New Pope

[Redshoeblueshoe]

Wow that was fast

I agree & believe his heart is with Peru, however, he is close to his two brothers and visits/visited them in America when he is/was able. Tbh I never liked his popeliness Francis. Pope Leo does appear to be less bombastic. Which Francis acknowledged even before he rose to office, he was known to be.

None of them come close to John Paul 🤷🏻‍♀️

I thought he left America when he was in his twenties, lived in Rome for a bit, and since then has spent his life in Peru.

Bio with timeline. He did go back to the States for assignments a couple of times.

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2025-05/biography-of-robert-francis-prevost-pope-leo-xiv.html

John Paul 11 was legendary. A stand out Pope. So if u mean him, yes I agree 100%..

@ChristmasStars it would be Hugh, after St Hugh of Lincoln or Urban as I like the sound of if.
I was watching the Two Popes on Netflix the other day. And was really sad when they showed footage of the real Francis at the end, greeting Benedict. (Didn’t think Anthony Hopkins played him well at all. My friend said he was a kind and gentle
man.

No. He left America as a young man. He has a missionaries heart. But he returns/returned to visit his brother's.

Meant to add his brother said this in an interview.

I agree that Francis didn't come anywhere near John Paul II.
But we don't know how Leo's papacy will play out and what he will achieve. He could come close to John Paul II, we can't decide right now that he doesn't.

When Pope John Paul II was elected he was a "shock" election, no one had heard of him and then he went on to be Pope for 26 years.
He was elected when I was 2 so I grew up with him and became very fond of him and he was there for the next 26 years. When he died I was very upset. I'd never known anything else but Pope John Paul II.
It's hard to feel the same about other Popes because I didn't grow up with them, they came along later!

Let's see what Pope Leo does.

My hope is that Pope Leo achieves the same status as I think he will have a long time in the role to build a great legacy.

I disagree that Francis doesn’t come anywhere near JP2. I think it’s the other way round. Looking back. I’m not really sure what JP2 actually did. Although i’d only been a catholic a week when he died. I hope Francis is canonised soon.

John Paul II was very charismatic and had a forceful personality. He was also shaped by his early years in Russian occupied Poland. As a result he was quite conservative, politically as well as theologically. During his Papacy clergy were murdered by right wing death squads in Latin America. J P was more concerned with silencing and suppressing priests who believed in ' liberation theology' so called worker priests. Perhaps he suspected them of Marxist sympathies. At any rate I think its no coincidence that Latin America is converting to Evangelical Protestantism. Especially the ' prosperity gospel' pushed by Pentecostalists who are basically scam artists. John Paul II was ideologically similar to Reagan and Thatcher in the 80s. They had their way and we are dealing with the results now.

Yes many of my older family and friends, including priests, thought John Paul II did not do enough to bring Catholicism forward to the modern era. He was too old fashioned and stuck with tradition.

they preferred Francis who was more liberal and accepting toward things like gay and lesbian, divorce, contraception etc. they are of the opinion that no one should be turned away from the church.

@Whatsgoingonherethenagain I think my friend who is a bishop thinks the same. He wasn’t keen on him. But loved Benedict. He said he was a gentle and kind gentleman.He was a huge admirer of Francis and bought the same pectoral cross to show he was. “Francis’s man”

This obituary of Benedict XVI interested me - it was published in the Guardian, whose view of Christianity is as hostile as can be without being outright propaganda - but it was surprisingly sympathetic to Benedict, saying he wanted to address the issue of child sexual abuse but John Paul II didn't, and stopped him.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/31/pope-benedict-obituary

That was actually a fascinating read! Thank you for posting it.

I don’t know why people are criticising him for moving back into the papal apartments. I wouldn’t want to live in what is basically a hotel, with no privacy and surrounded by the public each day. Francis was a one off, and him moving into Santa Marta caused considerable inconvenience to a lot of people. Shops and the petrol station had to shut. And an apartment block emptied for security.

I agree. It turned out to be a bit of a nuisance because of security concerns and because he then took up the whole of the second floor which then couldn't be used by visiting priests etc.
The papal apartments couldn't be used for anything else because he had to use the reception room there for official meetings with visitors and he had to use the window for the Angelus anyway.
Basically he ended up using up a whole load of extra space. He said he wanted to be among people and that's why he stayed in Santa Marta but it wasn't without it's problems.
No one should be criticizing Pope Leo for moving back into the papal apartments. The second floor in Santa Marta will now be available to be used by others again.

And if you look at the floor plan, most of it is the chapel anyway!

I am not a Catholic but my heart is warmed by the news that Pope Leo has said he would like to host peace talks between Ukraine and Russia at the Vatican and that the failure of the recently concluded talks is tragic.
If he could reach Putin's soul that would be an achievement indeed.
Perhaps he has some magic touch for this work.
https://www.politico.eu/article/new-pope-leo-xiv-offers-vatican-ukraine-peace-talks-putin-zelenskyy/

I hope he also tries to reach Netanyahu's soul - if he actually possesses such a thing!

Imagine if he made that work and achieved peace. Trump would be furious! Or he would claim it's because the pope took his advice as a fellow American.

It would also annoy Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, which is a pleasing thought.