Pope Leo XIV might assist Vatican discover the ‘nice uncertainty’ that’s Trump’s America

The election of Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV to steer the Roman Catholic Church raised a direct query:

What does this sign to the U.S. and President Trump?

On Fact Social, the president referred to as Leo’s election a “Great Honor for our country.” However there are apparent indicators Trump and the brand new pope — who in his first assertion urged peace and unity — are instantly at odds.

Like his predecessor, Leo, born Robert Francis Prevost, has advocated for serving to the poor and migrants. He has harassed the significance of defending the atmosphere. He is referred to as for racial justice and lately criticized the views of Vice President Vance, a Catholic, on the church.

Leo’s election is “not a political statement” by the School of Cardinals, “but it contains a political message,” Massimo Faggioli, a papal skilled and professor of theology and spiritual research at Villanova College, instructed Morning Version.

The church’s issues in regards to the rise of nationalism

In a Feb. 10 letter to U.S. bishops, the late Pope Francis sharply criticized the start of the Trump administration’s promised mass deportations. Francis wrote that “worrying about personal, community or national identity … easily introduces an ideological criterion that distorts social life and imposes the will of the strongest as the criterion of truth.”

All through his time in politics, Trump has characterised the arrival of migrants on the U.S. border as an “invasion” – whilst many have been displaced by financial uncertainty, violence and local weather change. Since returning to the White Home in January, Trump has shaken the world order, alienating long-time allies and seemingly cozying as much as autocratic leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungary’s Viktor Orban.

Although the election of a U.S. pope appeared unattainable to shut watchers of the church, the “Trump effect” on America and the worldwide world order, Faggioli mentioned, is among the issues that “made the impossible possible.”

“The United States is a great uncertainty for the Vatican as well,” Faggioli mentioned. “And electing a pope from the United States is one way for the Vatican to explore what this new America means for the world and for the church.”

Andrea Gallardo, 20, from Texas, wears an American flag after Pope Leo XIV appeared on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica following his election, on the Vatican, Thursday, Might 8.

Paolo Santalucia/AP

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Paolo Santalucia/AP

The brand new pope’s relationship with Trump and the U.S.

Reverend William Lego, who leads the Saint Turibius Parish in Chicago and has recognized the brand new pope most of his life, mentioned that as with all political chief, Leo and Trump may have an “interesting relationship.”

Lego has recognized Leo for the reason that two had been in sixth grade. They attended highschool, seminary and Villanova collectively. He mentioned that Leo was all the time “centered on helping people. He was always doing stuff, always very serviceable, as they say, very willing to do things.”

Leo’s alternative “to live with and work with the poor … honed for him his calling,” Lego mentioned.

So far as what the church’s message to the united statesand the world is with Leo’s election, Lego mentioned he is not certain.

“If the church is open to the spirit, the spirit will look for at the time probably the best or candidate to lead the church. And our role as Catholics throughout the world is once that expression of the spirit becomes public … our next journey is we begin to work together and continue to discover how the spirit is alive in the world,” Lego mentioned.

He continued, saying “now with an American pope maybe that position, from his point of view of power, could be used for a benefit of all. There’s always two sides to a coin.”

This digital article was based mostly on radio tales edited by Ashley Westermann and produced by Nia Dumas.