The Cardinal of American origin Robert Francis Prevost was presented Thursday in the world of the Balcony of the Saint -Pierre Basilica as Pope Leo XIV, becoming the 267th leader of the Roman Catholic Church – and the very first Pope in America.
Before becoming Pope, Prevost was chosen in 2023 by Pope Francis to be in charge of selecting the bishops. In August 2024, he declared during a conference at the St. Jude parish in Chicago that Francis chose it for “a different perspective”.
With 133 voting cardinals, the 69 -year -old polyglot and the naturalized Peruvian citizen was elected by the conclave to succeed Pope Francis, who died in April.
Two cardinals who spoke to Washington Post noted that he was considered a qualified manager.
Research in past interviews, it is obvious that the management style of Pope Leo XIV could reshape the Catholic Church – and provide us with advice on leadership.
'Listen to his neighbors'
Pope Leo XIV has focused on the idea of synodality promoted by Pope Francis – A concept that highlights the importance of all those who work together in communion to make decisions about the life and mission of the Church.
In an interview with the Vatican media in 2023, Leo XIV said that a bishop should have the “ability to listen to his neighbor and ask for advice”, in addition to having “a much broader vision of the Church and the reality and experience of the universality of the Church”.
“A fundamental element of the portrait of a bishop is a pastor, capable of being close to the members of the community, starting with the priests for whom the bishop is father and brother,” said Leo XIV. “Live this proximity with everyone, without excluding anyone.”
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Promote inclusiveness
Leo XIV congratulated Pope Francis' decision in 2022 to appoint three women as members apart – which gives them a voice on the selection of bishops.
In an interview of March 2024 with Catholic News Service, Leo XIV said that the inclusion of women “contributes significantly to the process of discernment in the search for who we hope to be the best candidates to serve the church of the episcopal ministry”.
Under Pope Francis, the women of the faith joined the priests as voting representatives for religious orders for the very first time, and when they name 70 non -bishop members of the Synod in 2023, François also asked that half of them be women.
Drive by example
Leo XIV congratulated Pope Francis in an interview in March 2024 with Catholic News Service To be “a pastor who preaches by gesture” in his effective and important repression “against the attitudes of clerricalism among the bishops.
Clerricalism is the conviction that church leaders are morally better and more talented than ordinary people, and that their authority should be the main objective.
“It is important to find men who are really interested in serving, preaching the Gospel,” said Leo XIV in the 2024 interview with Catholic News Service “, not only with eloquent words, but rather with the example and the witness they give.”
“And we must not hide behind an idea of authority which no longer makes sense today. The authority we have is to serve, to accompany the priests, to be pastors and teachers,” added Leo XIV in an interview in 2023 with the Vatican News.
Non-partisan
While Leo XIV criticized politicians, he warned of partisanry and anchors most of his criticisms in Catholic social education – The Church guide on how to approach social, economic and ecological problems.
In mid-April, the cardinal of the time shared a post in what seems to be his account X criticizing Trump and the president of El Salvador to make fun of the expulsion of the resident of Maryland, Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The message linked to a standard Catholic article in which Bishop Evelio Menjivar asked Catholics: “Isn't your conscience disturbed? How can you remain silent?”
In February, he also shared articles on X which criticized the vice-president JD Vance, a Catholic convert, including one of the National Catholic Reporter. He echoes his article: “JD Vance is bad: Jesus does not ask us to classify our love for others.”
The article challenged Vance's assertion in an interview with Fox News that it is a “Christian concept” to prioritize it to love them closest to them on people from other nations, in reference to the treatment of immigrants.
In 2017, the day after the mass shooting of Las Vegas Music Festival on October 1, when Leo XIV was the bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, the account also shared an article of a Democratic senator, criticizing the Republicans not to speak of armed violence, and that their “loose to act cannot be bleached by thoughts and prayers”.
The voting files show that he voted in three Republican primaries of the State of Illinois in the county of Will between 2012 and 2016. Voters of Illinois do not register by party, therefore the vote in the Republican primaries does not necessarily indicate the affiliation of the party of a person.
Leo XIV has never approved a party or a candidate and urged unity to partisanry.
“We must be able to listen to each other,” said Leo XIV in an interview in 2023 with Vatican Media, “to recognize that it is not a question of discussing a political program or simply trying to promote the questions that interest me or the others.”
