GUEST COLUMN: American Pope Election Stuns Vatican Watchers and Sparks MAGA Backlash

The follow guest column by Helio Fred Garcia was originally published on CommPro.biz on May 13, 2025.

Just after 6:00 p.m. on May 8 in Vatican City, white smoke signaled that the conclave had elected the next pope. The throngs in St. Peter’s Square and the world’s news media waited and wondered just who it could be. About an hour later, French Cardinal Dominique Mamberti walked onto a balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica and proclaimed to the crowd and to the world, Habemus papam – We have a pope! He then revealed the new pope’s given and chosen names.

To the surprise of most Vatican-watchers and contrary to conventional wisdom, the new pope is American-born Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who took the name Pope Leo XIV.

CBS News commentators were momentarily speechless. When they finally recovered from their shock, their first words – speaking over each other – were:

“This is stunning. It is an American… A great, great surprise… An American… an amazing, an amazing surprise, for the Church and the world… a shocker… a stunning moment… It used to be said for two centuries that the idea of an American pope was unthinkable. And here we have an American successor of Peter… The likelihood of that was practically zero.”

Pope Leo XIV then appeared on the balcony to make his Urbi et Orbi speech – to the city and to the world. And in his first address to the faithful he did the least American thing possible: He spoke not one word of English. Rather, in fluent Italian and then in Spanish, he declared, “Peace be with you.”

He continued with a universalist message delivered in each of those languages:

“I, too, would like this greeting of peace to enter your hearts, to reach your families and all people, wherever they are; and all the peoples, and all the earth: Peace be with you…We have to look together how to be a missionary church, building bridges, dialogue, always open to receiving with open arms for everyone, like this square, open to all, to all who need our charity, our presence, dialogue, love.”

The Second American Pope?

Pope Leo’s identity is not as simply an American. He was born in Chicago but spent most of his adult life – and all of his ministry – outside the United States. He majored in mathematics and studied philosophy at Villanova University. He received a Master of Divinity from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, where he was ordained in 1982. After seminary he studied in Rome, where he received both a licentiate in 1984 and a doctorate in canon law in 1987. But instead of returning to the United States he became a missionary.

He spent 20 years as a priest and then a bishop in Peru, where he was known as “the Latin Yankee.” He became a Peruvian citizen in 2015. Peru’s president, Dina Boluarte, said of Pope Leo on the day of his election, “He chose to be one of us, to live among us, and to carry in his heart the faith, culture, and dreams of this nation.” The day after his election street vendors in Peru’s capital city were selling shirts proclaiming, “The Pope is Peruvian!”

In between Peruvian assignments he returned to Rome where for 12 years he was the senior-most official in the Augustinian Order.

The Washington Post noted that in the conclave “Leo emerged as an early favorite among an influential group that included a cluster of Latin American cardinals, particularly those who sought a continuation of Francis’s legacy.” It further concluded, “In many ways, Prevost, given his extended years in Peru, was simply not viewed as an American.”

Although he was the first pope born in the United States, he is not the first pope from the Americas. The Washington Post noted this distinction: “The election of a first North American pontiff came immediately after the death of the first Latin American pope.”

The first pope born in the Americas was Pope Francis, born in Argentina as Jorge Mario Bergoglio. And because Pope Leo is a Peruvian citizen, he can also be considered the second Latin American pope.

America-First Crowd Not Keen on American-Born Pope

President Donald Trump told reporters that Leo’s election was “a very great honor.” Vice President JD Vance, a recent convert to the Church who had met with Pope Francis the day before he died, tweeted his congratulations to Pope Leo.

The reaction among Trump supporters in the United States was not as charitable. The New Republic noted in the headline of its story about the pope: “We Just Got a New Pope – and MAGA Is Already Losing Its Mind.”

Trump insider Laura Loomer, who had recently persuaded Trump to fire a number of senior military and national security officials, tweeted (in all caps): “WOKE MARXIST POPE!”

She followed that tweet with a more specific one:

“THIS IS THE NEW POPE! His name is Robert Prevost. He’s the first American Pope. He is anti-Trump, anti-MAGA, pro-open Borders, and a total Marxist like Pope Francis. Catholics don’t have anything good to look forward to. Just another Marxist puppet in the Vatican.”

Sean Davis, co-founder of the Federalist conservative website, tweeted:

“According to his X/Twitter feed (@drprevost), the newly selected pope trashed Trump, trashed Vance, trashed border enforcement, endorsed DREAMer-style illegal immigration, repeatedly praised and honored George Floyd, and endorsed a Democrat senator’s call for more gun control.”

And white nationalist leader Sean Feucht tweeted conspiratorially:

“This is all a very calculated move people. IT IS TIME TO WAKE UP!🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 They chose a globalist and woke Pope from the West ON PURPOSE to stand up and criticize the leaders of the Free World.”

Indeed, the new pope’s priorities are contrary to much of the Trump and MAGA agenda. Pope Leo is likely to continue his predecessor’s priorities, including the well-being of migrants and the poor and making the church more inclusive. Pope Francis was not at all shy about criticizing leaders. Early in his term he advocated to protect migrants: “It’s hypocrisy to call yourself a Christian and chase away a refugee or someone seeking help, someone who is hungry or thirsty, toss out someone who is in need of my help.”

In Donald Trump’s first term, Pope Francis called the separation of children from migrant parents “cruelty of the highest form.”

And the day before he died he penned his last sermon for Easter Sunday, saying,

“How much contempt is stirred up at times towards the vulnerable, the marginalized, and migrants! On this day, I would like all of us to hope anew and to revive our trust in others, including those who are different than ourselves, or who come from distant lands, bringing unfamiliar customs, ways of life and ideas!”

Similarly, Pope Leo is not likely to hold back. As Cardinal Prevost he retweeted a post sharply critical of Trump’s rendition of migrants to El Salvador. He also posted a tweet with a picture of President Trump, Vice President Vance, and Pope Francis, attaching an article in a Jesuit magazine confirming Pope Francis’ view of immigration, which Vance had mischaracterized.

Most famously, Cardinal Prevost tweeted a picture of Vance and challenged his interpretation of Christian teaching: “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.” He attached an article from the National Catholic Reporter whose title Prevost had used as his tweet.

Contrasts in Leadership: President Trump and Pope Leo XIV

In his brief tenure so far this term, President Trump has managed to alienate many allies, threatening to invade Greenland and Panama, and to annex Canada. He has weakened the NATO alliance. He has created global economic and market uncertainty with unintelligible trade and tariff actions (I shudder to call it a policy).

And Trump has provoked geopolitical reactions.

In late April the Canadian Liberal Party experienced an unexpected win. CNN proclaimed, “Canada united against Trump, but are divided on almost everything else.” It said,

“The resurrection of Canada’s Liberal Party was as close to miraculous as you can get in modern politics.” It described Canadians standing up “to the threat to annex Canada that came early, loudly and often from US President Donald Trump. To meet the moment and the menace, Canadians rallied around the flag, expressing an uncommon patriotism.”

In early May the same thing happened in Australia. The New York Times headline declared, “Australia’s Election Wasn’t About Trump. An Anti-Trump Wave Swept it Anyway.” It explained, “The global turmoil wreaked by President Trump’s policies made him a factor in the election, bolstering the re-election of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.”

On the same day that Pope Leo was elected, Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted a celebration of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. He was flanked on the Kremlin balcony by 29 world leaders including the presidents of China and Brazil, and even the prime minister of NATO member Slovakia.

Trump will no longer be the most prominent American on the world stage. The contrast with Pope Leo could not be greater. Pope Leo’s universalist message of love for all, and his advocacy for the poor and for migrants is quite contrary to Trump’s policy of mass deportation without due process. His focus on peace is in direct contrast to Trump’s saber rattling.

Trump does not like sharing the spotlight, especially with a critic. How will Trump deal with being upstaged by Pope Leo? Expect him to show disrespect to Pope Leo as their public positions clash, and if/when Pope Leo criticizes Trump’s rhetoric or policy. But I fear he will do more.

Pope Leo is a dual citizen of both the United States and Peru. But he will now become head of state of the Holy See. The U.S. State Department website says that it will “actively review cases in which a U.S. national is elected or otherwise appointed to serve as a foreign head of state.” It has the power to expatriate people and strip them of their American citizenship. Be on the lookout for Trump or Secretary of State Rubio to begin to create the pretext for Pope Leo’s expatriation. If that should happen, he will be the first ex-American pope.