'Peace Be With You': Pope Leo XIV Steps Onto the World Stage

“Peace be with all of you!” Those were the first words of Pope Leo XIV, the newly anointed leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

As Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost addressed the 100,000-strong crowd gathered in St. Peter’s square, he used the world’s most famous pulpit to promote a vision that, of late, has been more of a wish than reality.

“To all people, wherever they are, to all the people of the earth, may peace be with you,” he continued, in fluent Italian. He is now tasked with delivering it.

Prevost’s appearance on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica was the culmination of a centuries-old election ritual in which specially selected cardinals, sworn to secrecy, spent days behind the closed doors of the Sistine Chapel to decide who could best lead the church through a period of tumultuous change. He succeeds Pope Francis, who died on April 21, onto the world stage, and will be expected to continue in the globally beloved leader’s path towards a more open, inclusive church that advocates for the poor and the marginalized.

The voting began on Wednesday night with an inconclusive result. Another three rounds were held on Thursday, before Cardinal Prevost obtained the required two thirds majority necessary to be selected. The fact that the voting took less than two days, on par with the selection of Pope Francis in 2013, shows that the cardinal-electors were largely united in their choice of a man known for his solid judgment, his sharp insight, and a steady hand to lead the church through a tumultuous time. 

A New Name, and an Old Cape

The papal tradition of a cardinal taking a new name as he is announced pope symbolizes his rebirth as custodian of the church. The chosen name often signals the direction the new Pope intends to take. Leo is a reference to the turn of the 20^th Century Pope Leo XIII, who advocated for the rights of workers during the Industrial Revolution, as well as the poor and the marginalized. “In many ways, Pope Leo XIII was very conservative, but on social issues, he was very strong. I’m guessing that Cardinal Prevost wanted to signal his commitment to social justice in the tradition of Pope Francis,” says Brett C. Hoover, a theology professor at Loyola Marymount University in California.

The fact that Prevost donned the traditional ermine fringed red cape that Francis—in a sign of his commitment to humility—refused to wear at his own anointment in 2013, could also be an indication that Leo XIV does not plan to rock the pontifical boat in exactly the same way. Still, he praised Francis’ commitment to ministering to the suffering of the world in his short address to the crowd, and he reiterated his desire to continue Francis’ efforts to open doctrinal debates to diverse voices, which is known as synodality.

The Least American American

Born in Chicago to a family with Italian, French and Spanish roots, Prevost, 69, will be the first pope from the United States the church has ever seen, and only the second pope from the Americas, after Francis who was from Argentina.

He attended a high school run by an Augustinian seminary, then went on to get a degree in mathematics at Philadelphia’s Villanova University. After getting his Master of Divinity degree in 1982, he served as an Augustinian missionary in Peru, interspersed with key church leadership positions in both Chicago and Rome. In 2015 Francis made him Bishop of Peru’s Chiclayo diocese, then moved him into leadership positions in the Vatican. Francis only made him a Cardinal in February. 

Prevost also holds Peruvian citizenship. After addressing the crowds gathered in front of St. Peter’s Basilica in flawless Italian, he thanked members of his Peruvian diocese in perfect Spanish. Notably, he did not say a word in English, thank the people of Chicago, nor refer to his American origins in any way. That was deliberate, says Hoover. “He was saying, ‘I’m an American, but I’m a different kind of American. I’m not a nationalist; I’m a person that cares about the entire world.”

That didn’t stop U.S. President Donald Trump from congratulating the newly minted pope in a social media post soon after the announcement. “It is such an honor to realize that he is the First American Pope,” Trump wrote. “What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment.”

Read more: World Leaders React as Robert Francis Prevost Becomes First American Pope

Close confidants describe Prevost as reserved, almost shy. But they uniformly laud his ability to listen. “In meetings he was like a sponge,” says Father Andrew Small, the former Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Protection of Minors under Francis. “He’s a listener and his questions tell you he’s processing what you’re saying. It doesn’t mean you know what he’s thinking, but you know that you’ve been heard.”

Leo XIV arrives on the global stage at a pivotal time, when principled leadership is more vital than ever. He faces ongoing conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, along with the politically divisive, but morally urgent, issues of migration, religious freedom, human rights and the climate crisis. He will have to navigate a surge in right-wing nationalism, as well as a potential economic slump that threatens the world’s most vulnerable.

The power of the papacy extends far beyond Catholicism’s 1.4 billion followers. The pope may not have the military or economic power of other leaders, but he has the moral authority that most global leaders lack. “Whatever its weaknesses, the church has always—at least over the past 150 years—given priority to people on the margins. And we need that more than ever in an era of America first and Fortress Europe,” says Richard Lennan, a professor of Theology at Boston College. “We need someone who can speak up for the poor, the marginalized, the displaced on the world stage. Even if people just nod politely and move on, we still need that voice.”

Read more: Where Pope Leo Stands On Specific Issues

The Church’s need for a counter to Trump’s brand of America-first global realignment likely played a role in Prevost’s selection, says Lennan. “He’s the least American American. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if that was part of the thinking of the Cardinals, that they wanted someone who could keep challenging attitudes and actions that disregard the value of human lives.” 

A Hard Act to Follow

As Leo XIV takes up the Pope’s miter, many will expect him to build on Francis’ legacy. It will be a difficult undertaking.

Francis’ criticism of capitalism’s excesses, his calls for world leaders to respond to the warming climate, and his impassioned advocacy for migrants made him globally popular. Yet within the church, his reformist interpretation of church doctrine—”Who am I to judge?” he famously responded when asked to weigh in on gay priests—set off a polarizing struggle between modernists and traditionalists. So too has his radical approach to inclusivity that welcomed the non-ordained faithful, including members of the LGBTQ+ community and lay women, to sit with bishops and contribute their thoughts on issues of church doctrine in meetings called synods. It is this vision of synodality—the church as a listening one instead of a top-down teaching one—that was at the core of Francis’ progressivism, and the biggest threat to traditionalists who seek stability by maintaining the power and influence of church leadership. 

To the relief of many in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Leo XIV immediately praised Francis’ commitment to the world’s overlooked and undervalued residents. Then he reiterated his commitment to making sure that the church would keep listening. “We need to be a synodal church,” he said. “Especially one that is charitable to those who are suffering.” The crowd responded with cheers.

Unfinished Business

Francis also leaves behind a lot of unfinished business that Leo XIV will have to address. During his 12-year pontificate Francis galvanized liberals—both Christian and secular—by breaking longstanding church shibboleths. He said that divorced and remarried Catholics could take communion, and he allowed priests to bless same-sex unions. He brought up other controversial issues, such as the ordination of women as Catholic deacons, whether or not married men can become priests in regions where vocations are rare, and the use of birth control, but failed to offer a definitive take, frustrating many of his followers.

Leo XIV will be pressed to offer clarity on these and other pressing issues facing the modern church. How he leans is a bit of a mystery, says Lennan. As a missionary and then a bishop in Peru, he was able to stay out of the culture wars that define American Catholicism. “On these issues, he’s the great unknown. There’s a difference between the person you are the day you get elected and who you are as Pope.” How he responds to these questions will either cement Francis’ progressive legacy or demonstrate that it was a temporary aberration.

Leo XIV also faces challenges of a more practical nature, such as the Vatican’s parlous financial state and its diplomatic ties. One of the hallmarks of the Francis pontificate was a groundbreaking agreement with Beijing that allowed the Chinese Communist Party leadership to weigh in on church leadership appointments within the country. A few days after Francis’ death—an interregnum known as sede vacante, the empty seat, when all leadership decisions are put on hold—Beijing unilaterally named two bishops, including one to replace a Vatican favorite. Leo XIV’s response will set the tenor for his approach to Beijing’s increasingly overt challenges to Vatican authority and its persecution of underground Catholic clergy in a country that is home to approximately 20 million Catholics.

Read more: The Biggest Challenges Pope Leo XIV Faces

He will have to address the lingering damage of the church’s multiple sexual abuse scandals, says Small. “He clearly has a great sense of empathy, especially for the vast numbers of Catholics and people in general in the global south and elsewhere who live in unspeakable poverty and injustice.”

“But by being in touch with such massive amounts of suffering, one might unwittingly relativize the suffering of a much smaller group of people in the church who are victims or survivors of sex abuse committed by its members or mismanaged by its leadership. We all have something we need to work on, and I think that is an area that needs urgent attention.”

He also inherits a church in financial distress, says John Allen, a longtime Vatican analyst and the editor of Crux, a Catholic magazine. Donations are down, the budget is beset by $94 million deficit and its pension system is grievously underfunded. “The Vatican is, to be frank, a bit of a mess right now, particularly with regard to its finances. It’s facing a ticking financial time bomb. One that Leo XIV will have to diffuse quickly.

For the secular world, one of Francis’ most important contributions was his stance on climate change. His seminal Laudato Si’ encyclical, a 176-page pastoral letter on the religious importance of caring for the planet, sparked a climate movement in the Catholic Church that echoed through the temples and mosques of the world’s other great religions.

As the inheritor of that green mantle, Leo XIV will be expected to maintain the Vatican’s commitment to decarbonization while urging world leaders to do the same. “The planet, our own survival, is at stake,” says Father Joshtrom Isaac Kureethadam, a professor at Rome’s Salesian Pontifical University. Prevost was known to be an environmentalist, says Lennan, and given his background in Peru, one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries, he will likely keep carrying that banner.

Francis’ shadow looms large, but ultimately, Leo XIV is the successor of Peter, the first pope, not Francis, the most recent one. He will make his own mark, and the faithful will follow. The rest of the world will take note.