American Catholics didn’t want an American pope.
The idea was off the table because everyone told them it was unrealistic. How could the world’s cardinals go into the conclave and give the world a pope from the world’s only superpower?
Although the media have hyped Pope Leo as a Francis protégé, expect the American pope to operate differently.
Impossible.
But God has a way of making the impossible a reality.
The choice of Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as the new leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics almost echoes what Donald Trump said in his recent inaugural address. “In America, the impossible is what we do best.”
For Pope Leo XIV, however, the real work is just beginning.
He was officially inaugurated yesterday, on Pope St. John Paul’s 105th birthday. Now the first American-born pope must begin mending the Vatican’s strained relationship with the United States, which was left in tatters by his predecessor, Pope Francis.
Francis, who died on April 21 after a lengthy illness, visited the United States only once. During his 12-year pontificate, his disdain for the home of the free was palpable.
The late pope became a worldwide media darling in 2013 after taking a soft stance on homosexual behavior. “If a person is gay and seeks God and has goodwill, who am I to judge him?”
Francis also drew the ire of American Catholics in 2021 when he imposed restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass, which sharply contrasted with Pope Benedict XVI, who had loosened restrictions during his pontificate. Many were perplexed because the TLM attracted young Catholics and represented a growing segment of the church worldwide.
Francis regularly waded into American politics. In 2016, he challenged President Donald Trump’s policy of securing the U.S.-Mexico border by celebrating Mass in the border city of Ciudad Juárez.
Hours later, aboard the papal plane, he denounced Trump personally. “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,” he said. The irony, which most of us caught, was that he was returning to Vatican City, which has 40-foot walls.
The pope stepped up his criticism earlier this year in a letter to American bishops, knocking Trump’s treatment of migrants and claiming that deportations violate the “dignity of many men and women, and of entire families.”
Before last week’s conclave, the new pontiff criticized the Trump administration’s immigration policy. His final X post before being elected was a retweet of a message from Philadelphia-based Catholic commentator Rocco Palmo, who on April 14 blasted Trump’s agreement with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele regarding the deportation of illegal migrants.
“As Trump & Bukele use Oval to [laugh emoji] Feds’ illicit deportation of a US resident… once an undoc-ed Salvadorean himself, now-DC [auxiliary bishop] Evelio [Menjivar] asks, ‘Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you stay quiet?’” the post reads.
The Pope’s old X account @drprevost has been deleted. However, once the honeymoon period is over, Catholics should expect the new Holy Father to wade into politics as Francis did. I suspect Pope Leo will be far more diplomatic and nuanced than his predecessor in the political arena.
Pope Leo must also mend fences with American Catholics who prefer the Traditional Latin Mass. Under Pope Benedict XVI’s pontificate, TLM attendance boomed, particularly among young Catholics. The German pontiff loosened restrictions on the old form of liturgy, only to see Francis restrict its practice.
Pope Leo XIV buoyed the hopes of Latin Mass adherents last week when he began his Sunday Angelus message by singing the “Regina Caeli” (Queen of Heaven) in Latin. The new pope has expressed support for the Traditional Latin Mass, emphasizing the importance of maintaining sacred rituals and the Church’s rich heritage. His leadership is seen as a continuation of efforts to balance modernity with traditional practices in Catholic worship.
While rebuilding the Holy See’s relationship with the United States must be a top priority for Leo, he has bigger fish to fry. The pope has inherited a financial mess, including a pension time bomb that is worse than expected.
The Vatican has faced significant budget deficits for decades. The recent budget shortfall of $94.22 million and ongoing financial scandals persist despite Francis’s reform efforts.
The 69-year-old Chicago native will also need to grapple with the ongoing homosexual influence within the Vatican and in the American Church, as well as the decline of Catholicism in Europe, and heal worldwide divisions in the wake of Francis’ 12-year pontificate.
Although the media have hyped Pope Leo as a Francis protégé, expect the American pope to operate differently. His decades of service in Latin America, leadership in the Augustinian order, and two years at the Vatican have given him the credibility to implement the reforms the Church has desperately needed for the past two decades.
The challenges facing the new pope may seem impossible, but then again, so was his election.
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