Pope Leo XIV now reigns as the head of the Catholic Church on Earth, and the reactions have been interesting, to say the least. Some are rejoicing as if God Himself descended from His Heavenly Throne to place the Tiara on Pope Leo’s head, and others seem like they should be put on suicide watch and not allowed any sharp implements in the home or to walk alone on bridges.
I have seen rumours — of the generally credible kind in the journalistic sense — that he is a long-time devotee of the Traditional Latin Mass.
It also seems to be the case that he isn’t a big fan of Trump’s or JD Vance’s stance on border control and migrants. In addition to that, he apparently imposed Communion on the hand during the Covidian period in his diocese in Peru, and it is said that he suggested doing confession via telephone to reduce contact during the same period. I haven’t been able to find confirmation of the claim of confession over the phone, however. My gut tells me it isn’t true; you would have to be pretty ignorant of the basic necessity of sacramental validity to suggest a real “over the phone” confession.
There are also allegations that he covered up or ignored some abuse claims in his diocese, and perhaps he will deal with those allegations. Now, my journalistic background has shown me that it is often not as black and white as people would like when it comes to how a diocese deals with abuse claims. There are many reasons for this, especially the fact that the code of canon law is very weak on the matter, and modern civil legal codes are often less than helpful.
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In any event, there are plenty of reasons why Pope Leo could turn out to be awful, and simply another Pope Francis. At the same time, Cardinal Burke and Cardinal Sarah seem to be overjoyed at his election, and their comments have gone beyond mere pleasantries required by decorum.
One Italian outlet has reported that the new Pope attended a “secret” meeting with Cardinal Burke before the conclave, and it seems to be verified. The thinking goes that Cardinal Burke used his American influence and his former position as a high-ranking prelate to find a way forward for the electors with a moderate man who could deal with the various factions of the Church.
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