Pope Leo straddles a divided church

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Pope Leo XIV is a baseball fan and the first American pope in the Catholic Church’s 2000-year history.

So what? No wonder President Trump called his election yesterday an excitement and an honour. But to lead is to choose. The new pope will have to try to

• straddle deep rifts in a church split between progressives like his predecessor and conservatives, some of whom helped to elect him;
• manage an awkward relationship between a global church and isolationist America; and
• answer critics who say he was too soft on clerical sexual abuse while a cardinal.

Half and half. US Catholics led a well-organised, well-funded bloc of conservatives, shepherded by Cardinal Raymond Burke, who disrupted and disrespected the work of Pope Francis for his liberal attitudes. Leo was nurtured by Francis but his attitudes appear to be half Francis, half Burke.

#bemorefrancis. Leo, as Robert Francis Prevost, was entrusted by Francis with suggesting future bishops. He backed the reforms that added three women to the committee that helped him in this prelate-proposing role.

While working in Peru he spoke warmly of the country’s policy of welcoming Venezuelan immigrants. One of his former classmates, the Reverend Mark Francis, says Leo believes “everybody has a right and a duty to express themselves in the church”.

#bemoreburke. In 2012, Leo attacked the Western media for spreading “sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel” such as the “homosexual lifestyle” and “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children”.

He opposed Peruvian government plans to teach gender in schools, telling local media that “it seeks to create genders that don’t exist”.

Conclave watch. In March, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a pressure group, complained about Leo under the Vatican’s Vos estis lux mundi decree, which allows any religious superior to be investigated for abuse or a cover-up.

• As head of the Augustinians in his native Chicago, Leo allowed Father James Ray, a priest accused of abusing minors whose ministry had been under restrictions since 1991, to live near a Catholic elementary school.
• When Leo was the bishop of Chiclayo in Peru, abuse survivors claimed he failed to investigate reports, sent inadequate information to Rome and allowed accused priests to continue saying mass.

Peacemaker? Could be. The conclave’s choice of a pope whose public statements suggest he is pro-immigrant and pro-women but anti-gay marriage and against what he calls “gender ideology” looks like an attempt by a split church to find common ground.

And yet... in February, Leo took issue with the US vice president (and Catholic convert) JD Vance for saying that the love of family came before love of the neighbour, community, fellow citizens and the rest of the world. Taking inspiration from Galatians 5:14, the then cardinal tweeted: “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”

Input. Michelle O’Neill, Northern Ireland’s first minister, urged Leo to “stand with Gaza”. Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine would look to the new pope for moral and spiritual support.

Outpouring. Speaking in Italian and Spanish but not English, Leo promised to seek peace, justice and a united church with “dialogue and love”.

Up to a point. A fellow priest from the Order of St Augustine told the NYT that Leo wasn’t given to excesses: “Blessing babies, yes. Taking them in his arms, no.”

Photograph by Tiziana Fabi / AFP via Getty Images