The papal conclave has picked American cardinal Robert Prevost as the next pope, and he has chosen the name Leo XIV. How do you feel about this choice? How do you think he will do as Pope?
The papal conclave has picked American cardinal Robert Prevost as the next pope, and he has chosen the name Leo XIV. How do you feel about this choice? How do you think he will do as Pope?
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The papal conclave has picked American cardinal Robert Prevost as the next pope, and he has chosen the name Leo XIV. How do you feel about this choice? How do you think he will do as Pope?
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A boring choice with seemingly no string inclinations towards tradition or progress. Could have been a lot worse though I suppose.
Kind of annoying that they chose this particular moment in history to elect the first American pope. I’m sure trump is going to find a way to be insufferable about it 😩
He has some conservative views on LGTBQ, he is from Chicago. He’s a progressive in some ways, but also there’s a dark past in Peru, which he ignored a sexual abuse case.
Ehh then again I don’t know. I’m not a Catholic I’m a Muslim. As long as he doesn’t stand with Israel and isn’t evangelical hating on Muslims, I’ll be hopeful.
You can look up his Twitter account. He denounces JD Vance, so that’s a positive.
A lot of people have to know electing another progressive pope was gonna be a challenge. This was just a centrist option. This pope is the least American of the American Popes, but is better option as of now, they probably elected him to be anti-Trump for all we know
Edit- I can’t 100% confirm this right now but he seems to be a registered Republican but he’s an anti-Trump Republican so this is a win in some ways. If someone lives in Illinois, can someone tell me how party registration works over there? It appears that he voted in a couple primaries.
As a man born into the Catholic Church who went to Catholic schools all the way until college, I don’t give a fuck.
Homophobic bigot who helped cover up child rapes, and still sadly likely one of the better choices out of all the options.
my thought is that its kinda funny to have a pope who has probably had malort
jokes aside all i saw of interest on his wikipedia was that he poorly handled sex abuse allegations under his purview
I don’t care.
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Trump takes credit for everything. And I am worried that American pope is a message.
But Provost is kinda in the same ballpark as Francis, pro-women in leadership roles, and praised aid to Venezuelan immigrants.
I never thought they would choose an American Pope. He has experience running a large organization. That will be important with the budget problems at the Holy See.
While it’s been interesting learning about this whole process, it doesn’t affect me very much, to be honest. I’m not Christian, let alone Catholic, and while I acknowledge that the pope has some soft power, it’s clear that it’s limited.
The new guy is American, so I do fear him becoming another vessal for Trump if he’s part of that world in any way. It’s a little shocking to me that they’d pick an American pope after Trump’s little “make me the pope” tweet as well.
Villanovans are going to be so insufferable right now.
I generally don’t care for the Catholic institution (or any religious institution for that matter) but it’s cool in that he’s the first American, I guess? Being alive during a historical event that isn’t violent is fine.
I’m far more concerned about his character since I recognize these people have far more influence than they should. I’d feel more secure if he were a pope even more progressive than Francis. You know, one who actually tried to practice what Jesus preached.
i like that he has twitter beef with jd vance, i don’t like that he’s homophobic.
I don’t think it’s appropriate to select an American as pope right now.
The bad… he has a trend of covering up child sexual abuse and letting priests stay in their spots. He also doesn’t believe women should hold deacon spots in the church.
The good… he doesn’t seem to hate brown people or gays.
The great… he’s been in the news recently for arguments with Vance stating Vance doesn’t understand Jesus love. This now has made a few subreddits decide he was chosen solely to oppose Trump because they are the main characters in everything.
I have mixed views.
I think choosing someone with a public record of poor performance with regards to handling clerical sex abuse accusations is a poor move.
I think choosing someone who has a better chance of influencing the American catholic establishment is a sensible move, he has the right connections and speaks the right language (in the right accent) to be able to try and correct that part of the ship, and particularly to steer it away from its current heavily MAGA influenced trajectory.
Choosing someone with some experience running the Dicastry of Bishops is a sensible move, he’s got a lot of knowledge about bishops, archbishops, and cardinals all over the world and is (to some extent) known to move of them. He has a head start in terms of building trust and building influence as Pope because of this.
Choosing someone with significant administrative experience as Prior General of a major religious order is a sensible decision. Those orders are like the Catholic Church in miniature, with all the same infighting, tensions between administrative and pastoral groups, tensions between traditionalists and progressives, issues with balancing vast historical wealth and modern financial obligations etc. He did 12 years leading them, which is experience that will serve him well – similar to a Governor becoming President, he’s already done the job, just on a smaller scale.
His past record doesn’t impress me very much and he seems as others have said a boring choice. Time will tell but I don’t have much thoughts. The Catholic Church will continue to slowly fade into irrelevance.
Don’t care about it even a little bit. The head of some cult has no impact on me personally
To paraphrase someone I know with more skin in the game than I have: Who is looking at America right now and saying “Yeah they’ve got it figured out?”
I may be limiting my engagement with this to figuring out what type of Pokemon Leoxiv is.
As an Episcopalian, I will continue to read the news about him and ignore him otherwise.
He kind of looks like a jackass. All the top priests of the Catholic Church look kind of clownish to me.
It makes me think that the whole thing is just an excuse for grown men to play dress up and feel important
Stop downvoting me and take a joke, the whole world doesn’t make any sense anyway.
I don’t like the fact that he’s an American, though his positions seem to be moderate, which might prove to be the glue between the different continents. However, I do believe that his papacy could be less noteworthy than his predecessor and that it potentially serves as a bridge between the older, more traditionalist and younger, more modernist generational divide in the Church. We’ll see, but he probably is the metaphorical can which the cardinals have kicked down the road.
Pretty conservative views on LGBTQ, but, pretty progressive on most other things. Looking through his twitter, he seems to be pretty anti-trump way back to 2015. I guess we got a NeoCon Pope.
Another anti lgbt loser who helped predator priests. I know we are supposed to grade popes on a curve, have low expectations but i refuse to respect anything about the Catholic Church which has no respect for me. I say tax it, and prosecute all who enabled predator priests, even prosecute the pope himself if it can be proven.
He seems like a pretty standard choice for pope. The only thing new is that he is from America, but doesn’t seem to be a White Chrisitian Nationalists which upsets MAGA. I bet the only thing he is progressive about is treating immigrants well. He’s still not going to be pro-LGBTQ. He still seems likely to protect those in positions of power who abuse children. He’s still not going to support women in leadership.
I think it’s crazy we still have religious theatrics in 2025.
But here we are.
It looks like he has some views I disagree with, but so did the last pope. I expect him to clash a lot with the Trump administration, which is a good thing.
I haven’t seen maga this angry since a Black man was elected President
As a lapsed Catholic—baptised, confessed, communed, and confirmed—I carry my faith like a scar that still itches. Even though I now lean agnostic, I can’t bring myself to call myself an atheist or agnostic outright. The Church doesn’t really let go of you, and part of me doesn’t want to let go of it either.
I’m a woke, poor, bisexual person living in Australia. JD Vance is a powerful politician with money, influence, and a platform. But to God, to Jesus, to the Pope, and to all Catholics around the world—we are equals. The Catechism makes it clear: “Created in the image of the one God… all men have the same nature and the same origin. Redeemed by the sacrifice of Christ, all are called to participate in the same divine beatitude” (CCC 1934–1935). The Pope may be the Vicar of Christ on Earth, but every Catholic, even a lapsed one, has the same spiritual worth. I have just as much right to speak to or about the Pope as anyone else.
Which brings me to Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost. This man has walked the margins. As a missionary in Peru, he didn’t just visit—he stayed, learned the language, and served the poor for decades. His stance on immigrants, refugees, and social justice has been unapologetically Christ-like. In fact, in his very first speech as Pope, he made subtle but unmistakable digs at Trumpism, declaring we must “build bridges, not walls” and defend “the dignity of the stranger” (Daily Beast, The Times UK).
Leo XIV isn’t perfect—no Pope is—but his values echo Christ’s: humility, compassion, and service. And if that’s what’s guiding the Church now, then there’s room in it for people like me too.
As Matthew 23:12 reminds us: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
And if none of this gets me back into heaven, don’t worry—Catholic guilt will keep me awake thinking about it every night until I die. Or at least a few hundred years of Purgatory.
I have zero thoughts or cares who the new pope is. I do hope he’s compassionate like the last one seemed to be
He’s the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. He’ll be anti-abortion, against women in leadership positions, and anti-IVF. 70% of American & European Catholics will ignore that shit as they currently do. But there’s a chance he’ll also be anti-immigrant bashing, and won’t call for the public execution of trans people, which will of course drive the paleo tradcath weirdoes like JD Vance and the Adrian Vermeule’s of the world batshit crazy. Because nothing will ever be enough for those people.
I think he’s about as good as we can get for Pope. Yeah, he’s anti-abortion and has some anti-LGBTQ views, but I don’t think the Catholic Church is ready to be completely on-board with that.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend. This was a strategic gift from [insert higher power, Illuminati, dark lord, whomever]. Until now Trump and Vance have been shoehorning Catholics into their evangelical bullshit, and they’ve been going along, even though his policies are in direct contradiction with Catholic values, and Catholics have been deported en masse.
Some of the most repellent online righties are extremely upset, which means the Vatican could’ve picked worse
I don’t support organized religion of any sort, and the Catholic church probably least of all. However if we are going to have a Pope, it is good to have a never-Trump pope.
Deep dish pizza at the Vatican now?
It’s probably way too early for too many conclusions, little blurbs I’ve heard suggest he’s moderate in the context of Catholic context.
He’s supposedly got a record of what would be considered left leaning and right leaning positions, which would probably put him not too far distant from where the last one was.
Don’t care
I wish he called himself Pope Robert. It’s hard to keep track of all these Roman numbers.