Pope Leo XIV is the first American-born pope, the first member of the Augustinian order to hold the office, and the first pontiff with Peruvian citizenship.
Leo ascended to the papacy after the College of Cardinals reached the required two-thirds consensus, propelling a humble, Spanish-speaking bishop born in Chicago to the highest position in the Catholic Church. A longtime missionary and former bishop in Peru, Pope Leo XIV brings decades of global ministry experience to his role as the leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics.
Here are three things Christians in America should know about Pope Leo.
1. He Was a Consensus Candidate Who Pledged to Be a Bridge Builder
Prior to the conclave, Pope Leo was considered neither a conservative nor a liberal but a middle-of-the-road candidate who could draw support from all sides. He was elected on the second day of the conclave, on the fourth overall ballot.
“Christ precedes us. The world needs His light,” Pope Leo said during his first address. “…Help us, too, and help each other to build bridges, with dialogue, with meetings, uniting us all to be one people, always in peace. Thank you, Pope Francis. We must seek together how to be a missionary Church, a Church that builds bridges, dialogue, always open to receive like this square with its open arms, all, all who need our charity, our presence, dialogue, and love.”
2. He’s a Traditionalist on Gender and Life
As a cardinal, Pope Leo XIV consistently affirmed the Church’s stance on controversial social matters. In a 2012 address, he criticized modern culture for encouraging “sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel,” such as the “homosexual lifestyle” and “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children.” During his time in Peru, he also opposed a plan to introduce gender topics into school curricula, stating, “The promotion of gender ideology is confusing, because it seeks to create genders that don’t exist.
Students for Life applauded Leo’s election, saying he “has consistently opposed abortion, calling it ‘a form of murder’ and affirming the Church’s teaching that life begins at conception.”
3. He Criticized the Trump Administration on Social Media
Pope Leo is the first pontiff to be active on social media prior to his election. Just weeks ago, he retweeted a post critical of the Trump administration’s actions on immigration, particularly its use of an El Salvador prison. In February, Pope Leo — then Cardinal Prevost — criticized Vice President J.D. Vance in a social media post, writing, “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”
Vance and President Trump congratulated the new Pope.
Trump wrote on Truth Social, “Congratulations to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was just named Pope. It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!”