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The new Pope is an American. Do not for a minute think he wants to Make America Great Again.
Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost on Thursday became leader to the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics and took the name Leo XIV. But the former missionary stands to be an ideological check on a certain breed of American-styled Catholicism, which in recent years has been ascendant in Washington yet has drifted into more conservative lanes than its global brethren. With Vice President J.D. Vance and six of the nine Supreme Court Justices as part of his flock, Leo becomes the most powerful Catholic both in the world and among Americans. And Leo, known in Rome as “The Latin Yankee,” clearly represents a rejection by the Vatican of the intense lobbying from rich Americans to install a pontiff sympathetic to President Donald Trump, who went so far as to joke he should be a simultaneous Pope and President.
“Congratulations to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was just named Pope,” Trump posted to his social media site. “It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!”
Perhaps. But like his predecessor, Pope Francis, there’s a very good chance that Leo and Trump will clash on serious issues like immigration, human rights, and the environment. The new Pope has a history of amplifying messages in support of racial justice and gun safety, and against capital punishment.
Read more: Where Pope Leo Stands On Specific Issues
Another collision between the civic leader of the United States and the sacred leader of the Catholic Church seems inevitable, especially given Trump’s obsession with a nationalistic agenda that would co-opt Christianity in service of his political goals. Within hours of his election, the MAGAverse seemed to be gunning for the new pontiff in nakedly political terms.
While Trump rushed to the White House driveway to praise the Chicago-born and Villanova-educated Leo, his legion of fans were less laudatory. “WOKE MARXIST POPE,” tweeted far-right activist and Trump ally Laura Loomer, who also called Leo “just another Marxist puppet in the Vatican.”
That’s not to say Leo is the “social-justice warrior” that the online army of MAGA supporters would suggest. His views on same-sex marriage and transgender rights are in keeping with conservative Catholic teachings, making him to the right of his predecessor. His handling of abuse allegations is an issue that is going to dog him. And while profiles cast him as an engaged spiritual leader, no one is expecting him to bring the charisma of Francis.
To be sure, pre-papacy Leo has been a frequent critic of Trump, especially on his approach to immigration. Dating back to 2015, he shared on social media a piece critical of Trump, whose policies he described as “problematic” and carrying “anti-immigrant rhetoric.” A decade later, then-Cardinal Prevost turned his eye to Vance, a convert to Catholicism just six years ago, over his use of his newfound faith to justify the Trump team’s crackdown on migrants. “Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others,” he wrote.
His last posting before heading into the no-phones-allowed conclave to pick a Pope was to criticize Trump for his joint appearance with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele where the pair made the extra-judicial deportation of an immigrant into a punchline.
For his part, Trump flirted with blasphemy in recent weeks, suggesting he might be a candidate to lead the Catholic Church and even posting an apparently A.I.-produced image of himself in the papal regalia. White House allies suggested it was an ill-considered joke, but plenty of Catholics deemed even the suggestion offensive. By Thursday afternoon, Trump was bursting with pride about having an American lead the Vatican for the first time in history.
That dynamic and underlying tension between Leo and Trump will color global affairs and domestic politics in the coming years.
Roughly one in five Americans identify as Catholic, making it a sizable voting bloc that no political pro can ignore. Historically, Catholics make up roughly a quarter of the electorate, reflecting a higher level of civic engagement than other faiths. And they are politically pliable: Trump won them with 59% of the vote last year, Biden, only the second Catholic to serve as President carried them with 52% four years earlier, and Trump carried them with 50% support in 2016.
Still, this moment of profound pride for American Catholics comes as they are trying to figure out just how much to read into Leo’s selection. With every new Pope, the voting Cardinals are sending a message. But was Leo selected because he is an American or did it have more to do with how he spent much of his career in Peru and was a kindred spirit of the late Pope Francis, who hailed from Argentina? It’s far too soon to know, but plenty of players in Washington are looking for clues. The stealth contender broke through the byzantine Vatican politics and may yet break Washington’s understanding of how the Catholic machinery operates around the globe. It’s a puzzle best not left to guts or guesses for too long.
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