Francis' Polarising Reforms

Cardinal Robert Prevost made history earlier this year, when he became the first American pontiff to lead the Catholic Church. And when he stepped out onto the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica as Pope Leo XIV, dressed in traditional papal robes, some conservatives in the church took it as a sign of a symbolic shift away from what they saw as the liberal drift of his predecessor the late Pope Francis.

Francis, who had put social justice at the heart of his papacy, divided opinion. Some Catholics praised his stance on issues like same-sex blessings, whilst others claimed that he had abandoned tradition for wokeness.

Now six months into his papacy, Pope Leo XIV is also coming under similar scrutiny, he’s already been criticized by some Catholics from the Make America Great Again (Maga) movement in the United States for blessing a block of Greenland ice. Whilst on the issue of same-sex blessings, his stated intention is to continue the same course as Pope Francis, that the Church’s teaching is not going to change on this issue.

But though he may also be advocating diversity, equity and inclusion, Pope Leo XIV may not necessarily be a carbon copy of his predecessor. As he prepares for his first apostolic visit to Turkey and Lebanon, Pope Leo XIV already appears to be charting a more nuanced path, grounded in pastoral instincts rather than divisive politics.

So, on The Inquiry this week we’re asking, ‘Is the new Pope woke?’

Contributors: Dr Massimo Faggioli, Professor in Ecclesiology, Loyola Institute, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland Inés San Martín, Vice President of Communications, The Pontifical Mission Societies, New York, USA Christopher White, Author ‘Pope Leo XIV: Inside the Conclave and the Dawn of New Papacy’, Associate Director, Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA Elise Ann Allen, Senior Correspondent for Crux, Author ‘Leo XIV: Citizen of the World, Missionary of the 21st Century’, Rome, Italy

Presenter: William Crawley Producer: Jill Collins Researcher: Maeve Schaffer Production Management Assistant: Liam Morrey Technical Producer: Craig Boardman Editor: Tom Bigwood

(Photo: Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican in May 2025. Credit: Mondadori Portfolio/Getty Images)