The First American Pontiff: Pope Leo XIV
The College of Cardinals elected Cardinal Robert Prevost from Chicago, IL as the new pope.
The College of Cardinals elected Cardinal Robert Prevost from Chicago, IL as the new pope.
Pope Leo XIV.
The first American pope.
My main question: Is he a Cubs or White Sox fan?
I announce to you a great joy;
we have a Pope:
The Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lord,
Lord Robert Francis
Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church Prevost
who has taken the name Leo XIV.Cardinal Protodeacon Dominique Mamberti announces that the Cardinals have elected Cardinal Robert… pic.twitter.com/u3lDDlk1L4
— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) May 8, 2025
Some history of Prevost:
Born in Chicago in 1955, Prevost holds degrees from Villanova University in Pennsylvania, Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome.
In 1985, Prevost joined the Augustinian mission in Peru in 1985, becoming part of the religious order inspired by St. Augustine that seeks to find a balance of “love and learning.” Augustinian friars lead semi-monastic lives and are engaged in a range of pursuits, such as education or prison work.
At age 30, Prevost went to work in Peru, serving there until 1999, with a brief stint back in Chicago in 1987 to work as pastor for vocations and director of missions for its Augustinian province.
During his early years in Peru, Prevost wore a number of hats, including teaching in the diocesan seminary, serving as judge in a church court and leading a parish on the outskirts of the city of Trujillo.
In 1999, Prevost was elected the head of the Augustinians’ Chicago-based province. And then in 2001, he tapped as prior general of the worldwide order, which he led until 2013. During that time, he was based in Rome but spent most of his time on the road and in the air, visiting the nearly 50 countries where the Augustinian order is present.
In 2014, Francis sent him back into the mission field, naming him bishop of Chiclayo, in northern Peru, where he served until the pope called him to Rome again for full-time service in the Roman Curia in 2023.
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Comments
Chicago Cardinal unhappy with Chicago. Decides to move to Rome and live for the rest of his life.
From what I have read he has spent almost 50 of his almost 70 years outside of the US.
So a Cardinal fan then? Seems legit.
He went to Villanova – obviously a Phillies fan.
wouldn’t the San Diego Padres be the real home team
Hope he is not a Giants fan.
I’m worried about the White Sox.
Did they choose a Catholic one this time?
No, a commie
It is absolutely disgusting how all of the non Catholic commentators here on LI believe that they know who should be the Pope of the Catholic Church. And they already hate this guy. Yeah, Make Trump the Pope! Make the Catholic Church Great Again! How pathetic.
Make Trump the Pope! Like he said in Truth Social! Make the Pope Great Again! MAGA!
But, but Trump!11!!
So stupid and predictable that you posted it twice.
So, now you are Catholic?
JR, the Everything to Everybody Man!
What a tool.
Seems unlikely. I read that he voted in the Republican primaries several times.
Here’s his X/Twitter feed. The initial perusing I’ve done isn’t hopeful. One of his last tweets is proclaiming ‘JD Vance is wrong….’ New boss could be the same as the old boss. We’ll have to see. He’s an Augustinian, an order that has a storied reputation of building consensus.
https://x.com/drprevost
Worse than the old boss, I suspect.
And here I was expecting something different. But nope. New Pope just the same as the previous Pope. And the destruction of the Catholic Church will continue.
Source:
Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, O.S.A.
Pope TDS II
So he’s the Amy Coney Barett of Popes?
Liberation theology has overtaken the Catholic church.
While both the Vice President and the former Cardinal are Catholics, they do not see eye to eye.
The one who has never married nor had a family tweeted that the one who was married and had a family was wrong to say that you should put your family first.
The traditional mantra is God, country, and family; in that order. Honestly, God does come first. We can argue over the other two.
“The traditional mantra is God, country, and family; in that order. Honestly, God does come first. We can argue over the other two.”
I fixed it for you.
The traditional mantra is God, family, and country; in that order.
Vance does not question the order of God, country and family. The subject in question was the idea of inserting people who are total strangers into that formula. Vance believes that a father should prioritize his love for his family and country over strangers who live far away.
Vance maintained that a loving father would not put his moral duties to his own children on the same level as his duties toward a stranger who lived thousands of miles away.
A pilgrimage through the institutions?
Catholic’s need to rise up and force hierarchy reform, but they won’t.
Well, if he is/was a Cardinal, it’s probably safe to say he’s not a Cubs fan.
I heard that he grew up on the south side and was thus a White Sox fan.
Villanova BS in Mathematics in 1977
That’s a big positive mark for him.
Sadly, there are too many negatives that come along with it.
Information coming out about the new pope seem to indicate that the church just picked a guy not unlike that father pfleger loon (commie and Jeremiah wright’s good buddy) in Chicago.
Not very promising. Francis’ legacy continues on.
“Snuffy” Pfleger? Oh, joy.
I wonder what Prevost (or the Augustinians) had to say about the shining path in peru back then, since he was there during the commies’ heyday. I haven’t been able to find anything, but that was the biggest thing in Peru for years during the 1980s so there must be something – good or bad.
Though, there wasn’t social media in the 80s, so it’s entirely possible no news media ever made it something to ask those folks.
Wikipedia is lamenting he isn’t pro-tranny or pro-gay. He opposed teaching gender studies in Peru, he opposes ordaining women, and he opposed Francis saying priests could bless homosexual unions.
Well, that’s something, for sure.
I’m not Catholic so don’t much care. My question for those who do: who would be your choice, and, why?
Just wondering…
I was kinda hoping for orange smoke. Now I know the voting was rigged.
Progressives wanted purple smoke.
Rainbow
Former catholic here
My preference would have someone similar to pope john paul from poland.
My understanding is that Dolan from Chicago would have been somewhat similar.
I had great respect for Pope John Paul.
Not a communist would be a good choice
There’s a Nigerian geezer who was in the initial running however his warnings about unrestricted immigration in to Europe probably didn’t win him any fans amongst the white cardinals 🤔
I was hoping for someone like Pope Leo XIII, who was a Catholic.
Early scuttlebutt is he’s a Cubs fan.
I do not know if he likes the Cubs.
However, he grew up on Chicago’s South side, which is White Sox territory.
An interview on NPR (yes, that makes it less likely to be true) with a guy who’s known him since sixth grade is that he is a White Sox fan.
He does have a Doctorate in Canon Law, so there is hope (vs Francis who did not know what Canon was).
/facepalm/
That explains much.
Francis was unarguably one of the least erudite Pontiffs in the last couple hundred years, at least. He was such a gigantic departure from JPII and Benedict, both of whom were distinguished men of letters with prodigious academic bona fides.
As a Lutheran (LCMS), I have to say that his choice of “Leo” for his papal name is not a good look.
OTOH, he didn’t choose “Joe” or “Nancy” like a truly progressive American might have.
(Info: Pope Leo X was the “critic” (as Wikipedia put of the man who tried to kill them all) of the Protestant Reformation. He was the guy who excommunicated Luther for asking questions in his 95 Theses.)
Excommunicated Luther for asking questions, or for nailing his 95 theses to that door?
I prefer to keep politics far away from theology.
I get your point. It’s often a fool’s errand to try and bootstrap Papal agenda into the American political spectrum and vice versa. But, focusing only on the theological leadership of Francis, he was a hot mess, often making public pronouncements on subjects he obviously hadn’t thought about, much less seriously considered. When he started to hint that Christ wasn’t the only path to Heaven out of some misplaced desire to not offend particularly groups/classes, it really highlighted how unserious he was, from a theological/doctrinal perspective. I think the Church is well-served by embracing conservative (small-C) theology that leans heavily on tradition and staying far away from the progressive gobbledygook that is so pervasive in the Anglican church, for instance.
Comparing to the modern Anglican church is a mighty low bar. But yeah.
I seem to recall JP2 and/or Benedict saying that there wasn’t necessarily only one path, and who are we to say that there might not be other paths that were not revealed to us?
This modesty seems to me in keeping with (if I recall correctly) Benedict’s officially deciding that the Church would no longer speculate about what happens to unbaptized babies and the like. The “Limbo” concept had never been Church doctrine, but had been officially taught as a sort of informed guess; Benedict (IIRC) said “Let’s stop guessing and just admit that we don’t know, and we trust God to do the right thing by them”.
It would be my choice as well, did the theologians not incessantly dabble in politics.
Meet the new Boss…….same as the old Boss
I was hoping for an Italian pope that was conservative
A cardinal for 20 months?
Hand picked by Francis…
Francis 2.0
Maybe this guy will have some sense and not be like his predecessor, who used his position primarily for politics.
Apparently there is rumor he has protected predatory priest, once in Chicago and once in Peru
I read that he disagreed with transgender ideology because it pretends to create genders that don’t exist. That part makes sense to me. He’s a total surprise. I thought Prevost is a company that makes luxury buses, that’s all I knew of the name.
Looks like another Episcopal Pope.
Pope Leo is the boss now, good luck to him. The survival of western civilization may be partially resting on his shoulders. We will shortly see what’s ticking in his brain.
Does he have to pay for his new wardrobe? Those threads look expensive!
Another video said the pope owns nothing, everything is provided by the church. “Vow of poverty” you know.
“It’s not about money. It’s about power. With true power, you don’t need money.”
–Six Dozen TV Villains in The 21st Century Alone
I’m not enthusiastic about this pick other than I’ve read he’s a Cubs fan. He looks to be another Francis.
I can’t wait to be lectured some more about accepting an invasion of illegal immigrants by a guy that lives behind a wall that is 60 feet high.
We shall see.
When Attila the Hun (and his extended family) sought to overrun Italy in 452, Pope Leo the Great didn’t invite the horde to stay and share Italy’s land and bounty. No, he persuaded Attila and the “newcomers” to leave and by doing so preserved Italian culture and sovereignty.
Leo XIV should take a lesson from Leo the Great.
Leftists/Dhimmi-crats corrupt every organization and institution of which they’re a party. Sadly, the Catholic Church has proven to be no exception to this axiom.
Not so good
There’s a reason he didn’t speak any English but spoke Spanish…
https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-pope-leo-xiv-bashed-jd-vance-on-twitter-just-weeks-ago/
But then he voted Republican in primaries in IL in 2012, 2014, and 2016.
You mean he voted in Republican primaries. There’s a big difference. We don’t know how he voted.
In the absence of evidence to the contrary, I would argue that when he voted in those Republican primaries, he voted for a Republican candidate.
So Pope Leo is on record asking us to prioritize the suffering of Abrego-Garcia over protecting his victims. This shows that he has no concept of the duties of a national government, and we should (laugh-emoji) at his efforts to comment on such issues in the future.
Let him supervise the Catholics. They used to own most of Italy, but now they own a little compound within Rome and some foreign real estate. They can keep their tax exemption for now as long as they stick to religious matters in the US.
When did he fo that? He hasn’t been pope for 24 hrs yet.
He retweeted a comment that JD Vance is wrong about prioritizing love of some people over others.
But that’s irrelevant because JD Vance has the job of VPOTUS and prioritizes Americans. A Catholic clergyman has a different job and shouldn’t prefer any given nationality. It seems weird though for Pope Leo to miss that point or try to confuse it.
He can’t possibly mean that a national government should not put its own people first. That wouldn’t make sense.
Well, it does seem that half of the people in the USA think our first responsibility is to “our world family.” Fortunately that half is not currently in charge of the national government.
One positive for English speakers is that the English translation or whatever he publishes will surely be accurate rather than having to depend on whoever translated it for him to make a good translation.
The quiet part, religion is big business and the Roman Catholic church is up there with the largest multi national organizations on the planet. The church and its affiliates get hundreds of millions a year through organizations like USAID issuing grants to Catholic Charities and Catholic Relief Services.
A large chunk of that money has dried up in the past few months. An opening for a new Pope arises and suddenly we have the first US born Pope. Is this some type of olive branch to get those grants restored?