After just two-days, and four votes, the largest and most geographically diverse papal conclave in history has chosen to elect a surprise dark horse candidate as the new leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
Coming relatively quickly, the election of American and Peruvian dual citizen, Cardinal Robert Prevost, as the next pontiff, may sadly not be what conservatives and traditionalists hoped and prayed for after the liberal, tradition-breaking Francis.
At least not on political issues such as immigration, gun control and the death penalty, though he has kept his views on topics such as women clergy and same sex unions noticeably quiet.
He is also enigmatic on specific Catholic traditions, such as whether to rescind his predecessor’s ban on the Latin Mass.
As the Daily Mail reported, “the tennis loving cardinal…also known as Father Bob – is seen as the ‘least American of the Americans’ and…a silent reformer who would carry on the work of Pope Francis.”
The more extreme MAGA elements are already in outrage mode, calling the new pontiff names.
While it may be too early to be sure, my first instinct is that the world’s first American Pope, who has chosen the name Leo XXIV, is in some respects, liberal and anti-MAGA. He could have been chosen, in part, to challenge Donald Trump.
Still, he could also be conservative in some other ways.
Leo, a popular choice with the Latin American and North American cardinals, spent years tweeting against some of Donald Trump’s MAGA policies, especially his anti-illegal immigration stance.
While it is yet unclear how the 69-year-old Pope Leo XIV chose the name, Natalia Imperatori-Lee, the chair of religious studies at Manhattan University in the Bronx, said, as quoted by the Post: “I think this pope is saying something about social justice by choosing this name, that is going to be a priority.”
“I think a lot of us had a question mark when they elected an American, and then he selected the name Pope Leo XIV,” she added. “It really means to me he will continue the work of Leo XIII.”
Born in 1820, Leo XIII is famous for his ground-breaking 1891 encyclical of Catholic social teaching focused on workers’ rights and capitalism at the beginning of the industrial revolution.
No pope in modern times has been elected on the first day, but the last three popes – Leo XIV, Francis I and Benedict XVI – were all elected on the second day, with the average conclave duration in modern history being three days.
The quickness of the vote may be an indication of what to expect.
The BBC reported:
The fact that the conclave was over quickly suggests that from the outset, a significant number of the voting cardinals felt Robert Prevost was the one amongst them best equipped to take on the challenges a pope faces.
In the lead up to the election – during the formal meetings of cardinals, and the informal dinners and coffees they had to discuss the type of person they were looking for – it was apparent that two words kept coming up, “continuity” and “unity”.
There was a recognition among many that Pope Francis had started something hugely impactful, through reaching out to those living on the margins of society, to those on the peripheries of the Catholic world and also to those outside the faith.
Originally from Chicago, the newly elected multi-lingual pontiff spent most of his career as a missionary in Peru where he gained Peruvian citizenship, and became a cardinal only in 2023, picked by Francis.
Though one person on X posted what appeared to be a screenshot of Prevost’s voting registration showing him to be a Republican, that is both unlikely, and even if true, likely meaningless.
This is made clear by his social media posts. The New York Post notes that the new pope previously shared or retweeted opinions of mostly liberal colleagues and commentators using his verified account @drprevost on X.
His final X post before being elected was a retweet of a message from Philadelphia-based Catholic commentator Rocco Palmo, who slammed Trump’s partnership with El Salvador’s president to take and imprison depurated criminal illegals.
“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 tweet reads.
Earlier, on Feb. 3, Prevost shared a link to a National Catholic Reporter article headlined “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.” The Reporter is a newer liberal alternative to the traditional National Catholic Register.
And as the Post further reported:
Also in January 2017, the new pope retweeted a message from Jesuit priest James Martin, who wrote: “We’re banning all Syrian refugees? The men, women and children who *most* need help? What an immoral nation we are becoming. Jesus weeps.”
The same year, he shared a message that reads, “Saying Trump’s ‘bad hombres’ line fuels ‘racism and nativism,’ Cali bishops send preemptive blast on DACA repeal.”
The new pope has also noted his liberal thoughts on other political and social issues.
In October 2017, Prevost retweeted a call for more gun control from Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) after a gunman murdered 60 people in a Las Vegas mass shooting.
“To my colleagues: your cowardice to act cannot be whitewashed by thoughts and prayers. None of this ends unless we do something to stop it,” Murphy wrote.
It’s not all bad though, Pope Leo has expressed more traditional opinions on other hot topics such as opposition to abortion — and even circulated a post condemning “gender ideology” in schools.
While the new Pope’s views on many topics are anti-MAGA, at least these last few are important issues MAGA and Leo should firmly agree on.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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