Keep Room In Your Heart for The Unimaginable

By Maria Shriver
May 17, 2025

Mary Oliver once wrote, “Keep room in your heart for the unimaginable.” I love that sentiment, and this week I did just that. I made room in my heart and my mind for the unimaginable. I ended up in Rome for the Pope’s invocation mass!

A week ago, that was beyond belief. And yet here I am.

Oprah, my girlfriend of four decades, called me last week and said, “Guess what? We got invited to Rome to go to the Pope’s inauguration.”

“Are you serious?” I said. “I’m beside myself.”

“That’s exactly what I said to the priest who invited us,” she replied. “I said, ‘Maria will be beside herself!’”

So I cancelled everything, and off we went—Oprah, Gayle, and myself—to experience the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the very first American from Chicago—my birthplace, and the place where my good friend Oprah birthed a new version of herself—become the Pope.

Yes, we had one of those unimaginable times. But before I tell you more about it, I want to reflect on something I wrote here last week. Do you remember when I said that if my mother were alive, she would’ve told me, “Maria, tell NBC you want to cover the Pope,” and I would’ve said, ‘Mummy, I already did and they said no.’”

Then I imagined her saying to me, “You don’t need them to say yes to you. Just go over there anyway and do it yourself!”

Well, when I wrote those words last week, I had no idea that I would actually end up in Rome and that I could, quote, “do it myself” for The Sunday Paper!

Turns out, my mother was right. I didn’t need NBC. I needed my friend who thought about me, and I needed my own eyes, ears, and heart. I needed my own ability to report back to you about what I saw, felt, and experienced.

When we arrived in Rome, we went straight to St. Peter’s Square to see where 300,000+ people would gather to attend the Pope’s inaugural mass on Sunday. I thought back to 12 years ago when I traveled to Rome on assignment to cover Pope Francis’s inaugural mass for NBC. I brought my son Christopher with me on that trip, and it was an amazing experience for us both. We traveled to Assisi, where St. Francis was born, to learn all about the man whose name the new Pope had taken.

That event began an amazing tenure for a man who would not only change the Church but change the world as well with his ideas, his actions, and his teachings. He certainly was a generous influence on me. His teachings on the poor, on climate, and on judgment—and that the Church need not judge—still resonate deeply in my life.

Ironically every store in St. Peter’s Square still has rosaries with the former Pope’s picture on them. We were told Pope Leo’s picture doesn’t get approved until after Sunday!

Our first night in Rome, my friends and I had dinner with Cardinal Mario Grech from Malta, his brother, and other friends. Cardinal Grech is head of the Synod of Bishops and he now lives in Rome. He took us inside and told us what the conclave was like. He also told us about Pope Leo—whom he knows well—and assured us that this new Pope would not only be a man who builds bridges but one who seeks to unite as well.

We had an amazing evening of conversation about the role and opportunity for the Church and the Pope in today’s world, where people are, as the bishop said, “searching for something more in their lives.”

We spoke about the need for a voice to rise above, speak to all, and offer not just hope for this moment, but meaning and purpose as well. Cardinal Grech told us how hopeful he is that Pope Leo will speak not just to Catholics but to anyone looking for more in their lives.

It’s hard to be in Rome at a moment such as this and not feel more grounded in one’s faith. It’s hard to be at an event such as this and not be hopeful.

And yet, I know the world feels heavy right now. Just this weekend, at least 27 lives were lost in devastating tornadoes in Kentucky, Illinois, and Virginia. My hear goes out to these families and communities as they experience this painful reminder of how fragile life is, and how important healing and compassion are in times of need.

As a lifelong Catholic, I’m well aware of all the struggles, scandals, and challenges the Church has faced and still faces. I’m aware that it will be impossible for one man to erase all of that. But one man, with his words, his actions, and his deeds, can direct us forward and can indeed make a difference. One man, with his words, can make us think anew, help us reason, and bring new perspective to this moment.

And that I welcome. I’m hopeful that this man, born and raised in America, formed in many ways in Peru, will bring discernment, perspective, and love to the world stage.

I’m hopeful that his words will unite in a time of division, heal in a time of heartbreak, and calm in a time of upheaval.

My friends and I are only in Rome for a weekend. I know, I know. But one of my wishes for the new year was more spontaneous adventures and to make room for the unimaginable—and voilà!

Tomorrow, my friends, I’ll be in Las Vegas at the WAM Forum (you can join us here through this livestream, if you’re interested). It will be an unprecedented gathering of doctors, researchers, advocates, and activists in the women’s brain health and Alzheimer’s prevention space. We will gather to announce our new women’s Alzheimer’s research grants and three new awards honoring leadership in the caregiving space, the corporate space, and the philanthropy arena, including my late good friend Elaine Wynn, who donated so generously to WAM and who just passed away a few weeks ago.

I’m so proud of the pioneering work that WAM has done and continues to do. At a time such as this, when medical research and scientists are under attack, we at WAM continue to stay the course. We continue to honor researchers with funds so they can continue their work to try and determine the root cause of the changes in the brain that lead to Alzheimer’s. It’s critical work if we want to understand why 2/3 of all the brains diagnosed with Alzheimer’s belong to women. It’s work that should not be stopped by politics.

Like so many priests and nuns who toil on the frontlines of humanity—so often invisible in their work—so too are the many researchers who toil in small laboratories around the world. They all strive to change our world in their own way. They all hope for something better to emerge from their efforts. They all deserve our support for their life-changing work.

Which brings me back to Rome. Seeing so many people here for this occasion who have dedicated their lives to God is incredibly inspiring. They are trying to nurture, pastor, and serve in towns and cities and rural villages all across the world. They have big hopes and dreams for this man, Pope Leo.

I found it awe-inspiring that Cardinal Grech told us that once the conclave elects a Pope, a cardinal stands before him and asks him if he wants to accept the job—a job that will change everything about his life, from his name, to his home, to every second of his life. Cardinal Grech said to us, “His life is no longer his. It must be a calling. He must feel compelled to serve because the enormity and complexity of the job is overwhelming.” Once he accepts, that is that!

Can you imagine that moment? Can you imagine the enormity of that? And he must say yes every day thereafter. Think about that.

As we toured Vatican City, the chapel of the cardinals, and the Sistine chapel where the conclave took place just a mere week ago, I found myself thinking a lot about what I say and what I feel called to do. I found myself thinking about the bridges that I can help build and the unity I can help foster.

Ironically, just as I was thinking about that, we ran into Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his delegation taking the same tour as we were. He spoke about his first trip to Rome and his hope that perhaps the Pope could be an asset in not just promoting peace around the world, but in actually achieving it!

By the time you read this essay, I may still be at the inaugural mass or I may be in the air heading to Las Vegas for Monday’s forum. No matter where I am, know this: I’m so grateful my friend brought me to witness history. I’m so grateful I got to listen to the history of the Vatican and to feel, in a small way, what it was like to be in that room when so many came together so quickly to rally around a man they felt could lead so us through difficult times. They selected a man who has spent his life preparing to say yes.

Yes to serving, yes to to God, yes to making a difference, and yes to us.

I hope today you too can spend some time thinking about your calling because, yes, we all have one. I hope you will also think about what you are saying yes to in life. Is it what you want to say yes to without a shadow of a doubt? Is it a yes you are proud of, a yes that you feel committed to, a yes that you feel is making a difference? I hope the answer is a resounding yes. And if it’s not, perhaps think about the unimaginable and what’s possible for you that you haven’t even dreamed of yet. You never know.

The truth is, my friends, that Pope Leo finds himself in an unimaginable place at this moment. He will not only need the support of the more than one billion Catholics around the world. He will need the support of all to build the bridges he says he wants and to bring about the peace he says he envisions, and—dare I add—the unity we all long for in a time such as this.

As I return home, I carry with me a renewed sense of faith, purpose, and awe. May we all continue to make room in our hearts for the extraordinary. Because sometimes, the unimaginable is exactly what we need to believe in again.