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For Catholics, the new pope’s disposition toward the Latin Mass will tell us far more about his pontificate than his views on immigration.It didn’t take long after Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, emerged onto the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica on Thursday as the new leader of the Catholic Church for social media commentators on the right to begin decrying him as “Francis 2.0.”This snap judgment was based largely on his social media history of reposting criticisms of President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance on immigration policy, as well as a few reposts of left-wing claptrap...

Make no mistake: a Pope from Chicago terrifies me. But I have cause for some hope, which I will share. Pope Francis was, in the surprisingly well-chosen words of the New York Times, "ostentatiously humble." Fully recognizing the irony of a Catholic critiquing the Pope for lacking humility, I also mean to acknowledge that from that humility it took me a long time to give up on Pope Francis. For the longest while, I tried to learn what I could from him, becoming frustrated only after he made it stunningly care that his flock was not the billion and a...

So the world’s got a new pope. Because Catholicism is the largest Christian denomination in the United States – and perhaps the world – and because Catholics live in almost every nation, and certainly on every continent, the world can claim Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, as “the world’s pope,” as I’ve already heard on the news. From what I can tell, so far, he’s a lot like the old pope, Pope Francis. This is frightening. The new pope is billed in the press as a U.S. American, but he’s legally a citizen of Peru, where he spent...

Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) expressed hope Friday on MSNBC’s “Chris Jansing Reports” that the newly elected pope will speak out against the Trump administration’s mass deportations. Jansing said, “His social media was busy prior to becoming pope and is getting attention. It includes a post he shared just last month from a Catholic commentator who called out Trump and the president of El Salvador for laughing about the deportation of Rodrigo Garcia. And then in February, he also reposted an article from the National Catholic Reporter that was titled JD Vance is wrong, Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our...

The Catholic Church’s new Pope has publicly described migration as a “huge problem” even as he also urges Christians to treat migrants with respect. “It’s a huge problem, and it’s a problem worldwide, not only in this country. There’s got to be a way both to solve the problem, but also treat people with respect,” then-Cardinal Robert Prevost preached in a Catholic Mass, according to an undated video: His comments recognized both the Catholic Church’s universalist and idealist perspective and the practical management problem facing elected secular governments: Both the first [Old Testament] reading and the [New Testament] Gospel make...

SummaryUS Catholic church faces divisions over immigration, climate change and cultural issuesPope Leo faces early pushback from some conservative political leadersSome experts believe Leo could ultimately be a uniting forceMay 9 (Reuters) - As Pope Leo XIV celebrated his first Mass as pontiff at the Sistine Chapel on Friday, he spoke a few words in English. It was a reminder - if anyone needed one - that a baseball fan who hails from Chicago was now leader of the Roman Catholic Church.For American Catholics, the elevation of Robert Prevost to the papacy was a shock, a cause for celebration and...

The first American pope arrives at a time of extraordinary complexity and tension in the church in the United States.The last several months for American Catholics have been a story about the ascent of the Catholic right. In January, a parade of right-wing Catholic power began streaming into President Trump’s remade Washington. Just weeks later came the hospitalization and decline of Pope Francis, who often seemed to stand alone in offering a different vision of global Christian influence.Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic in the new conservative style, was one of the last people to see Pope Francis alive, a...

Why pick the first American Pope now? Robert Prevost was made Pope Leo XIV as a counterweight to President Trump. There’s been little ambiguity about the new pope’s politics and less about the overall agenda. Pope Francis had all but rigged the process to assure another radical successor.

12:10 PM EST

White smoke has risen above the Sistine Chapel, the signal that cardinals have chosen a new pope on the second day of the conclave.

White smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel chimney Thursday, signaling that a pope has been elected to lead the Catholic Church. That means the winner secured at least 89 votes of the 133 cardinals participating in the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis. The crowd in St. Peter’s Square erupted in cheers.

New Pope Elected.

An American Pope Leo 14th

THIS IS THE NEW POPE! His name is Robert Prevost. He’s the first American Pope.He is anti-Trump, anti-MAGA, pro-open Borders, and a total Marxist like Pope Francis.Catholics don’t have anything good to look forward to. Just another Marxist puppet in the Vatican.

Vatican City — Of the 266 popes who have led the Catholic Church, not one of them had been from the United States. Until Thursday. The cardinal electors gathered for the papal conclave elected an American from among their own ranks on Thursday to serve as the new pontiff. Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected and accepted his fate as the next Bishop of Rome, leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics. He chose Leo XIV as his papal name. While the relative youth of the nation, fewer than 20 of the church's previous popes had served after the U.S....

A new pope has been named, and for Villanova University and Philadelphia, the pope might be a familiar face and name. Pope Leo XIV, formerly known as Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, is a class of 1977 Villanova University graduate, earning his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics. The new pope, a 69-year-old Augustinian friar, was one of the 21 new cardinals selected by Pope Francis. According to Villanova University, Pope Leo XIV was born in Chicago, Illinois, and joined the Order of St. Augustine in 1977. Following his undergraduate studies at Villanova, Pope Leo XIV earned a Master of Divinity degree...

Catholics, habemus papam! White smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel early in the evening, and now Catholics have their pope: Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost of Chicago, the first American pope, though he's also a Peruvian citizen. He takes the name Pope Leo XIV. The decision took around 24 hours and saw Prevost's election on the fourth vote. Some background on Pope Leo XIV: Born on September 14, 1955, in Chicago, Illinois, Prevost entered the novitiate of the Order of Saint Augustine (OSA) in 1977 and made his solemn vows in 1981 ... His career in the Church has been marked...

His last retweet, on April 14, slams the Trump administration's deportation of undocumented migrant and Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador. The post reads: 'Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you stay quiet?' Pope Leo XIV also shared several articles that address Catholic JD Vance's stance on immigration. One of them is titled: 'JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others.'

He emerged on the balcony, smiling, to greet the tens of thousands of cheering, jubilant Catholics in St. Peter’s Square: the first American pope. On Thursday afternoon—evening, in Rome—on a beautiful sunny day, Cardinal Robert Prevost from Chicago was elected the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church. He announced his new papal name: Pope Leo XIV. Prevost, a 69-year-old from the Augustinian religious order, had been considered a moderate candidate with solid practical skills in dealing with Vatican politics but similar priorities to Pope Francis on the matters of immigrants and the poor. He has held somewhat more traditional...

The Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops is charged with overseeing investigations into bishops accused of negligence, cover-ups, or improperly handling clerical sexual abuse allegations. The Chicago Sun-Times reported Feb. 26 that in September 2000, Fr. James Ray was permitted to live at St. John Stone Friary, a house of the Chicago province of the Augustinian religious order. The friary is half a block from a parish elementary school. According to diocesan records, the move required approval by now-Bishop Robert Prevost, who was then an Augustinian provincial superior. Prevost, now a diocesan bishop in Peru, was received in a private audience by...