There was a lot of jockeying for conservative, extremist, far-right influence over the choice of the next pope. Thankfully, instead, the conclave chose one, if more centrist that Francis, who had Francis’ full support and friendship. About…Pope Leo!

The below is a mix of comments, quotes, and notes.

Pope Leo!

He’s picked the papal name Pope Leo XIV. First American, dual citizen of USA and Peru.

This is about Latin America as much as the USA. He was born in Chicago but lived in Peru for two decades plus. His Spanish is perfect.
Significantly, he presided over one of the most revolutionary reforms Francis made, when he added three women to the voting bloc that decides which bishop nominations to forward to the pope. In early 2025, Francis again showed his esteem by appointing Prevost to the most senior rank of cardinals, suggesting he would be Francis’ choice in an any future conclave.

An advocate for social justice and reform—and a centrist, or conservative on other issues.

“While Prevost is seen overall as a centrist, on some key social issues he’s viewed as progressive. He has long embraced marginalized groups, a lot like Francis, who championed migrants and the poor.” ~ CBS

Trump’s appointee to the White House Commission on Religious Liberty said this the other day:

Cardinal George of Chicago, of happy memory, was one of my great mentors, and he said: ‘Look, until America goes into political decline, there won’t be an American pope.’ And his point was, if America is kind of running the world politically, culturally, economically, they don’t want America running the world religiously. So, I think there’s some truth to that, that we’re such a superpower and so dominant, they don’t wanna give us, also, control over the church.
So I guess that’s where we are.

“My interpretation is that he was elected as a response against Trump. He is in the progressive camp for me, though not very progressive as some cardinals are. He delivered a great speech which addressed very covertly the world’s current state of affairs.”

Apparently he shared shared this op-ed on his Twitter titled ‘JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others’
May he successfully teach the MAGA faithful some empathy and morals.