Wednesday, May 14, 2025

A missionary pope: What Pope Leo XIV’s years in Peru tell us about how he’ll lead the church

Kevin ClarkeMay 13, 2025

Peruvians celebrate as they join the pope for the 'Regina Coeli' prayer in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on May 11, 2025. (CNS photo/Pablo Esparza)

Dan Turley, O.S.A., was not among the people surprised that his friend and fellow Augustinian, Cardinal Robert Prevost, had been elected pope. “I was not totally shocked. I was sort of even expecting it, you could say.” He had snapped awake in the middle of the night at the time he believes the world’s cardinals had been electing his old friend to the highest office in the church.

“I asked myself, ‘I wonder if he has been chosen…’” He can’t help but chuckle as he shares the story.

“I know the new pope, Leo XIV, very well,” Bishop Turley says, speaking from Chicago where he has “retired” to work with Augustinian pre-novices and assist with the archdiocese’s confirmation program. “He’s just a wonderful person…. If you commission him in something, you delegate something to him, you know that it’s going to be done and that it’s going to be done well.”

The World’s Pope

Who is Leo XIV?

The Editors

May 14, 2025

Editorial

Pope Leo XIV

Pope Leo XIV prays in front of an image of Mary and the child Jesus at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Genazzano, Italy (CNS photo/Vatican Media).

A geographically and ideologically diverse papal conclave finished its work in two days and four rounds of voting, elevating Cardinal Robert Prevost to the papacy and inaugurating the pontificate of Leo XIV. The world learned when Leo appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s that the Catholic Church had its first U.S.-born pope. “Americano?” some incredulous observers among the thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square were heard to ask. Yes, though as the Vatican itself made clear, the second American pope, whose immediate predecessor also hailed from the same landmass stretching from southernmost Chile to northernmost Canada.

JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others

In a viral Fox News interview, the vice president suggested that it is more Christian to prioritize your family over a stranger, but Jesus wanted us to demolish the categories that keep us from seeing each other as worthy of love in the first place.

ByKat Armas ncr

In Leo XIV, I see qualities of a holy/whole person, and potential for more

ncr Nancy Sylvester

In Leo XIV, I see qualities of a holy/whole person, and potential for more

May 14, 2025

In Leo XIV, I see qualities of a holy/whole person, and potential for more

Nancy Sylvester ncr

Tuesday, May 13, 2025

What Pope Leo’s first days tell us about his priorities

JesuiticalMay 12, 2025

Pope Leo XIV appears at the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica for his first Sunday blessing after his election, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, May 11, 2025.(AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Welcome to America magazine’s Conclave Podcast. Our editors are on the ground in Rome covering the first days of Leo XIV’s historic papacy.

Today, Pope Leo met with members of the Vatican press corps and the thousands of other media in Rome covering his election, telling them to be peacemakers and calling for the release of all imprisoned journalists.

On our final episode recorded in Rome, the team discusses:

How Pope Leo related to the media, and the importance of his message of peace and truth in a world threatened by war and the rise of A.I.
Pope Leo’s meeting with the College of Cardinals on Saturday, in which he signaled that he would continue the work started by Pope Francis
Pope Leo’s “honeymoon” period—and the opposition he will inevitably face

https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2025/05/12/conclave-podcast-pope-leo-xiv-media-cardinals-250659