Six months in, Pope Leo is bringing an American flavor to the papacy

By Christopher Lamb, CNN

(CNN) — Pope Leo XIV, who on Saturday marked six months since his election, has in recent weeks stepped up his criticism of the Trump administration while bringing a distinctively American flavor to the papacy.

The Chicago-born pontiff was elected on May 8, becoming the first US-born pope in the Catholic Church’s history. After a cautious start, Leo has now begun to find his voice and on Tuesday called for a “deep reflection” on what has been happening to immigrants in the United States over recent months under President Donald Trump.

“Many people who have lived for years, and years and years, never causing problems, have been deeply affected by what’s going on right now,” he told reporters outside the papal retreat of Castel Gandolfo.

Speaking in English, and thereby ensuring he could reach his intended audience directly, the pope pointed out that Christian teaching spells out that believers will be judged on how they treated “the foreigner.” He also appealed to authorities to respect the “spiritual rights” of those detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in his home state of Illinois. His remarks come after reports that priests and pastoral workers have been unable to bring communion to those detained.

It’s not the first time Leo has spoken on this topic. He has lamented the “inhuman” treatment of migrants in the US while urging bishops in his home country to speak out. He’s also expressed concern about tensions between the US and Canada, and the US and Venezuela.

While the pope has a more reserved, formal style than his predecessor, he is continuing Francis’ priorities. At one level, Leo represents continuity with Francis – the first Latin American pontiff – given he spent decades in Peru as a missionary. He retains a close connection with the people of Peru and remains a citizen of the country.

“His front-burner issues seem to be poverty, migration, climate change, and he’s a big champion of the project of synodality started by Francis – the effort to make the Catholic Church more inclusive and participatory,” Christopher White, author of “Pope Leo XIV: Inside the Conclave and the Dawn of a New Papacy” and a senior fellow at Georgetown University in Washington DC, told CNN.

White insists that Leo “isn’t looking for a fight – with Trump or anyone,” but said he has “moral red lines” and is “particularly upset” about the treatment of migrants.

Following Leo’s remarks on Tuesday, a spokesman for the White House told Reuters that Trump was elected based on commitments to deporting “criminal illegal aliens” and that “he is keeping his promise to the American people.” The US Department for Homeland Security said those detained by ICE were held in humane conditions.

A US-born pope who is a keen sports fan and native English speaker is something of a novelty for the Vatican. Leo is a big supporter of the Chicago White Sox and on October 15, days after the rival Chicago Cubs were eliminated from the playoffs, the pope was out greeting crowds in St. Peter’s Square. “Go Cubs!” someone shouted out. “They lost!” Leo shouted back, smiling, from the popemobile. Since his election, he’s been presented with a White Sox cap and baseball and NFL jerseys.

Aside from sports paraphernalia, he’s also been presented with other reminders from home: on one occasion while out in the popemobile he was hand-delivered a box of Chicago pizza from Aurelio’s, with Leo a regular visitor to one of their restaurants in Homewood, Illinois.

“He has offered a forceful and direct counterweight to the Trump administration’s ‘inhuman treatment of immigrants’,” Kim Daniels, the director of The Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at also at Georgetown told CNN.

She said while Leo is “not retreating” from speaking out on what is happening in the US he’s not making it “personal or political”. Daniels says Leo speaks “as a moral and spiritual leader, and as someone with roots in both Chicago and Chiclayo (Peru).”

Massimo Faggioli, a church historian at Trinity College, Dublin, who was previously based at Villanova University, Pennsylvania, said the pope’s interventions on immigration in recent weeks were significant for US Catholic leaders.

“He has stepped up in directly addressing the issues,” he told CNN. “It’s also part of the message of the US bishops, so they will feel encouraged by what is coming from the pope.”

Bishops from the US will meet November 10-13 in Baltimore, where they are due to elect a new president and vice-president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. In the coming months, Leo is expected to appoint a new Archbishop of New York to succeed Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who has reached the retirement age of 75. The pope has called for the US bishops to have a “stronger, more united voice” on issues such as immigration and said that “the church cannot remain silent.”

Leaders such as Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington DC and Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago have been speaking out strongly on migration, but the forthcoming elections and the pope’s appointments to the US church hierarchy will be crucial. During the Francis era, some bishops were resistant to his agenda and priorities, and some conservative Catholics had hoped Leo would represent a break with his predecessor.

But Faggioli insists that after the first six months, anyone who believed Leo would be an “an anti-Francis or post-Francis pope” is “fooling themselves.” Like Francis, Leo has faced criticism from conservative US Catholics and MAGA supporters, angered by his comments on migration and climate change.

Leo has a full plate and plenty of big decisions to make. He’s been keeping up an intense schedule of meetings and public events as the Catholic Church continues to celebrate a Jubilee year – which takes place every quarter of a century – with an increased number of pilgrims coming to the Vatican.

Later this month, he embarks on his first foreign visit as pope – travelling to Turkey and Lebanon from 27 November to 2 December – during which he’s expected to emphasize peace in the Middle East.

When he emerged on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in early May, Leo seemed almost overcome with emotion. But after spending these first months acclimatizing to his new role, the first American pope is slowly getting into his stride.

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