienced Chicago. They had never seen a Pope be elected and were unaware of all the various rituals involved. Mostly, they had no idea of the Catholic jargon being spewed back and forth between my husband and I as we excitedly recounted the news. When we finally stopped to take a breath, we realized we had two faces staring at us completely confused. How could we include them in this historical moment? 

Visual Learners Rejoice! 

Enter Pope Leo XIV: The Election of a Pope in Pictures from EWTN Publishing for the assistance I needed. This beautiful work does a tremendous job of matching stunning and vulnerable photography with a narration that is complete, yet accessible. It is a work meant for a coffee table or entryway, ready to be digested a few pages at a time. As a family, we were able to share particular moments and traditions in the Catholic Church with visuals that conveyed the depth of emotions experienced by Vatican officials. There is a wonderful balance of Church history, biography of Pope Leo, and step-by-step narration of the process of papal elections that make this work valuable beyond the moment of this particular election. The writing is in manageable chunks, balancing substantial information with focused brevity. 

Pope Leo XIV: The Election of a Pope in Pictures is the work you need when facilitating catechesis on the process of papal elections, but also in showing that the leadership of the Catholic Church has a true human element, with all of the touching and challenging moments involved in leading Christ’s Church on earth. Start planning the perfect public place to display this great book and enjoy the memories and conversation starters that naturally emerge among your family or catechetical group. 

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Copyright 2026 Megan Cottam
Images: (top) detail from cover