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The appointment of Pope Leo XIV was greeted with immediate speculation about his political leanings.

Is he a leftie?

Perhaps he’s a conservative.

Does anyone know his view on immigration? Will he advocate for open borders? Aside from at the Vatican, of course.

Will he fly a gay flag? Does he have a position on marginal tax rates? Was he ever registered as a Republican? Has he ever sucked from a single-use plastic straw?

Of Politics and Popes

You’d think the American, formerly known as Robert Prevost, had been chosen to lead a political party rather than the Catholic Church.

Not everyone was happy to see Pope Leo replace Francis. Democrats were hoping the conclave would elect a trans woman of colour.

Maybe next time.

Donald Trump, naturally, will claim he is Making Popes Great Again, with Pope Leo the first American to lead the Catholic Church.

One person told the New York Post…

Trump did a quid pro quo with the Vatican… “You elect an American Pope… we’ll give you the best trade deal.”

Really?

Others argue Pope Leo was selected as a counterweight to Orange Man Bad.

One person prayed…

“Dear Pope, please save us and the world from Trump and his disciples.”

Another observed…

He sounded like a Christian, which rules out Trump and MAGA.

And, naturally, there were numerous people accusing Pope Leo – whom they had not heard of until five minutes ago – of being a puppet of the Deep State. Whatever that is.

Pope Leo XIV

So what do we know of Pope Leo XIV?

I found a 2012 address he gave to bishops in Peru were the government was wanting to add gender ideology to the school curriculum.

Cardinal Prevost, as he was then, told Church leaders…

“The promotion of gender ideology is confusing, because it seeks to create genders that don’t exist.”

He went on to lament that Western news media and popular culture fostered “sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel.”

Culture Wars are Reality Wars

Many people advise political and church leaders to do whatever they can to avoid the so-called “culture wars” which I think are more accurately “reality wars”.

The culture war is really an argument over what is real and what is not.

Is gender a fixed biological reality? Or is it plasticine that can be moulded this way or that to suit our personal whims?

Are nations real things, designed by God, with meaning and purpose? Does God have anything to say about the nation state? What is the purpose of a nation with sovereign borders?

Or is globalisation desirable and inevitable?

I don’t think arguments like those are ones that leaders can afford to sit out.

The Church is not about being left wing or right wing but, rather, about being faithful to Jesus who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Perhaps, in Pope Leo, we may have a leader who advocates for reality over the unreality promoted by popular culture and political elites, without fear or favour.

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Republished with thanks to The James Macpherson Report.

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Image via Wikimedia Commons.