Inside the Election of Pope Leo XIV

On April 21, 2025, I got up early to do some important work: I had to finish the meeting minutes for the faculty assembly — a task that I admit I found most challenging. I opened my computer and prepared to work, but I was caught offguard by an email notification from a Boston TV station asking me to talk about Pope Francis. It was then I learned that the Holy Father had passed away. That began a long series of media interviews — about 75 over the next couple of weeks. In these interviews, there was one question that I was asked consistently: Will we see an American-born pope? 

My answer was also consistent: “No way.” My thought was that American cardinals are so engaged in the culture wars that it would be difficult to choose an American without baggage and battle scars. Also, I surmised that the Vatican may not wish to seemingly align itself with a superpower like the United States.

So, when an American and Chicago White Sox fan was elected to the papacy, I think an appropriate heading for my media commentary should have been: “Holy Cross Expert Gets It Wrong!” 

In retrospect, however, I should not have been surprised since Robert Prevost, now Leo XIV, was not your typical American prelate. 

First, he’s an Augustinian — an order once known for mendicancy (extreme poverty), stability and solidarity with the poor. Pope Leo was also a graduate of Villanova, an Augustinian institution and a longtime football rival of Holy Cross — an interesting background that I’m sure all of us at Holy Cross can forgive him for.

Prevost was also a missionary in Peru. So he brings a background that is familiar with issues important in the global south — a fact that I think was crucial for his election. 

Additionally, in what is an important — and I think overlooked — part of his background, is he was trained in canon law, and I think that fact made him acceptable to more conservatively inclined members of the College of Cardinals. 

Choosing Prevost as pope makes a great deal of sense for the Church if the goal is continuing the reforms of Pope Francis, while also giving the Catholic world a chance to catch its breath from a pontificate that deeply impacted Church governance and the lives of individual Catholics.

WHAT’S IN A NAME? 

In choosing the name “Leo,” which means “lion,” Prevost was clearly honoring his distant predecessor Leo XIII. Leo XIII’s papacy was long and significant: He reigned for 25 years, from 1878 to 1903, and passed away at the ripe old age of 93. Pope Leo XIII was most famous for his encyclical, or Papal letter, “Rerum Novarum” (“Of New Things”). “Rerum Novarum” was a landmark in Catholic social teaching that addressed workers’ rights, among other subjects, and specifically advocated for fair wages and the dignity of labor. 

In continuity with the intent behind “Rerum Novarum,” Pope Leo XIV has already begun to address “new things” that affect workers and have transformed labor in our rapidly changing digital age. Of particular concern for this new American pope is how AI threatens to devalue — and displace — human labor. Along with this, Pope Leo XIV has emphasized Catholicism’s preferential option for the poor and has carried through Pope Francis’ concerns about global warming and environmental degradation. The new pope has also welcomed “synodality” and its more inclusive vision of decision making in the Church.

CONTINUING POPE FRANCIS’ LEGACY 

All of this strikes me as continuing the legacy of Pope Francis in a consistent way. Where Pope Leo has surprised me is with his increasingly specific comments about the situation regarding immigrants and migrants in the United States. Pope Francis certainly was concerned with the treatment of migrants, especially in Europe, and so Pope Leo’s echoing of this concern is, in and of itself, not surprising. But what has struck me is that Pope Leo has gone further to address the situation in the United States and the policies of the Trump administration.

While Pope Leo has been dubbed “the quiet American” in some quarters, it may very well be the case that he will become more outspoken about pressing issues in his home country. If that turns out to be true, we will see another significant pontificate with unexpected impacts on Catholics and the world as a whole.

Frequently interviewed by national and international media outlets, Schmalz is a professor of religious studies at Holy Cross. His areas of expertise include global Catholicism, the papacy, Hinduism, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses and new religions.