Is Pope Leo XIV part of the ‘Trumplash?’

It feels a bit facile and tasteless to say that the first American Pope, Leo XIV, has been elected to counter the influence of Trumpism. Popes often change in the role and, since Catholicism is a religion and not an electoral party, the servants of the servants of God tend to defy political caricature. 

Consider the limited evidence, however. Following an unusual social media spat between, of all people, the podcaster Rory Stewart and Vice President J.D. Vance about the Christian obligation to love (ordo amoris), in relation to the subject of immigration, the then Cardinal Robert Prevost posted an article entitled “J.D. Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.” The article, by a woman called Kat Armas, attempts to dismantle Vance’s argument that Christians should “love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that, you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world.”

No, wrote Armas: “the problem with this hierarchy is that it feeds the myth that some people are more deserving of our care than others.” The new Pontiff clearly agreed with that. More recently, too, he retweeted a progressive Catholic writer called Rocco Palmo criticizing the Trump administration for its “illicit deportation” of a prisoner to El Salvador. Responding to the election of Pope Leo XIV this evening, Palmo added: “First, Canada… Then Australia… now The Conclave. Just unreal.” He’s referring of course to the so-called Trumplash – the rejection of the US president’s policies across the world. 

In his first words as Pope, he said: “We are all in the hands of God… Let us walk together, build bridges, and proclaim the Gospel without fear.” The “bridges not walls” evocation is a near constant refrain of liberal bishops who oppose right-wing border policies. At Pope Francis’s funeral, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re used the line to sum up the late Pontiff’s message to the world. And then they picked an American who has done a lot of his spiritual work in Peru. 

We must wait to see how Leo XIV conducts himself as Pope. But it’s fair to say that the College of Cardinals has made it clear that Rome is no fan of Donald Trump. Not that Trump much minds, of course. He just congratulated Pope Leo: 

What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!

So it will.