Leo XIV, the Pope of the Americas who could become the global rival of Donald Trump

The church of Rome has a new pontiff, and for the first time he is an American Pope. The election of Leo XIVto the century Robert Francis Prevostwhich occurred in the general surprise, generated great emotion in the United States, in which Catholics represent between a fifth and a quarter of the population.

«It is a great honor to know that he is the first American Pope. I can’t wait to meet Leone XIV. It will be a very significant moment ” Donald Trump has congratulated him Just learned the news of the election.

But as far as he will try to present his appointment as an additional example of the America returned “great” under his guide, few are thinking that the election of Prevost can represent a victory for Trump. The successor of Bergoglio, in fact, carries on a vision of the Church and the distant world from the ideas of Trumpism and the American conservative right. The first, moved, words from the balcony of San Pietro where he hoped for “a missionary church, close to those who suffer” and who “builds dialogue bridges”, could not indicate it in a clearer way.

Born in Chicago from a family of immigrants of European origin, more than an American Pope is A pope “of the Americas”: For twenty years in Peru first in the diocese of Trujillo, then as bishop of the northern city of Chiclayo, his long missionary experience would have helped him to become “bridge” between the South and the North of the world, summarizing – says who worked with him – the pragmatism of a North American and the sensitivity of the Latin American. Progressive on some themes: migrants, climate and poor but more conservative on civil rights, one thing is certain: it does not make discounts to anyone.

In recent years, through tweets and retweets, Prevost has touched several burning themes of American politics: From the control of weapons to the death penalty, from climate change to the murder of George Floyd, which in 2020 triggered the Black Lives Matter movement. In the first term of Trump he had republished words of opposition to refugee refugees and the ban on entry into the USA imposed on citizens of many Muslim countries. And in a post from last February, which has become viral just after its election, Fully attached the vice -president JD Vance – converted to Catholicism in adulthood and bearer of a traditionalist and conservative vision of religion – saying that he “missed” trying to find a theological justification for the treatment reserved for migrants, explaining that “Jesus does not ask us to give value to our love for others”. Before entering the conclave, his last tweet is a criticism of Trump and the Salvadoregno president Nayib Bukele for the deportation and detention of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, with a link to an article that compares the suffering and persecutions suffered by the communities of immigrants and refugees to the passion of Christ.

As predictable, the reaction of the right sorceress (Make America Great Again) was not long in coming: Steve Bannon He defined it in no uncertain terms An “anti-trump pope” and the policy-influencer of the far-right conspiracy Laura Loomer (the one that had released the fake news on Haitian immigrants in the election campaign “who eat dogs and cats”) has stamped it as «Marxist» and «Woke», One from which “Catholics have nothing good to expect”.

With a world vision that seems in clear contrast to that ofAmerica FirstLeone XIV could become A global rival of the President: One who has internal credibility to influence Catholic Republicans even more than Pope Francis.

The reason why the cardinals have chosen an American for the first time will remain an internal mystery to the walls of the Sistine Chapel. But the election of Leone XIV arrives in a crucial moment, in which The role of America on the world scene is more uncertain What never. The United States under the guidance of Donald Trump are assuming a hostile and conflictual position both inside and outside its borders.

To date, almost all the insiders of the Vatican agreed on the fact that America would never have produced a pope, at least until a superpower remained. A citizen of the dominant nation could not have become the leader of the largest religious organization in the world without disrupting the global balance of geopolitical and cultural power. Of course, as he holds today The Atlantic“The conclave has just made the unthinkable”. Electing an American Pope, but with a reassuring smile and which in times of division announces that he wants to unite.