While Americans across the political spectrum celebrated the elevation of an American Cardinal, Robert Prevost to become Pope Leo XIV, liberal journalists took special delight in evidence that the new Pope — just like his predecessor — seems to disagree with the Trump administration on issues like immigration.
Yet Pope Leo’s obvious opposition to same-sex marriage, abortion, and other positions embraced by American liberals received a lot less attention from these same programs.
“As a cardinal, he appeared to criticize both President Trump and Vice President Vance, recently posting the headline, “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others,” NBC’s outgoing anchor Lester Holt announced on Thursday’s Nightly News and again on Friday’s Today show.
“Pope Leo also seems to share a good deal of the kind of driving force behind what, to me, was Pope Francis’s theological vision, a kind of embedded, earthy universalism, solidarity with all people, but especially the most vulnerable among us....which finds him fundamentally at odds with the nationalism of Donald Trump and JD Vance,” MSNBC’s Chris Hayes Thursday on All In. (Thanks to Alex Christy for help with the videos.)
A few hours later, 11th Hour anchor Stephanie Ruhle approvingly recited an old post from Cardinal Prevost: “There is nothing remotely Christian, American or morally defensible about a policy that takes children away from their parents and warehouses them in cages. This is being carried out in our name and shame is on us all.”
“He’s talking about the child separation policy,” Ruhle exclaimed. “This is about humanity, not politics.”
On Friday’s CBS Mornings, however, correspondent Seth Doane explained that Pope Leo’s views on a host of other issues that could be seen as criticism of American liberals. He asked CBS News contributor Monsignor Anthony Figueiredo: “Where does he stand on what we consider to be hot-button issues?”
Figueiredo explained: “Certainly, he took some quite traditional positions. He said that that’s not a solution to ordain women as deacons. He also indicated that homosexual lifestyle and same-sex marriage is not always in accord with Church teaching.”
And when Doane was reciting Cardinal Prevost’s social media tweets, he included the new Pope’s opposition to abortion: “Cardinal Prevost has dipped into politics on X, sharing an article that was critical of JD Vance during a February debate about immigration. He also shared statements criticizing abortion, and echoed Pope Francis’s view on embracing migrants.”
Also, in his monologue last night, MSNBC’s Hayes also seemed tickled at the prospect that President Trump will now be overshadowed on the world stage. “Donald Trump’s never going to be Pope, of course, but somewhat interestingly, he now has to contend with the fact that he may no longer even be the most famous American in the world. That title arguably now belongs to a man who spent much of his life abroad doing mission work with the poor, a Chicago man now known as Pope Leo.”
Here’s a bit more of how news programs covered the new Pope’s political views last night and this morning (click expand to read more):
# MSNBC’s All In w/Chris Hayes
May 8, 8:05pm ET
CHRIS HAYES: Pope Leo also seems to share a good deal of the kind of driving force behind what, to me, was Pope Francis’s theological vision, a kind of embedded, earthy universalism, solidarity with all people, but especially the most vulnerable among us, the folks on the margins, the migrants, the very poor, those incarcerated, those displaced by war, regardless of nationality, perhaps even regardless of faith. Now, Pope Leo rose through the church as a member of a particular order, as Pope Francis had the Jesuits. This is the order of St. Augustine, which promotes a strong sense of community as well as a foundational belief in caring for the poor and vulnerable. To that end, a lot of folks picked up on a tweet that then Cardinal Prevost posted back in February just of this year that shared an op-ed that was sharply critical of the Vice President, JD Vance, a Catholic convert. Specifically, it took issue with Vance’s attempt to use Catholic doctrine towards his own version of nationalism.
Clip of Vice President JD VANCE on Fox News, January 29: There’s this old school, and I think it’s a very Christian concept by the way, that you love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country. And then after that, you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world. A lot of the far Left has completely inverted that. They seem to hate the citizens of their own country and care more about people outside their own borders. That is no way to run a society.
HAYES: It was in response to those remarks that the man who is now known as Pope Leo, shared this headline. He didn’t write it, but quote, “JD Vance is wrong. Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”
...
HAYES: The reason that Francis really became a global icon for so many people across the world, including, frankly, many who were not Catholic, is because of the just obvious, evident sincerity of that care and that vision of universalism. Speaking in his personal capacity, he once suggested he likes to believe Hell is empty, for example, that all people on this Earth can find redemption and see the light of heaven. And that view, very deliberately, was a global one. It was a rejection of nationalism and isolationism, a refusal to limit or tier our care only around the borders of a country.
And in this respect it does, as far as we can tell, appear that Francis’s successor shares that view, which finds him fundamentally at odds with the nationalism of Donald Trump and JD Vance. Of course, last week, our President half jokingly floated himself to be the new Pope, sharing this AI generated image of himself as the head of the Catholic church. And I have to say, like, it’s a high bar for me to find something offensive on behalf of the church, but I found that offensive. Many people did, especially because people were still mourning the actual loss of the Pope. Donald Trump’s never going to be Pope, of course, but somewhat interestingly, he now has to contend with the fact that he may no longer even be the most famous American in the world. That title arguably now belongs to a man who spent much of his life abroad doing mission work with the poor, a Chicago man now known as Pope Leo.
# MSNBC’s The Last Word w/Lawrence O’Donnell
May 8, 10:53pm ET
LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: We have seen some American cardinals who, I guess the way I would put it, are surprisingly sympathetic to Donald Trump. They try not to be overtly political, but you can tell that there’s a certain chumminess and sense of support of Donald Trump by some of them. And we also have many American cardinals who stand in opposition to so much of what Donald Trump stands for. Can we can we place the new pope somewhere in that mix? Do we know enough?
SISTER SIMONE CAMPBELL: Well, I think based on — this, this is funny to say about a new pope — but based on his tweets, I think we can say that he stands with those who are marginalized in our society. So he stands with the migrants.... He also has a history of being present to those who are most vulnerable. And I think since, the segment that you just had, about this administration’s refusal to care for those marginalized, those suffering in our world, I think we’re going to see some clear critique of that, of their attitudes.
# MSNBC’s The 11th Hour
May 8, 11:30pm ET
STEPHANIE RUHLE: I am sure, Chris, he doesn’t view himself as a political person. But there’s a lot of noise today about his former social media posts, and I do want to read one where he wrote, “There is nothing remotely Christian, American or morally defensible about a policy that takes children away from their parents and warehouses them in cages. This is being carried out in our name and shame is on us all.” He’s talking about the child separation policy. He doesn’t view himself as a politician, but popes are global political leaders. So what does that tell us? Because what he’s talking about here -
CHRIS JANSING: He reposted that.
RUHLE: Yeah. He reposted, he reposted it. But what he’s talking about here, this is about humanity, not politics.
JANSING: It’s not about politics to him. It’s about Catholic teaching, and it’s about living the Catholic word. You know, JD Vance when he said you love your family first, then your neighbor, then your community, then your fellow citizens, then the rest of the world. He [Cardinal Prevost] reposted an article that said, “JD Vance is wrong.” You don’t, like, prioritize how you love people or who you love. His last post — I think it was his last post; certainly one of the last — was about the meeting between President Trump and President Bukele of El Salvador, where he said, oh, I can’t, you know, just bring him back to the United States. And he reposted a question raised by another bishop that said, do you not see the suffering? And by the way, he has a voting record in Illinois. He voted both as a Republican and a Democrat in primaries. He is someone who believes that it is everybody’s responsibility to get involved, to make your community, your country, your world, a better place. And now he’s got a pretty big job to do that.
# CBS Mornings
May 9, 7:08 am ETSETH DOANE: Monsignor Anthony Figueiredo is a CBS News Vatican and Papal Contributor....Where does he stand on what we consider to be hot-button issues?
Monsignor ANTHONY FIGUEIREDO: Certainly, he took some quite traditional positions. He said that that’s not a solution to ordain women as deacons. He also indicated that homosexual lifestyle and same-sex marriage is not always in accord with Church teaching. He is now pope of the universal church, so, certainly, some of his views on these areas, again, following on of Pope Francis, can change....
DOANE: Cardinal Prevost has dipped into politics on X, sharing an article that was critical of JD Vance during a February debate about immigration. He also shared statements criticizing abortion and echoed Pope Francis’s view on embracing migrants.