For our Sounding Board column, U.S. Catholic asks authors to argue one side of a many-sided issue of importance to Catholics around the country. We also invite readers to submit their responses to these opinion essays—whether agreement or disagreement—in the survey that follows. A selection of the survey results appear below, as well as in the May 2026 issue of U.S. Catholic. You can participate in our current survey here.
The survey says . . .
My view of Pope Leo XIV is:
- Favorable – 78%
- Mostly favorable – 18%
- Mostly unfavorable – 3%
- Unfavorable – 1%
Compared to Pope Francis, Pope Leo seems:
- Largely similar – 52%
- More conservative – 12%
- More progressive – 10%
- It’s too early to tell – 23%
- They’re too different to compare – 3%
Since Pope Leo was elected, I have become more hopeful about the future of the Catholic Church.
- Strongly agree – 46%
- Agree – 42%
- Disagree – 10%
- Strongly disagree – 2%
When Cardinal Dominique Mamberti announced from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, “We have a pope! The Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lord, Robert Francis Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, Prevost!” I immediately sent my friend a congratulatory email. He responded, “Thanks, and pray for me.”
Of course I’ll pray for him, I thought, every time I celebrate Mass! But while in the eucharistic prayer I pray for “Pope Leo XIV,” I’m really thinking Bob.
When I was watching live coverage of the papal election last May, I did not expect to hear the name of my fellow American and seminary classmate from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago (CTU), primarily because he is an American. When I lived in Rome for 12 years as the Superior General of the Viatorians, I learned that residents of the Eternal City assumed that someone from the United States—a world superpower—would never be elected pope. It would be more appropriate to have a pope from a more neutral country. That’s still what I thought in 2025.
I have known five other popes. When hearing their names, I envisaged venerable figures far removed from my experience, natives of Italy, Poland, Germany, and Argentina. With the announcement of Robert Prevost as pope, my “Catholic geography” has changed radically. Now the revered spiritual figure speaks with a Midwest accent.
In these months since the surprise of his election has worn off, I have seen in Pope Leo’s words and actions the classmate and fellow superior general with whom I am familiar. A person who takes seriously his vocation to serve, his concern for the poor, reverence for people of other languages and cultures, and focus on Christ as the source of ecclesial unity and harmony are all in keeping with the priorities that marked him as a seminary student, a prior general, a missionary, and then a bishop in Peru. His choice of the papal name Leo—invoking the memory of Pope Leo XIII, the founder of Catholic social teaching—indicates to me that he has lost none of his single-mindedness on matters of social justice and, particularly, concern for the poor.
I am not surprised Pope Leo is largely continuing with the major themes and approaches of Pope Francis, especially regarding the vision of church represented by synodality. The documents of the Second Vatican Council were key to our understanding of the church in our studies at CTU. As many commentators have pointed out, the turn toward synodality and the acknowledgment of the active presence of the Holy Spirit in all the baptized is a key development based on the teaching of Vatican II.
During his Wednesday General Audience on January 7, Pope Leo announced a new catechetical series focusing on these documents from Vatican II. Returning to this indispensable source of God’s grace indicates the direction he wants his papacy to take, in continuity with Pope Francis.
Readers weigh in:
The word that comes to mind to describe Pope Leo is cautious. Not conservative, but acting with deliberation. His emphasis on continuing the direction of Vatican II seems positive, but I don’t expect any violent shift.
Suzanne Harris, Spokane, Wash.
I wish Pope Leo followed Pope Francis’ humility in what he wears and where he lives—walk with the poor, live modestly, no summer castle, a simple cross to wear.
Amelia Basurto, Tucson, Ariz.
I am grateful that we have a man who belongs to a religious community with an Augustinian theology. Pope Leo thinks and breathes the meaning of communal life, in relating to our world community and the nature of our global planet. Speaking five languages says he has a unique understanding of how every language interprets its universals in slightly different ways.
Sandra Spencer, St. Louis, Mo.
My guess is that the conclave wanted a pope a little more centrist in focus than Francis, while avoiding the inflexible rule-based dogma of Benedict XVI. I also suspect that with the U.S. president being rabidly anti-immigrant, they were comfortable with an American pope to try to mitigate Trump’s worst instincts. Good luck with that, Holy Father.
Keith Watt, Phoenix, Ariz.
Yet Pope Leo is not Pope Francis. Their personalities are very different. While Jorge Bergoglio was spontaneous and often spoke off the cuff, Robert Prevost is calm and deliberate, never inclined to “shoot from the hip.” This quality makes him a great listener and thoughtful dialogue partner. His background as a religious superior of the Augustinians also comes through in his dealings with the cardinals and members of the Roman Curia. Superiors of religious communities are more inclined to search for consensus through dialogue rather than through decrees handed down from on high.
Bob’s 12 years as prior general of the Augustinians before being named a bishop undoubtedly helped form his way of conducting the business of the Curia. Unity—trying to bring together disparate points of view—is obviously a major theme in his approach. The fact that he granted a special audience to Jesuit Father James Martin, who has written extensively on the place of LGBTQ+ Catholics in the church, while also meeting with the traditionalist Cardinal Raymond Burke, shows that Leo’s mental superstructure reflects James Joyce’s phrase “here comes everybody,” often used to describe the universality of the Catholic Church.
While some people may mistake Pope Leo’s somewhat introverted style as indicating a lack of decisiveness, he acts and speaks out of a profoundly grounded moral and spiritual center. His insistence during these past months on safeguarding the dignity of immigrants and refugees comes from a deeply held reverence for human beings made in the image and likeness of God. His training as a canonist is also obvious when he speaks about the importance of honoring international treaties and maintaining ordered and respectful relationships among nations. Given his skills and experience, it’s no wonder that a recent Gallup poll found he is among the world’s most influential and esteemed leaders.
Back in May 2025, when I heard that Robert Prevost had become pope, my surprise and joy came not because “I knew him when.” Rather, I rejoiced because I know him to be a sincere follower of Christ, imbued with a spirituality nourished by his deep relationship with the mystical spirit of St. Augustine, the founder of his order.
His first apostolic exhortation, Dilexi Te (On Love for the Poor), gives us a glimpse into this spirituality. We also see there his perspective on the nature of the church and the challenge the gospel extends to us all. At the end of his text, Leo forcefully argues that God’s love, freely given to every person, must in turn be shared—especially with the poor and those on the margins. In contrast to some people who contend that Christians can ration their love or limit it to family and friends, Pope Leo writes that divine love “spans chasms that are humanly impossible to bridge. . . . By its very nature, Christian love is prophetic: it works miracles and knows no limits. . . . A Church that sets no limits to love . . . is the Church that the world needs today.”
Coming from Rome—or Chicago—it is hard to argue with that.
Results are based on survey responses from 201 uscatholic.org visitors.
This article also appears in the May 2026 issue of U.S. Catholic (Vol. 91, No. 5, pages 25-29). Click here to subscribe to the magazine.
Image: flickr.com/U.S. Department of State
