An avid amateur tennis player from Chicago with Creole roots who speaks five languages and is described as a consensus builder will aim to bring unity to the Catholic faith and it's 1.4 billion adherents. Robert Francis Prevost was elected Pope Leo XIV following the largest-ever conclave—with 133 cardinals participating—that lasted just two days.The 69-year-old, who was revealed as the church's 267th leader on May 8 from the loggia at St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, greeted his flock cheering from the square below, and watching on TV around the world, with the words:
"Peace be with you." He expressed a desire to bridge divides in his first address, delivered in Italian and Spanish. "We want to be a synodal church, walking and always seeking peace, charity, closeness, especially to those who are suffering," he said. While there was much excitement about Leo being the first American pope in the church's 2,000-year history, the pontiff faces a number of immediate challenges.Leo ascends to the papacy at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions, when Russia is continuing its war in Ukraine and Israel has renewed its offensive in Gaza after a temporary ceasefire. "His greeting to those gathered in St Peter's Square and those watching globally, 'peace be with you,' has set the tone for his papacy," Maria Power, a Catholic and senior research fellow at the University of Oxford's Las Casas Institute for Social Justice, told Newsweek.
"Over the past 50 years, the pope's role as a global statesman has been emphasized, and he is seen as a neutral figure who has the moral authority required to navigate global political tensions."His first tasks, she said, will be "to turn his attention to Israel/Palestine and Ukraine, sending Vatican diplomats to engage in shuttle diplomacy while keeping the world's attention focused on places where the dignity of the human person is being violated daily." The church in recent years has been divided between conservatives and progressives.
Conservative Catholics in the U.S. were particularly critical of his predecessor Pope Francis, but Pope Leo is viewed as a moderate who could strengthen unity—"an inspired choice" to deal with the divisions, Power said. "He is a centrist who has vast missionary experience and will therefore understand the global church. He will have to walk a fine line between the factions of the church, but there are elements of his ministry and priesthood that will appeal to both sides." Doctrinal peace is only part of the challenge—Leo faces a moral reckoning as well. The pope will have to continue dealing with the sex abuse scandals that have dogged the church for decades. He faced scrutiny over allegations that he mishandled sexual abuse complaints filed in Chicago in 2000 and Peru in 2022. Newsweek contacted the Vatican via email for comment.
