As we approach the one-year anniversary of Pope Leo’s election, we can see the outlines of a papacy that combines quiet and measured deliberation with a clear and prophetic voice on many issues of the day, ecclesial and not. ‘America’ asked five scholars to weigh in on Leo’s first year in the chair of Peter—and on what we might expect in the future.
Pope Leo XIV
Posted inNews
Trump says he has ‘right to disagree’ with Pope Leo, ‘not necessary’ to meet him
President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House April 16 that he does not see a meeting with Pope Leo XIV as “necessary” after his social media tirade.
Posted inShort Take
Dear JD Vance: The Iran war is very much Pope Leo’s business.
JD Vance appears to see delighting in death and making genocidal threats as not matters of morality—and thus something the pope should just keep quiet about.
Posted inVatican Dispatch
Pope Leo denounces those who use the name God for military gain
“Blessed are the peacemakers! But woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.”
Posted inPodcasts
Money, ideology and polarization: Why the Catholic Church blesses social justice
This week on “Jesuitical,” a roundtable on President Trump’s broadside against Pope Leo, plus John Carr on his decades of work spreading Catholic social teaching
Posted inVatican Dispatch
Pope Leo to Cameroon’s leaders: Break the ‘chains of corruption,’ invest in young people
In a speech that seemed targeted at those in positions of power, Pope Leo said that “serving one’s country means dedicating oneself, with a clear mind and an upright conscience, to the common good of all people in the nation.”
Posted inVatican Dispatch
Pope Leo on plane to Cameroon: St. Augustine invites us to search for God and truth
On the five-hour flight from Algiers to Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon, Pope Leo, looking relaxed and in good spirits, spoke for about 10 minutes to the press corps about his visit to Algeria, which he described as “a very blessed trip.”
Posted inDispatches
South Africa’s Cardinal Brislin: Trump cannot silence Pope Leo or the church
Attacking “the sanctity of the church and the papacy, and the deeper moral vision they represent, is not acceptable and cannot be met with silence,” Cardinal Stephen Brislin said.
Posted inVatican Dispatch
Pope Leo walks in the footsteps of St. Augustine in Hippo
On his second day in Algeria, Leo XIV, the first Augustinian pope, visited the archaeological site of ancient Hippo, modern-day Annaba, where once stood the church—“the Basilica of Peace”—where St. Augustine was bishop for 34 years.
Posted inPodcasts
Reactions: President Trump lashes out at Pope Leo XIV
In a special America Media editors’ roundtable, Sam Sawyer, S.J., Ashley McKinless and Colleen Dulle break down President Trump’s unprecedented attack on Pope Leo XIV.