Leo XIV: A New Pope in the United States and Pope Francis’s First Vice-Pastor, Joseph S. Prevost
One of the most significant chapters of the new pontiff’s ministry took place in Peru. Prevost served there for roughly two decades. He became a cardinal last year after he was appointed Bishop of Chiclayo by Pope Francis.
Leo studied at the Minor Seminary of the Augustinian Fathers. He went on to attend Villanova University in Pennsylvania, where he received a degree in mathematics. He went to school at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.
The new pope was born in Chicago in 1955, according to Vatican News. His father is of French and Italian descent, while his mother is of Spanish descent.
Leo is known to share some of the same priorities as Francis, particularly when it comes to the environment and outreach to migrants and the poor, according to The College of Cardinals Report, a resource created by a team of Vatican journalists.
The new pope thanked his fellow cardinals for selecting him. He spoke warmly of Pope Francis, the late predecessor, before he concluded his remarks with a prayer.
The pontiff told people that he wanted his message to enter their hearts and reach them wherever they are. He spoke in several languages during his address.
The Roman Catholic Church has never had a leader who named their child “Leo XIV” or another name. The first pope from the Augustinian order is also the U.S.- born pope.
First High-Level Face-to-Face Interaction Between U.S. And China Trade Negotiations: Up First Newsletter Pope Leo and his Views
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This weekend, trade negotiators from the U.S. and China will meet in Switzerland for their first high-level face-to-face talks since President Trump returned to the White House. Goods from China have a tax rate of up to 245%. The older tariffs are on top of the 145% Trump’s. There is a highertariff on American goods going to China. British Prime Minister Kier Starmer and Trump reached a deal yesterday to lift some tariffs on British goods.
GOP leaders in swing districts insist they will not support any proposal that strips Medicaid benefits. The division has become a hurdle for Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” Restructuring the Medicaid program for poor, elderly and disabled Americans is a way that conservatives can achieve their deep spending cut goals. To get the bill through congress, House Republicans have to find 1.5 trillion in cuts to offset the cost of tax increases for individuals and businesses.
Source: Details on Pope Leo XIV and his views. And, U.S. and China trade negotiations begin
Oil Prices and Energy: A Breakdown of the Standard Model and the Effect on U.S. Oil Prices During the January $1.96-$Feb. 1 Breakdown
Gas prices have decreased significantly, primarily due to a nearly 25% drop in crude oil prices since the beginning of the year. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark for crude oil, fell from a high of around $80 per barrel in mid-January to just under $60 this week. When prices drop, U.S. producers find it difficult to drill new wells. What is impacting oil prices and what it means for the economy are shown in this breakdown.
🍿 Movies: Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick reunite for a wedding in Capri in Another Simple Favor, which is filled with murder, deceit and fashionable looks.
There are books In Katie Goh’s memoir, Foreign Fruit: A Personal History of the Orange, she unravels the multitudes the citrus fruit contains in tandem with mythologies of colonialism, inheritance and identity. There are four books in this week’s edition of bookstores.
The legacy of the late singer/pianist and creator of the Nashville sound continues to grow with the release of Imagine That: The Lost Recordings. (WBUR)
🎭 Theater: Sarah Snook, who played Shiv Roy on Succession, has been nominated for a Tony Award for playing 26 characters in The Picture of Dorian Gray on Broadway.
Pope Leo XIV: What a Great Honor for our Country, and What can we learn from the first U.S. President?
“It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very significant moment.
Online sleuths have dug up older tweets on his feed that criticize the first Trump administration, including its family separation policy, efforts to repeal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Trump’s “bad hombres” rhetoric.
The new pope was called a “WOKE MARXIST POPE” by a Trump ally in the U.S. media, as his social media posts emerged. On Thursday, Trump wrote a letter to Leo.
Leo has also shared messages opposing the death penalty, supporting vaccination during the COVID-19 pandemic and retweeting prayers for George Floyd after his police killing in 2020.
He wrote an article in February that was disagreeing with the Vice President’s controversial comments on the Christian hierarchy of love. One of Leo’s tweets repeated the headline: “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”
His most recent retweet was critical of the Trump administration’s partnership with El Salvador to deport immigrants without legal status, quoting a bishop who asked, “Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you remain quiet?
Source: Pope Leo’s stance on key issues, from climate change to LGBTQ+ rights to U.S. politics
Pope Leo and the 2023 Vatican Document Fiducia Suplicans: What will the Vatican’s 2023 mandate tell us about the future of the world?
The voting records of the man, who is from Chicago, show that he voted in Republican primary elections in 2012 and 2016 and the general election in 2024. He is listed as “undeclared” by the state, and it’s not clear who he voted for.
Pope Francis wrote a letter to the U.S. bishops, in which he criticized the start of mass deportations. “Worrying about personal, community, or national identity can easily introduces an ideological criterion that distorts social life and puts the will of the strongest as the criterion of truth,” wrote Francis.
The U.N. refugee agency says there are over 1.5 million forcibly displaced Venezuelans living in Peru, making it one of the largest host countries for refugees fleeing the humanitarian and economic crisis there.
Jesus Leon Angeles, the coordinator of a Catholic group in Chiclayo who has known the now-pope since 2018, told Reuters that he showed special concern for Venezuelan migrants in Peru.
The Vatican’s commitment to protecting the environment was echoed by thecardinal, who cautioned against the harmful effects of technological development and pointed out Pope Francis’ installation of solar panels.
It is not clear if Pope Leo’s views have changed since, or if they are indicators of how he will guide the world’s billion-plus Catholic faithful.
He said that talking about homosexuality with a child who hasn’t yet reached an age of development will create a lot of confusion.
Promoting gender ideology seeks to create genders that are not in fact genders at all. The attempt to confuse ideas from nature will only harm people and families, he was quoted as saying by the Diario Correo.
Leo’s views on the Vatican’s 2023 document Fiducia Supplicans — which permits non-liturgical blessings for same-sex couples, among others — are also ambiguous. He did not wholly endorse or reject the document, instead emphasizing the need for national bishops’ conferences to have the authority to interpret such guidance within their local cultural context.
Women can help the life of the Church on many levels, and there will be a continuing recognition of that.
He was enthusiastic about Francis’ efforts to increase women’s participation and visibility in the Vatican, by appointing several women to prominent leadership roles. In fact, Francis tasked the now-pope with overseeing one of his most revolutionary reforms: adding three women to the office that vets bishop nominations in 2022.
He stated that ordaining women doesn’t solve a problem, it might make a new problem.
Like his predecessor, Leo opposes the idea of ordaining female deacons. That’s in keeping with thousands of years of Catholic understanding, as he told journalists at a 2023 conference.
It’s not the job of the bishop to be a prince in his kingdom but rather to be humble, to be close to the people that he serves, and to look for ways that he can better live the homily in the midst.
He was the first Augustinian friar to lead the church. The Order of Saint Augustine, which dates back to 1244, says it has some 2,800 members throughout 47 countries. Their three core values are “truth, unity and love.”
“And so, Leo XIV has been formed on those foundational values,” the Rev. Robert Hagan, prior provincial of the Province of St. Thomas of Villanova told NPR. Francis spoke a lot about the importance of listening. I think Pope Leonardo XIV is a person who will listen to the voices on the margins.
Like his predecessor, Leo, born Robert Francis Prevost, has advocated for helping the poor and migrants. He has stressed the importance of protecting the environment. He’s called for racial justice and recently criticized the views of Vice President Vance, a Catholic, on the church.
“The College of Cardinal’s election is not a political statement but it contains a political message”, said an expert on religion and theology.
Leo Faggioli: From “Invasion by the U.S. Border” to “The Impossibility of Breaking the World Order”
Migrants at the U.S. border have been characterized as “invasion” by Trump, even as many have been displaced by economic uncertainty. Since returning to the White House, Trump has broken the world order by alienating long time allies and by befriending authoritarian leaders like Putin and Orban.
Faggioli said that the Trump effect was one of the things that made the impossible possible.
Lego has known Leo since the two were in sixth grade. They attended high school, seminary and Villanova together. He said that there was always a need for helping people. He was always doing stuff, always very serviceable, as they say, very willing to do things.”
“If the church is open to the spirit, the spirit will look for at the time probably the best or candidate to lead the church. When the spirit becomes public, our role as Catholics is to discover how it lives in the world.
He continued, “Now that an American pope is in office, maybe that position, from his point of view, could be used for a benefit of all.” There’s always two sides to a coin.”
