Rome
CNN
–
I met a man who would become Pope Leo XIV in October 2023. We were standing outside the synod hall of the Vatican. A brief conversation with Cardinal Robert Prebust revealed that he was caring and had a certain presence about him.
Our conversation took place on the bystanders of the Vatican’s major parliamentary focused on church reform efforts. It was part of a multi-year process that began by the late Pope Francis, who grew out of his hospital bed as one of his ultimate acts of power.
Inside the hall of a large gathering in 2023, and again in 2024, participants like Prevost were given the opportunity to sit at a roundtable meeting, where everyone was given the opportunity to speak the same assigned length. The future Pope, like other Cardinals and Bishops, works with people all over the world, including women in particular. The Vatican synopsis gathering had not been held in that style before, and for the first time included female voters who had a say in agreeing to the final document.
Just six months later, Prevost (now Pope Leo XIV) is no longer one of the many participants at the table. He is at the helm of the church and aims to continue this reform process in the same direction.
“He is a great kindness man and a great listener,” Tony Banks, a friend of the new Pope and an aide to the religious order of St. Augustine, told CNN. He said Leo would “make Francis’ reforms a very concrete form in terms of theology and practice.”
When Pope Leo spoke on the balcony of St. Peter’s Cathedral shortly after the election, he signaled, “We will work together as women and men, and walk with you as a united church in search of peace and justice.”
Leo is likely to continue what Francis started, but in his own modest yet determined style. His election, at 69, shows that the Cardinals hopes the Pope will institutionalize the Pope’s reforms that last for decades.
Their centrality are questions about women’s roles, the exercise of power in the church hierarchy, and the movement towards more missionary churches that emerge from their comfort zones.
Before the white smoke rose, the world’s most famous American was President Donald Trump. Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, changed that.
By electing Prevost, Cardinals ensured that the Pope was a prophetic voice for the world stage that could serve as a Trumpism counterweight.
Pope Leo is a united man who doesn’t seem to choose a fight, and his focus on building bridges, dialogue and supporting immigration stands in contrast to the Trump administration.
In his first speech to the post-election cardinal, Pope Leo pledged a “full commitment” to the teachings of Vatican 2, the bishops’ gathering of bishops from 1962 to 1965.
He argued that this meant “loving care for the least and rejected” and “a dialogue of courage and trust.”
Vatican II council attempted to emphasize the church as a voice of marginalized people (the “prophetic voice”), particularly embraced by the Central and Latin America, where future Pope Leo served for decades.
The bank said the new Pope was “very interested in social issues and marginalised things.” Augustine’s order, with Pope Leo elected to lead in two terms, focuses on community building.
The post, created on the X account in the name of the new Pope, reposted articles and posts critical of the Trump administration’s immigration policy, but those who know Pope Leo say he is not naturally at odds with him.
“I don’t think he’s the one who chooses to fight people, but if the cause is just him, he’s not the guy who’s going to back down,” said Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, who had known Pope Leo for a while as his friend “Bob” Prebust.
Same-Gender Blessings, Women’s Ordination – Regarding the hotly contested topic within the church, the new Pope is trying to adopt an attitude rather than making bold changes.
In 2012, Prevost gave a speech criticizing “sympathy for anti-Christian lifestyle choices” seen in mass media, including same-sex couples and “their adopted children,” but said 11 years later his position developed “in the sense of the need for the church to open and welcome.”
Sister Natalie Bekart, who works at the Vatican at the Synod office, was recently the Pope’s neighbor between him, who worked in the office for the appointment of the Bishop. She told CNN that he “is easy to have a conversation” and that he is “a very simple, humble person.”
When he was bishop of Chiclayo in Peru, Beckert says he assured the woman that she was in leadership position in his parish.
Like Francis, he is unlikely to try to change the doctrine of the Church, but will take a firm stance on topics such as migration, peace, and the environment.
“He’s not the one who tells you what he’s against you, he’s trying to tell me what he’s doing for and what it’s important about him,” said brother Mark O’Connor, a brother who runs communications for Australia’s Parramatta Parish. O’Connor knows Pope Leo quite well.
“He’s the opposite of cultural warriors,” he said. “I don’t think he believes in fighting about doctrine, changing it or even talking about dogmatic issues.”
As the church moves into a new era, one topic he has to deal with is administrative sexual abuse.
Given his time as a former leader of the religious order, and the director of the Vatican office for bishops, he has experience dealing with abuse cases. One survivor group criticized the handling of several cases while leaders of the Bishops’ Conference of Peru praised Prebust’s ministry for abuse of survivors.
Leo has a doctorate in Canon Law from the Church, and equips him with the challenges that ensure that existing church laws apply to investigate cases and hold leaders accountable.
The new Pope is also believed to play a key role in the restraint of Christianae vitae, a powerful Peruvian group plagued by allegations of abuse.
Traditional wisdom said it is impossible to have a pope from the United States.
However, in Pope Leo XIV, the church leaders chose those who had worked in Latin America for decades and had global experience called citizens of the world.
At a time of growing divisions, wars and conflict, the 2025 Conclave opened an extraordinary new page for the church, choosing Leo, the bridge builder and quietly prophetic Pope.
