Opinion | A Woke Pope for Our Authoritarian Times?

The election of a new pope, an infrequent event, draws global attention as the 2,000-year-old Catholic Church whirs its secretive internal mechanisms to appoint an infallible leader of its 1.4 billion followers. This past May, after the passing of Pope Francis, the Catholic Church announced the election of its new leader: Pope Leo XIV—the first American pope, a naturalized Peruvian citizen, and a relative unknown to many observers. Born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago, Illinois, Leo comes from a Creole background, spent over 20 years serving in Peru, and is a member of the Augustinian order, which focuses on aiding migrants and the poor.

While the Church often seems to operate independently from much of modern society, the choice of Pope Leo XIV was no doubt influenced by the re-election of Donald Trump and the global rise of right-wing and proto-authoritarian leaders. While Pope Leo XIV’s views were originally slightly hazy, especially on LGBTQ+ issues, it has become clear in recent months that he sees himself in the same mould as Pope Francis: a humanitarian focused on helping the poor and bringing the Church into the 21st century. Through his compassionate social policy, Pope Leo XIV is emphasizing the humanitarian values of the Catholic Church to maintain the Church’s status as a moral beacon for the world, even as global politics grows increasingly callous and regressive.

The Church has been involved in politics for much of its history, with a wide array of consequences for Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Most notably, the Church sponsored the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, and the colonization of the Americas and Africa. Across the world, the Church unleashed vast, irreparable, and enduring harm on innumerable people and communities. With the increasing power of the secular state in the 19th century, the Church’s role in politics diminished significantly. In the 20th century, the Church’s organizational focus shifted to social issues such as abortion in direct backlash to the growing feminist movement in the West. Meanwhile, many local Catholic leaders in Latin America advocated for liberation theology and opposed oppressive authoritarian regimes, though they were condemned in 1984 by Pope John Paul II.

Since the turn of the new millennium, the world has become less religious. Many people, religious or not, have come to see the Church as a regressive and archaic institution with little impact on daily life. However, the salience remains for the 1.4 billion Catholics who look to the Church and the pope for moral and spiritual guidance, as well as the Church, which naturally seeks to stay relevant in its own right. Pope Francis, who served from 2013 to 2025, did not revolutionize the Church’s views on gay marriage, women in religious leadership, or abortion, but his agenda did concentrate on humanitarianism, economic inequality, climate change, and democratized consultation within the Church. This allowed him to make real change within the Church and use its broad influence to advance these issues globally. Francis’s direction of the papacy’s focus on humanitarian social issues occurred with the gradual progressive shift of global values, contributing to the positive reception of his actions.

After the third wave of democracy in the late 20th century, many political scientists and world leaders presumed the world was on a path toward unceasing progress and increased democracy for the foreseeable future. However, that has not been the case. Numerous countries are instead experiencing a rise in right-wing populism accompanied by major authoritarian backsliding. There is a particularly pernicious brand of right-wing populist authoritarianism evident in many cases, but particularly in Nayib Bukele’s El Salvador and Donald Trump’s United States of America. Not only are these leaders corroding democratic institutions, but they are also using dehumanizing rhetoric and inhumane methods to effectuate their policy. Bukele has initiated a massive crackdown on crime, sweeping up thousands of innocent Salvadorans in addition to eliminating democratic backstops that previously restricted his power. Trump, meanwhile, has sanctioned white supremacists in his party, brutally cracked down on immigration, and prosecuted his enemies, consequently chipping away at the democratic foundation of the US. Therefore, the current anti-democratic and ruthless state of policy trends worldwide presents a clear opportunity for the Church to reassert its presence in global politics.

Pope Leo XIV is clearly aware of the tumultuous context in which he rose to the papacy—he chose his papal moniker after Pope Leo XIII, who supported workers and criticized capitalism during the Industrial Revolution. Pope Leo XIV emerges in contrast to President Trump by aligning himself with Pope Francis in his public remarks and published church teachings that advocate for migrants and the poor. Despite some early concerns about Pope Leo XIV’s beliefs, particularly on gay rights and women’s ordination, he has shown himself to be squarely in Francis’s humanitarian camp.

However, Pope Leo XIV is 19 years Francis’ junior, and American. His relative youth and more snappy American style of communication are evident in examining his pre-papacy tweets criticizing the Trump administration’s immigration policy and his recent comments illustrating the ideological inconsistency of the American right’s “pro-life” views that seem to apply to abortion but not the death penalty or inhumane immigration policy. Pope Leo XIV has made himself a cogent and clear opponent of the Trump administration, urging US bishops to disavow Trump, even as the majority of US Catholics voted for him. If Pope Leo XIV hopes to rhetorically counter Trump’s cruel, rushed immigration crackdown, he cannot mince words. Pope Leo XIV’s balanced but nimble communication enables him to respond well to the intense political environment.

Ultimately, Pope Leo XIV is steering a massive, antiquated institution through unprecedented times marked by authoritarianism, technological advancements, climate issues, and complex moral dilemmas. He has warned about the dangers of artificial intelligence, condemned climate denial, and above all, advocated for the world’s poorest and most disadvantaged. While he is not overhauling or substantially changing the Church’s social policy, he is choosing to rhetorically concentrate on universal values of humanitarian charity. In a time of callous authoritarian movements that seek to exclusively benefit the members of a certain right-wing coalition, Pope Leo XIV’s focus on the inclusive and kind elements of the Church’s values makes perfect sense. There is no shortage of inhumane things the Church has supported or effectuated, but Pope Leo XIV has chosen to emphasize the better angels of the Catholic Church: altruistic kindness.

Edited by Alexandra Agosta-Lyon.

Featured Image: Pope Leo XIV waves from a Vatican balcony right after he is announced as the new pope on May 8, 2025. “Pope Leo XIV Waving” by INFOWeather1 is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.