Robert Francis Prevost, 69, Chicago-born, becomes 267th pope as Leo XIV.
He is believed to share late Pope Francis’ views on environment, the migrants, and the poor.
This means his views on certain topics oppose those of President Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance, especially migrants.
Pope Leo XIV himself comes from a family of immigrants.
“I was born in the United States… But my grandparents were all immigrants, French, Spanish… I was raised in a very Catholic family, both of my parents were very engaged in the parish,” he said.
Although he was born in the US, the Vatican described him as the second pope from the Americas (Francis was from Argentina).
President Trump called Leo’s election “such an honor for our country” and wished the pope well in his new role.
Days before Leo’s election — during the period of mourning following Frances’ passing — Trump shared an AI generated photo of himself dressed in a pope’s robe, an act that sparked significant backlash from religious and political figures.
The photo was later shared by The White House official social media account.
Trump captioned the post on Truth Social, “I’d like to be pope. That would be my No. 1 choice.”
He added he didn’t actually have preference. “I must say, we have a cardinal that happens to be out of a place called New York who’s very good, so we’ll see what happens,” referring to Timothy Cardinal Dolan, archbishop of New York.
Posting on his X profile as Cardinal Robert Prevost, Pope Leo criticized Vance for an interview he gave about Christianity on Fox News.
“JD Vance is wrong,” he said. “Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”
Discussing concerns over the Trump administration’s handling of immigration, Vance referenced a Christian tenet “that you love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and then after that, prioritize the rest of the world.”
After receiving criticism on his views, Vance took to the social media to defend himself, writing, “Just google ‘ordo amoris.’ Aside from that, the idea that there isn’t a hierarchy of obligations violates basic common sense.”
Ten days later, Pope Leo, as Cardinal Robert Prevost, shared another piece from a Jesuit publication, titled, “Pope Francis’ letter, JD Vance’s ‘ordo amoris’ and what the Gospel asks of all of us on immigration.”
Vance congratulated Pope Leo on his election. “I’m sure millions of American Catholics and other Christians will pray for his successful work leading the Church. May God bless him!”
The latest post on X by Pope Leo was a reposted social media article that was critical of the Trump administration’s deportation of a US resident, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, to El Salvador. Garcia was sent to the world’s worst prison due to an administration mistake, but he’s unable to return home.
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