Today, we will meet the new leader of the Catholic church after the death of Pope Francis in April 2025. There’s a haunting beauty in the ritual of electing a new pope—the smoke rising, the ancient chants, the robes laid out in solemn preparation. It speaks to our longing for meaning, tradition, and divine guidance. But as I watched the white smoke curl into the sky and the world hold its breath waiting to see who would step out onto that balcony, I can’t help but feel the weight of a deeper truth stirring.
In the Law of One, Ra speaks of two primary spiritual paths: the path of service to others and the path of service to self. While the Catholic Church may appear, on the surface, to walk a path of service, the deeper energetics of this ritual expose a distortion—a leaning, at times, toward the service-to-self path cloaked in holy garments. Not many stop to consider this.
This isn’t a judgment of individuals, many of whom may be sincere in their devotion. It’s a reflection on systems—on how easily the sacred can be co-opted by hierarchy, control, and the illusion that truth lives outside of us. The idea that one man—dressed in a custom robe, chosen in secrecy by a group of elites—can speak for God, is a reflection of a society that still seeks authority outside of itself. It’s the same distortion that Ra warns of: the relinquishing of one’s inner compass in favor of externally validated truth. In doing so, we risk abandoning our own sacred connection to the Infinite Creator.
Ra teaches that true service to others is humble, free of distortion, and rooted in love and unity, not power. Yet the Church, one of the wealthiest institutions on Earth, continues to hold vast resources while millions suffer in poverty, war, and spiritual abandonment. It is a striking example of what happens when spiritual structures become enmeshed with worldly power—where faith becomes spectacle, and ritual becomes governance.
This ritual—beautiful as it may be—also serves as a mirror. It invites us to ask:
- Have we traded intimacy with the Creator for ceremony?
- Have we accepted spectacle in place of inner stillness?
- Have we mistaken hierarchy for holiness?
Ra reminds us that the Creator lives within. We are not meant to follow blindly, but to remember that each of us is a spark of the Infinite Light. True awakening is not found in a robe, a title, or a smoke signal—it’s found in the quiet knowing that you are already connected, already divine, and already enough. The world is changing. The veil is thinning. And maybe, just maybe, we are being asked to stop waiting for someone else to step out on the balcony. Maybe it’s time we each put on the robe of our own soul’s wisdom and begin walking the path—not of blind faith, but of conscious love.
