Every faction of the church suffers from a desire to project onto the pope their own concerns, opinions, and hobbyhorses.
The Catholic Church is in some ways recovering from whiplash. We went from the tradition-minded, sharp theologian Pope Benedict XVI to a progressive, modernist, emotive Pope Francis.
Traditionalist Catholics, which is practically becoming a synonym for “young Catholics ” these days (yours truly excluded), felt the last pontificate to be led by an antagonist. He made fun of their liturgical preferences and legally attacked the basis for their movement.
Naturally, when a College of Cardinals that was largely shaped by Francis elects a cardinal who was made by Francis, and who knew him in South America, there is a moment of trepidation. What does this mean for us? For those concerned about doctrinal coherence, are we likely to see more by-papal-fiat revisions to the catechism, like the one Francis tried on the death penalty?
Every faction of the church suffers from a desire to project onto the pope their own concerns, opinions, and hobbyhorses.
The good signs are many: The name Leo XIV is a traditional one, and inspires admiration from all factions from the post-Vatican II church, while itself being a symbol of pre-Council unity and stability.
His reason for the name. Pope Leo explained that he viewed the Church as having a special role in protecting human dignity through a new digital Industrial Revolution, inclusive of AI. This shows our new pope to be a man thinking deeply through the times he is living in.
The little restorations of tradition: wearing the muzzetta, giving a traditional papal greeting, residing in the papal apartment, picking a traditional coat of arms, singing in confident Latin.
These are all small things, but they amount to evidence that Pope Leo XIV is not a zealous liturgical minimalist the way his predecessor was.
Similarly, his first homily had none of the modernist argle bargle, warning about “backwardism,” or “a self-referential church,” or any of the kind of sins that progressives use to stigmatize normal adherence to doctrine, or interest in tradition.
Neutral or unknown:
There is currently no reliable evidence about whether Pope Leo XIV is a friend or foe of the pre-Vatican II traditional Roman liturgy. There were posts on X saying that he frequently said this liturgy, but their sourcing was quite poor. The truth is there is a lot of demand for this liturgy in America, and among youth in Europe, but probably little of it in Peru, where he was pastor and bishop.
Bad:
Nothing other than being an American boomer. And perhaps that he amplified criticism of JD Vance’s statements on the Augustinian concept of “the order of loves” that misrepresented what Vance said. It’s possible the new pope did not hear the original statement.
Another good thing: His personality. There is a surprising confidence in his self-presentation, but also a great deal of Christian self-effacement. That is, he seems to be genuinely possessed of a mission that is self-referential. On that mark alone, I think he’s a major improvement and relief.