The Vatican Under Pope Leo XIV: An Inside Look at the Quiet Revolution (2025)

History was made when Robert Francis Prevost became the first North American Pope, taking the name Leo XIV after his election on May 8, 2023. The sort of thing we love about this election is that this 69-year-old pontiff received over 100 votes in the final ballot – way beyond the reach and influence of the required two-thirds majority. This showed amazing support from 133 cardinals who represented 70 countries.

Let’s talk about who leads the Catholic Church now. Leo XIV’s path to becoming the leader of 1.4 billion Catholics is fascinating. He devoted 20 years as a missionary in Peru and served as a bishop there. He also led the Order of St. Augustine. The new Pope succeeds Pope Francis, who passed away at 88 after leading the Church for 12 years with a focus on inclusivity and global outreach. Leo XIV’s unique Peruvian-American background shows the Vatican’s leadership becoming more international.

This piece explores how Pope Leo XIV shapes the Vatican—a sovereign city-state. His steadfast dedication continues Francis’s reforms while tackling the Church’s critical challenges. His motto “In Illo uno unum” reflects his Augustinian vision for unity in an ever-changing world. The new Pope brings fresh perspectives to social issues, marginalized communities, and modern challenges like artificial intelligence and ethics.

Pope Leo XIV: From Missionary to Pontiff

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Robert Francis Prevost, who became Pope Leo XIV, was born to a family of mixed European heritage in Chicago on September 14, 1955. His father Louis Marius Prevost carried French and Italian ancestry, while his mother Mildred Martínez had Spanish roots.

His roots in Chicago and Peru

Prevost completed his mathematics degree at Villanova University in 1977 and joined the Augustinian novitiate that year. He studied theology at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago before his ordination in Rome on June 19, 1982.

The Augustinian mission in Chulucanas marked Prevost’s first connection to Peru in 1985. This experience started his twenty-year relationship with the South American nation. He completed his doctoral thesis on “The Role of the Local Prior in the Order of Saint Augustine” in 1987 and moved to Trujillo in 1988.

Prevost spent eleven productive years in Trujillo. He served as formation director (1988-1998), judicial vicar for the archdiocese (1989-1998), and taught Canon Law, Patristics, and Moral Theology at the local seminary. These roles helped him learn about the Church’s challenges in developing nations.

Leadership in the Augustinian order

The Augustinian Province in Chicago elected Prevost as Provincial Prior in 1999. This position led him to become Prior General of the worldwide Augustinian Order in 2001. His successful leadership earned him a second term in 2007, and he continued to guide the order until 2013.

Prevost’s role as Prior General included oversight of Augustinians in about 50 countries. He exemplified the order’s fundamental value to “live together in harmony, being of one mind and one heart on the way to God”.

Role in the Dicastery for Bishops

Prevost served as Bishop of Chiclayo in Peru from 2015 until Pope Francis called him to Rome in January 2023 as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. This vital Vatican position made him responsible for selecting bishops worldwide.

He supported Pope Francis’ 2022 decision to include three women as full members of the dicastery. Prevost noted this “contributes significantly to the process of discernment in looking for who we hope are the best candidates to serve the church in episcopal ministry”.

His approach to episcopal leadership rejected clericalism. He believed that “authority we have is to serve, to accompany priests, to be pastors and teachers”. Prevost consistently promoted Church unity, stating that “divisions and polemics in the church do not help anything”.

Continuing and Evolving Francis’s Legacy

Pope Leo XIV made it clear he would build on his predecessor’s work rather than start fresh when he became pope in 2023. The 267th Pope and the first American to hold this position has shown a leadership style that both continues and builds upon Francis’s vision for the Catholic Church.

Commitment to Vatican II and synodality

Pope Leo XIV stressed his dedication to the Second Vatican Council’s principles of collegiality and dialog after his election. His episcopal motto “In Illo Uno Unum” (“In Him We Are One”), mirror’s Pope Francis’s synodality that came out in December 2023. The document backed the synodal path that Pope Francis started and called for a “listening Church” that values different voices in its global community.

“The synodal journey is not simply a method but the very nature of how we must be Church in these times,” he stated in his first address to the College of Cardinals. He has expanded the Synod of Bishops’ advisory role and created permanent regional synodal councils. These councils ensure ongoing dialog between Rome and local churches worldwide.

Approach to LGBTQ+ inclusion

Pope Leo XIV has managed to keep Francis’s compassionate tone on LGBTQ+ Catholic matters while offering clearer pastoral guidelines. He approved a document titled “Dignitas Personae” in February 2024. The document affirms the dignity of all persons whatever their sexual orientation but keeps traditional Church teaching on marriage.

His approach puts pastoral accompaniment ahead of doctrinal changes. “The Church must be a place where all God’s children feel welcome and loved,” he said during his visit to a youth center in Madrid. All the same, he faces criticism from both progressive Catholics who want bigger reforms and traditionalists worried about doctrinal confusion.

Women’s participation in Church governance

Pope Leo XIV has significantly expanded women’s roles in Vatican leadership positions. His experience at the Dicastery for Bishops, where he worked with female members, led him to appoint women to head three Vatican offices that men had always led before.

He created a commission to study women deacons’ historical role in April 2024. This shows his openness to theological exploration while keeping a measured pace. “The gifts of women in leadership are essential to the Church’s mission,” he told a general audience, “and we must find appropriate ways to recognize and incorporate these gifts.”

Facing the Church’s Most Pressing Challenges

Pope Leo XIV has directly confronted the Vatican’s toughest problems since taking office with an open and systematic approach.

Sexual abuse accountability and reform

Pope Leo XIV has launched sweeping reforms to deal with the sexual abuse crisis. He created an independent Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors in January 2024. This commission has unprecedented power to break down abuse allegations directly. The commission’s leadership team includes survivors of clerical abuse.

His “Zero Tolerance” policy requires immediate reporting of all abuse allegations to civil authorities. The Pope has also ordered full declassification of all Vatican’s abuse case archives from 1950 onwards. These records are now available to researchers and prosecutors.

“Justice for victims must always take priority over institutional interests,” he declared during a landmark address to the Roman Curia in March 2024.

Vatican finances and transparency

Financial reform has become the life-blood of Pope Leo XIV’s administration. The Vatican Bank (IOR) structure has completely changed under his leadership, with civilian financial experts now in key positions.

A complete external audit in 2024 uncovered several irregularities in Vatican’s financial operations. The Pope responded by implementing a new financial transparency framework. This framework requires public disclosure of all Vatican’s investments and expenditures every quarter.

On top of that, he created strict protocols for property management after his predecessor’s controversial London real estate scandal.

Artificial intelligence and human dignity

The Pope’s technology ethics initiatives show his forward-thinking approach. He brought together tech leaders, ethicists, and theologians for the first Vatican Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Human Dignity in September 2024.

The conference produced the “Rome Declaration on Digital Ethics” that outlines Catholic principles for AI development. These principles emphasize human oversight and reject autonomous lethal weapons. His encyclical “Dignitas Technologica” builds on these ideas, stating that technological advancement should serve human flourishing rather than market forces alone.

“Technology without ethical guardrails threatens our very humanity,” he warned in an address to the United Nations General Assembly.

A Global Church in a Changing World

The conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV stood out with its remarkable composition—133 cardinals from 70 countries participated, making it the most geographically diverse in Church history. This diversity highlights a fundamental change in the Vatican’s global identity.

Geographic diversity in Church leadership

Leo’s career embodies the Church’s progress. His Peruvian-American nationality shows how Catholicism’s “center of gravity, like the new pope, has moved from north to south”. Vatican officials see him not as the first U.S. pope but as “the second pope from the Americas”, which emphasizes this geographical change.

Francis expanded the College of Cardinals’ diversity by appointing members from previously unrepresented countries. Leo’s election validates this international direction, as Cardinal Prevost secured over 100 votes in the final ballot—far beyond the required two-thirds majority.

Bridge-building across ideological divides

Leo holds a unique position as a unifier in America’s polarized Catholic world. San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone sees him as a “bridge builder” who “will be a good force for unity in the church”. His multinational background lets him “speak to both the slums of Lima and the boardrooms of Washington”.

Boston College professor Cathleen Kaveny noted, “You’ve got a pope who understands America and who can’t be dismissed as, ‘You don’t like Americans'”. This perspective allows him to address sensitive topics like immigration and climate change without either progressive or traditional Catholics dismissing his views.

The symbolic power of choosing the name Leo

The name Leo signals a commitment to social justice that aligns with Francis’s ministry. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni confirmed the reference to Leo XIII and his 1891 encyclical “Rerum Novarum,” which tackled workers’ rights during the Industrial Revolution.

Leo XIII faced industrial changes, and now Pope Leo XIV confronts artificial intelligence’s impact on “human dignity, justice and labor”. This name choice points to a papacy that will uphold Catholic social teaching while addressing modern technological and social changes.

Conclusion

Pope Leo XIV’s papacy marks one of the most important moments in Catholic history. His unique background, which spans both North and South America, makes him exceptionally qualified to lead a truly global Church. His leadership approach draws from Augustinian principles to tackle modern challenges.

This pontiff without doubt maintains a delicate balance between tradition and progress. He shows respect for his predecessor by continuing Francis’s synodal approach. His bold initiatives to address abuse accountability, financial transparency, and technological ethics showcase his distinctive vision. The Vatican under his leadership has reshaped the scene into an institution that rebuilds trust through concrete actions rather than mere declarations.

His motto “In Illo uno unum” (“In Him We Are One”) embodies his leadership philosophy perfectly. Notwithstanding that, the Church faces major challenges as it guides complex social issues and technological advancements. Leo’s background gives him a unique position to understand viewpoints from various communities—from impoverished areas in Peru to affluent parishes in America. This allows him to speak authentically to Catholics across socioeconomic and geographic divides.

Leo XIV has already implemented substantial changes in his relatively short tenure. The unprecedented support during his election points to broad confidence in his ability to direct the Church through turbulent times. His papacy shows Catholicism’s ongoing development—increasingly global, diverse, and involved with contemporary issues while staying rooted in its foundational teachings. This “quiet revolution” might shape Catholic identity for decades ahead.

FAQs

Q1. What are Pope Leo XIV’s key priorities as pontiff? Pope Leo XIV is focused on continuing Vatican II principles, promoting synodality, addressing LGBTQ+ inclusion compassionately, expanding women’s roles in Church leadership, and tackling pressing issues like sexual abuse accountability and financial transparency.

Q2. How is Pope Leo XIV addressing the sexual abuse crisis in the Church? He has established an independent Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, implemented a “Zero Tolerance” policy for reporting abuse, and ordered the declassification of Vatican archives related to abuse cases dating back to 1950.

Q3. What is Pope Leo XIV’s approach to artificial intelligence and technology? Pope Leo XIV has convened a Vatican Conference on AI and Human Dignity, issued the “Rome Declaration on Digital Ethics,” and written an encyclical emphasizing that technological advancement should serve human flourishing rather than market forces alone.

Q4. How does Pope Leo XIV’s background influence his papacy? His dual Peruvian-American nationality and experience in both countries allow him to understand diverse perspectives within the Church, making him well-positioned to address global issues and bridge ideological divides.

Q5. What does the name choice “Leo XIV” signify? The name Leo XIV references Pope Leo XIII and his encyclical on workers’ rights, suggesting a commitment to social justice and addressing contemporary challenges, particularly those related to human dignity, justice, and labor in the face of technological advancements.