A Chicago-born cardinal, Robert F. Prevost, O.S.A., greeted the world on Thursday night in Rome after being elected pope and taking the name Pope Leo XIV. The new pope, visibly moved as introduced himself to the world, said, “Peace be with all of you.”
During his inaugural message as pope, Leo thanked Pope Francis, called for peace in the world and said that he hopes for a synodal church.
“To all you brothers and sisters of Rome, Italy, of all the world, we want to be a synodal church, walking and always seeking peace, charity, closeness, especially to those who are suffering,” said the new pope, an Augustianian who served as a bishop for many years in Peru before heading the Vatican’s office for bishops beginning in 2023.
Because the cardinal has given few interviews over the years, not much is known about his views on a range of hot-button church issues, including LGBTQ issues.
According to a profile by Vatican reporter Christopher White in the National Catholic Reporter, Cardinal Prevost is a strong supporter of synodality, a key priority of the Francis papacy, and in a 2023 interview with Vatican News, he said the church needs “to really listen to the Holy Spirit and the spirit of truth-seeking that lives in the Church.”
A profile in The New York Times earlier this week revealed that as a bishop, in 2012, he made remarks that were critical of homosexuality. Those remarks came a year before Francis was elected pope.
A review of the new pope’s X account, which was active as recently as February, shows that he shared a number of articles calling for the defense of migrants, support for Pope Francis’ pastoral vision for the church and re-posts condemning racism. The new pope followed fewer than 100 accounts on X, and included among them are two other U.S. cardinals and supporters of Pope Francis: Chicago archbishop Cardinal Blase Cupich and Newark archbishop Cardinal Joseph Tobin.
James Martin, S.J., founder of Outreach, wrote on X on Thursday, “I know Pope Leo XIV to be a kind, open, humble, modest, decisive, hard-working, straightforward, trustworthy, and down-to-earth man. A brilliant choice. May God bless him.”
