Member-only story
A Few Very Early Impressions of Pope Leo XIV Following His Election
I was as surprised as anyone
It’s been four days since the election of Pope Leo XIV as the 266th successor of St. Peter, the first pope who is a U.S. citizen, the first pope who is a Peruvian citizen, the first pope from the Augustinian Order, and the first pope to grow up a Chicago White Sox fan. As someone with allegiance to a rival American League team (the Texas Rangers), this last part gives me some pause, but at least he’s not a Houston Astros fan. I was tempted to bang out a piece on the new Holy Father ten minutes after the “Habemus Papam,” but ultimately decided to wait a few days for the dust to settle.
I’m glad I did, because in that brief period he has given us multiple clues about who he is and what his pontificate may be like, clues that were simply not available through a Wikipedia search as he stood on the loggia overlooking St. Peter’s Square last Thursday evening. That’s not to say that the media (and especially social media) hasn’t already made up their minds: many of the more left-leaning folks are already anointing him Francis 2.0, while the far-right pundits began calling him a woke Marxist before he even gave his first blessing.
The single most ridiculous comment came from MAGA warrior Steve Bannon (who tweeted that the choice of…
