In the weeks and months to come, the world will be observing to see where Pope Leo XIV, the first American Pope, guides the Catholic Church in various controversial issues.
But as Bishop and Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, the man who is now Pope, has already pronounced above all, from the unity of the Church to the possibility of ordered women, the transgender ideology and the ecclesial reform.
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In his past comments, Prevost often combined a concern for loyalty to the gospel and apostolic tradition with openness to doctrinal development and pastoral adaptability in several contexts.
Here is what our new Pope has previously said on five key themes facing the Catholic Church.
SINODALITY AND REFORM OF THE CHURCH
In his first message as Pope Leo XIV from the Lodge of the Basilica of San Pedro, the new Pope spoke of the Church as “Sinodal”, indicating his intention to carry out the characteristic reform efforts of Pope Francis.
As a cardinal, Prevost participated both in the 2023 and 2024 sessions of the Synod of Sinodality, even giving a talk about the connection between the local and the universal church during a theological-pastoral forum last October.
Live if emphasized That synodality is not about “discussing a political agenda” or promoting issues of self -interest, but to listen “first of all to the Holy Spirit.”
In one 2024 talk at the St. Jude Catholic Church In New Lenox, Illinois (United States), he pointed out the roots of synodality not only in Vatican II, but also in the first centuries of Catholicism, and described it as a way of helping all Catholics to understand that they are part of the Church. He talked positively about the parochial and diocesan assemblies, and said that synodality does not take away from those who are called to lead, such as bishops and priests.
In the same talk, he pointed out that Catholics, as members of any large institution, can “become rigid in our forms.”
“One of the risks of that is that we lose the presence of the Holy Spirit. That breeze that can happen and says, ‘yes, they always did it that way, and perhaps for six centuries it was wonderful, but perhaps it is time to change. Maybe it is time to see things differently.”
Unity and diversity of the Church
The question of unity and diversity within the Catholic Church is central, by poling the current debates, above all, from the traditional Mass in Latin to the German Synodal road, and the newly elected man to Papacy has spent considerable time reflecting on it.
The episcopal motto of Cardinal Prevost, In that one oneit means “in one, we are one”, and is taken from a Treaty about the unity of the Church of San AgustÃn, patron of the Augustinian religious order of the now Pope.
He gave an extensive response on this topic in A 2023 interview:
“Some misunderstand unity as uniformity: ‘You have to be equal to how we are.’ No. This cannot be. Nor can diversity be understood as a way of living without criteria or order. The latter lose sight of the fact that from the same creation of the world, the gift of nature, the gift of human life, the gift of so many different things that we really live way.
Women in the church
The then Cardinal Prevost is clear in its opposition to the attempt to order women, declaring in October 2023 During the synodality synod that “clericalize women” is not the way to respond to concerns about the role of women in the church.
“The apostolic tradition is something that has been explained very clearly, especially if you want to talk about the question of the ordination of women to the priesthood,” he said. “It is not as simple as saying that, ‘you know, at this stage we will change the tradition of the Church after 2,000 years in any of those points.”
The then prefect of Dicastery for bishops also added that, although women can assume leadership roles in the world in general, the church “needs to be different” and is not a mirror image of society.
At the same time, the then Cardinal gave its support to the changes of Pope Francis that allowed women, and men not ordered, to serve as heads of Vatican dicasteries.
“I think there will be a continuous recognition of the fact that women can add a lot to the life of the Church at many different levels,” he said.
Moral and sexual identity
Before his papal choice, Cardinal Prevost spoke scarcely, but strongly, against disorderly sexual practices and ideologies.
In the 2012 synod on the new evangelization, He raised concerns Among his fellow bishops that Western media and pop culture fostered “sympathy for beliefs and practices that disagree with the Gospel”, including the “homosexual lifestyle” and “alternative families composed of same -sex couples and their adopted children.”
As a bishop of Chiclayo in Peru, he opposed a plan to teach transgenerism in schools.
“The promotion of gender ideology is confusing, because it seeks to create genres that do not exist,” he told local media, According to New York Times.
However, in a 2023 interview after becoming a cardinal, Leo XIV indicated that Pope Francis’s approach to people who identify as LGBTQ led him to experience “a development in the sense of the need for the Church to be open and cozy.”
“Pope Francis made it very clear that he does not want people to be excluded simply on the basis of the decisions they make, be it lifestyle, work, way of dressing or whatever,” He said to CNS. “The doctrine has not changed and people have not said yet, you know, we are looking for that rate of exchange.”
The then Cardinal Prevost expressed a somewhat neutral position on Confidence in supplicatingthe 2023 Vatican guide that allowed the blessings of people in same -sex couples, emphasizing the need for bishops to selectively apply in their own cultural context.
The selection of bishops
Pope Francis brought the then Cardinal Prevost to the Vatican in 2023 to carry out his vision of bishops with a more pastoral mentality, one that the now Pope Leo XIV shares.
In one Interview with Vatican News After receiving their curial assignment, he said that bishops must be connected to the Universal Church, close to the members of their community, and be able to impart the Gospel not only through their authority, but through their testimony.
“We are often worried about teaching doctrine, the way of living our faith, but we run the risk of forgetting that our first task is to teach what it means to know Jesus Christ and give testimony of our proximity to the Lord,” he said. “This comes first: communicating the beauty of faith, the beauty and joy of meeting Jesus. It means that we are living and sharing this experience.”
In a 2024 interview, he emphasized, “the bishop is supposed to be a little prince sitting in his kingdom.” He has also said that the “feature above all others” for a bishop “is that he must proclaim Jesus Christ and live faith so that the faithful see in their testimony an incentive so that they want to be an even more active part of the Church that Jesus Christ himself founded. In a few words: help people to know Christ through the gift of faith.”
He has also emphasized that the people of God, including the lay faithful, should have a voice to whom they are selected to be their local bishop. However, he indicated that this does not mean that the election of the bishop must take place through “a democratic vote”, but through consultation, and indicated that this already occurs in some contexts.
Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in the National Catholic Register.
Jonathan Liedl
Jonathan Liedl is a senior editor of the National Catholic Register. He has studied Political Science and Arab studies at the University of Notre Dame and has a master’s degree in Catholic studies from St. Thomas. He is currently completing a master’s degree in theology at the Saint Paul Seminary. He lives in the twin cities of Minnesota.