Pope Leo XIV, first American Pontiff, will be confronted with a broken American church

The last months before American Catholics have been a story about the climb of Catholic law. In January a parade of right -wing Catholic power began to stream in President Trump’s Washington again. Only weeks later came the hospitalization and the decline of Pope Francis, who often seemed to be on its own When 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 who saw Pope Francis alive, a short meeting between representatives of two contrasting visions for Catholic values ​​in the world.

Then came the wonderful arrival on Thursday a new pope: An American, born in Chicago and a prelate whose priorities for the church seemed to place him in the form of Francis. He is potentially another compensatory voice against the new powerful tribe of the land of rights leaning Catholics.

The increase by Robert Francis Prevost, known to some as Bob, to the throne of St. Peter electrified Catholics in his home country on Thursday afternoon. But the first American pope arrives in a time of extraordinary complexity and tension in the church in the United States.

Now the new Pope, Leo XIV, is confronted with the task, not only to repeat the 1.4 billion Catholics in the world, but of uniting a broken American church where the church hierarchy, ordinary Catholics, an influential right-wing Catholic media ecosystem and Catholic power in Washington are often in the ODDS.

The pope takes the role at a moment of extraordinary muscle and visibility for a certain type of Catholicism in American public life. More than a third of the members of President Trump’s cabinet are Catholic. For example, two -thirds of the Supreme Court, that one Remarkable series of statements express an emphatic vision of religious freedom, often favorable for Christian interests.

The second Catholic president in the history of the country, Joseph R. Biden Jr., left the office a few months ago.

The rise of a new right -wing Catholicism in the Washington of Mr Trump contrasts with a broader decline in the presence of the church in American life. Waves of Catholics left the church after revelations of widespread sexual abuse by clergymen, and American culture has generally become more secular. Nowadays, around 20 percent of Americans describe themselves as a Catholic, a share that has remained stable over the past decade, according to the Pew Research Center.

Mr. Vance, who converted to the belief in 2019, posted his good wishes To the new Pope Online on Thursday afternoon. “Congratulations to Leo XIV, the first American pope, in his election!” He wrote. “I am sure that millions of American Catholics and other Christians will pray for his successful work that leads the church. May God bless him!”

Mr. Trump, They denied placing an image Of himself as the Pope for his own account on his own truth Social Platform this week, Reporters said on Thursday that the selection was ‘such an honor for our country’.

Pope Franciscus clashed With Mr. TrumpThe most recent and fiery about immigration. In February, just a few months before he died, The Pope criticized Mr. Trump’s policy From massive deportations in an open letter to American bishops, who calls it a violation of the ‘dignity of many men and women, and of whole families’. The letter was also seen as an indirect message to other members of the administration, including Mr. Vance, who used a Catholic theological concept to defend the performance of the administration against immigrants.

Pope Leo is seen as the opportunity to share the priorities of Pope Francis on various social issues. An X account That seemed to belong to the new Pope who put a message again in April about the “illegal deportation” of the Trump government of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man who was wrongly deported to El Salvador in March. The same account has also shared different articles Critical about Mr. Vance.

“This pope will continue to speak clearly for justice, for peace, refugees, the poor and the hungry,” said the Reverend Thomas J. Reese, an old Vatican analyst. “If this puts him into trouble with the Trump White House, it is so.”

On Thursday evening, some right -wing Catholic media started to express the skepticism of the orthodoxy of Pope Leo. The Lifesiteews website published “5 worrying things you need to know about Leo XIV”, written by the editor -in -chief. The list contained the criticism of the new Pope on Mr Trump’s immigration policy.

Yet the Catholic doctrine is not neatly mapped on American political disputes, and it is not clear whether Pope Leo will have the appetite of his predecessor for sparring. Inserting itself directly into the American political landscape can be more mere for an American.

For some American Catholics, his selection was a sign that the church is adult here. The country is approaching its 250th birthday next year, but the Catholic Church claims an era of approximately 1,750 years older.

The United States were still considered Mission Territory for the Catholic Church as the beginning of the 20th century, said Kim Daniels, director of the initiative on Catholic social thinking and public life at the University of Georgetown. “In a sense, a Pope from the US is a sign of us in the world in global Catholicism,” she wrote in an e -mail and called his election “an extraordinary gift” to the life of the American church.

The American church is now the fourth largest in the world, behind those in Brazil, Mexico and the Philippines. The US is the first among those who have a pope.

For leaders of Catholic institutions and ministries throughout the country, the selection was a moment of optimism for their church and their country.

“It’s great news, it’s great,” said Curtis Martin, founder of the American focus in the Catholic ministry, about the selection of an American pope. The name also feels beneficial for him: Mr. Martin called one of his sons after the Pope Leo XIII of the turn of the century, who was born in Italy.

Mr. Martin said he saw Pope Francis as a leader who excelled in listening, especially for those who did not understand the church or agree with her teachings. He hopes that Pope Leo will be able to take the next step, listens, but also speaks more directly about ecclesiastical teachings.

“What has not happened is the possibility to enter into a real dialogue,” said Martin. “The church may never have listened better than under Pope Francis, but now it is an opportunity to speak.”

He added: “I think Pope Leo might lead that.”

The Reverend Robert A. Dowd, the president of the University of Notre Dame, said he hoped that the elections of Leo “a uniting moment” could prove for the American church.

“He is an American with a global perspective, but he is an American,” said Father Dowd. “He understands, I think, the state of the church here in the United States.”

As important as the moment for many American Catholics felt, the new American pope spent a large part of his adult life abroad, in Peru and Italy. Pope Francis, who was born in Argentina, never returned to his own home country as Pope, and he only visited the United States once in his 12-year-old Pausdom.

Leaders of the American Church, who are generally more conservative than much of the worldwide church, expressed their welcome and emphasized that the new Pope is now one of the world.

“Certainly, we look forward to being chosen by the cardinals, but we acknowledge that he now belongs to all Catholics and all people of goodwill,” said Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a statement. “Are words arguing for peace, unity and mission activities already indicate a path ahead.”

Alan Blinder contributed reporting.