As Cardinal Prevost, Pope Leo XIV dedicated himself to the poor in Peru, and that is to be praised. He was very close to Pope Francis, the actual first American Pope. Leo is the first United States Pope. A Vatican priest described him as the least [US] American Pope from the United States that the Cardinals could find.
Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum in 1891 was a massively important encyclical that defended the dignity and necessity of intact families whose labor provided both benefit and dignity to their lives, in part by landing firmly on the side of private property and workers’ rights. He was also a firm believer in free speech. Pope Leo XIV explicitly linked himself to Leo XIII and Rerum Novarum yesterday:
Pope Leo XIV explains his choice of name:
“… I chose to take the name Leo XIV. There are different reasons for this, but mainly because Pope Leo XIII in his historic Encyclical Rerum Novarum addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution.… pic.twitter.com/bI4F1EBIS8
— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) May 10, 2025
Pope Leo XIII was a social reformer. Pope Leo XIV will be family-oriented, and that is a good thing.
He has castigated Donald Trump for separating families, which is what has always happened in deportations, including under Barack Obama. Currently, the administration is sending whole families out, and they are looking for criminals to deport.
Anyone who comes here illegally is violating federal law. They could be deported. The US didn’t go through an industrial revolution. The US went through an invasion.
Hopefully, this Pope will be more like John Paul or Benedict and concentrate on religion, not politics.
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