The Guardian view on Pope Leo XIV: a different kind of American leader | Editorial

Twelve years ago, successful the words of the precocious Pope Francis, the Catholic religion went “to the ends of the Earth” successful its hunt for a caller pontiff. On Thursday, aft amazingly brisk discussions, the astir geographically divers conclave successful past went to the bosom of a superpower to find his successor.

The election of the archetypal American pope is simply a singular moment. In portion the cardinals’ prime of the Chicago-born Robert Prevost, present Pope Leo XIV, tin beryllium seen arsenic a robust progressive effect to the signs of the times. While elder Catholic figures around Donald Trump prosecute an insular Maga agenda, the caller pope is arsenic astatine location successful Latin America, having spent 2 decades moving successful 1 of the poorest regions of Peru. Previous posts connected a societal media relationship nether his sanction suggest helium shared Francis’s withering views connected the Trump administration’s draconian immigration policies.

In an epoch erstwhile the emergence of nationalism risks undermining planetary responses to challenges specified arsenic migration and the clime emergency, the cardinals person chosen a pope who can, similar Francis, enactment arsenic a countervailing force. In choosing his papal name, Cardinal Prevost signalled an affinity with different forerunner, Leo XIII, who made societal justness a cardinal Catholic precedence astatine the extremity of the 19th century. That specified a dependable should talk with an American accent, in the property of Trump, volition nonstop its ain almighty and vital connection to the world.

Within the religion itself, traditionalist hopes of a post-Francis instrumentality to a much doctrinally rigid, hierarchical mode of doing things look to person been scotched. Though much mean and diplomatic successful manner, the caller pontiff seems apt to instrumentality to the reforming absorption of question acceptable by his predecessor. In his erstwhile occupation arsenic caput of the Vatican’s section for choosing bishops, Cardinal Prevost echoed Francis’s calls for clerical humility, observing that “the bishop is not expected to beryllium a small prince sitting successful his kingdom”. Similarly, the deliberately inclusive connection of his Thursday evening address successful St Peter’s Square suggested that helium volition proceed Francis’s “synodal” mission to unfastened up ecclesiastical structures to greater laic influence.

For women successful the church, that volition hopefully mean a further emergence successful power aft the incremental gains of the past papacy. But amid ongoing divisions, determination volition beryllium battles to come. As vexation mounts implicit the seemingly immovable veto connected women’s ordination, Pope Leo is apt to find himself nether unit to velocity up what helium has described arsenic the “slow process” of expanding pistillate roles. And though helium has expressed enactment for same-sex blessings, past denunciations of ‘“gender ideology” volition make unease among those won implicit by the warmth of Francis’s inclusive attack to LGBTQ+ people.

For progressive Catholics, however acold and however accelerated Pope Leo is prepared to determination connected specified matters – and connected toughening up procedures for dealing with clerical intersexual maltreatment – volition beryllium crucial. But contempt fears that this conclave could instrumentality its ain Trumpian crook and take an inward-looking arch-conservative arsenic the 267th pope, it opted alternatively for wide continuity with the compassionate, world-facing tone of Francis’s groundbreaking papacy. For a satellite progressively riven by great-power rivalry, and scarred by warfare and inequality, that is very invited news.

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