Leo XIV Pledges to Lift Up ‘Ordinary People’ (2025)

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“It matters a lot that we have a pope and a spiritual leader whose heart is for migrants,” Cardinal Pablo Virgilio Siongco David of the Philippines said at a news conference. “And I think he will sustain the direction of Pope Francis.”

Returning to the Sistine Chapel the morning after his election to say his first Mass as pope, Leo evoked the teachings of his predecessor, Francis, in a homily rich in theological references, and said that a loss of religious faith had contributed to “appalling violations of human dignity” around the world.

His papacy faces urgent questions about the church’s direction, including a rising right wing in U.S. Catholicism that was highly critical of Francis, and comparisons with another American holding a position of enormous global influence, President Trump.

Addressing a rapt throng from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica on Thursday, Leo spoke of “building bridges” but gave little overt indication of how he would govern the church. His first unscripted chances may come on Monday, when he holds a rare news conference with journalists.

Here’s what we’re covering:

• Who is Pope Leo XIV? Despite his American roots, Leo, born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago, transcends borders. He served for two decades in Peru, where he became a bishop and a naturalized citizen, and then was appointed to one of the most influential posts at the Vatican by Francis, who made him a cardinal in 2023. Read more ›

• Why Leo? A pope’s choice of his papal name is always cloaked in symbolism. In Pope Leo’s case, it may also have been a clear and deliberate reference to the last Leo, who led during a difficult time for the Roman Catholic Church and helped usher it into the modern world. Read more ›

• Papal path: While the selection of an American-born pope was a shock to some, other parts of Leo XIV’s background make his election less surprising. He spent decades working with the poor in Peru, then led the Vatican office that selects and oversees the more than 5,000 Roman Catholic bishops around the world, giving him Vatican connections and an important say in the church’s direction. Read more ›

• An Augustinian pope: The new pope has spent most of his life as a friar in the Order of St. Augustine. Experts said that a commitment to two elements of Augustinian teaching — missionary outreach and listening widely before making decisions — could shape his approach to the papacy. Read more ›

‘Like a reward from God’: New Orleans revels in the new pope’s Creole roots.

Ten years later, the census came knocking again. The family had grown — there were six daughters now. Other things changed, too: Mr. Martinez’s place of birth was listed this time as Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic. And the family’s race is recorded as “W,” for white.

That simple switch, from “B” to “W,” suggests a complex, and very American, story.

For much of the 19th century, New Orleans operated under a racial system that distinguished among white people, Black people and mixed-race Creole people like the Martinezes. But by the early 20th century, Jim Crow was the order of the day, and it tended to deal in black and white, with myriad restrictions imposed upon any person of color.

The selection of Robert Francis Prevost as the first pope from the United States, and the subsequent revelation of his Creole roots, have brought those historical realities to the fore — and an interview with the pope’s brother John Prevost, 71, connected them to the present day.

Late Thursday, Mr. Prevost, who lives in the suburbs of Chicago, told The New York Times that his brothers always considered themselves to be white. As for his mother, he said, “I really couldn’t tell you for sure, she might have just said Spanish.”

And so, a story of American racial rigidity also suggests a certain fluidity, constrained by the often harsh racist past that is an inescapable part of the country’s story. New Orleans is not unique in its exposure to such stories. But it knows them well.

Jari Honora, a local genealogist and historian at the Historic New Orleans Collection, a museum in the French Quarter, discovered the new pope’s New Orleans roots on Thursday. Since then, he and others, including in the Dominican Republic, have been pushing to find out as much as they can about Leo’s family history.

In addition to the census records, much of the information recovered so far has come by way of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, which maintains thousands of records dating back to 1720. Katie Beeman, the director of the archdiocese’s archives, has found marriage records from 1887 for the pope’s maternal grandparents, and from 1864 for his great-grandparents.

Ms. Beeman was especially excited when she uncovered the record that Eugenie Grambois, the pope’s great-grandmother, had been baptized in 1840 at St. Louis Cathedral, the spired basilica in the heart of the French Quarter that is among the city’s most recognizable landmarks. Ms. Beeman called her mother to share the news.

At a special mass at the cathedral on Friday, Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans brought attention to the discovery. The pope’s ancestor had received her first sacrament in the same font that is still in the back of the church.

“There are many connections we have with him,” the archbishop said in his homily.

Similar sentiments were expressed across New Orleans, especially among those who share Leo’s Creole heritage and now feel a special connection to the new pontiff.

“This is like a reward from God given to us for everything we’ve struggled through,” said Denease Sorapuru, who identifies as Creole and descended from an ancestral mix of Irish, Italian, Basque and Native American heritage.

On Friday, Ms. Beeman and other researchers and genealogists continued digging, hoping to identify even more of the pope’s family tree in Louisiana and beyond. “It seems like it just keeps going,” she said.

One major question that historians hope to resolve is the birthplace of the pope’s grandfather. Though he married into an old New Orleans family, records indicate that Joseph Martinez might have been relatively new to the city.

His marriage certificate matches the 1900 census record showing that he was born in Haiti. But other documents list the Dominican Republic or Louisiana as his birthplace.

Nailing that down has become a goal for historians in the Caribbean, said Edwin Espinal Hernández, a genealogist and the director of the law school at the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, a Roman Catholic university in the Dominican Republic.

Experts have yet to find Mr. Martinez’s birth certificate, but have found other indications that he was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Mr. Espinal Hernández said.

Whatever the answer, many in New Orleans knew enough about the family’s roots by Friday to feel a greater kinship with the pope.

Michael White, 70, a jazz clarinetist, bandleader and retired music educator who grew up Catholic in New Orleans, said Leo’s selection had left him “shocked and surprised and happy.”

“I think he will get a lot of support from people down here,” Dr. White said. “I think there will be an outpouring of not only pride, but you know, a desire to, to help him and hope that things can become better for the Catholic Church, but also for people here.”

Ms. Sorapuru had a humble request. She remembers the thrill of Pope John Paul II’s visit to New Orleans in 1987. Leo needs to come, too, she said, and preside over Mass at St. Louis Cathedral.

As far as she’s concerned, his roots are enough to make him a product of New Orleans. And she wants to welcome him home.

Robert Chiarito and Frances Robles contributed reporting.

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Leo voted in both Republican and Democratic primaries over the years, records show.

Will County, in suburban Chicago, released records on Thursday showing that the pope had voted in several elections there since 2012, including three Republican primaries between 2012 and 2016.

Records viewed on Friday at the Illinois State Board of Elections office in Springfield showed that Pope Leo, who was born Robert Francis Prevost, voted with regularity in Cook County between 2000 and 2010. During that time, he voted in two primaries, selecting Democratic ballots in 2008 and 2010.

In Illinois, where Democrats dominate in statewide elections, voters do not register as members of a political party. American citizens living outside the country remain eligible to vote.

Pope Leo was born in Chicago and grew up in nearby Dolton, Ill., in a family that was deeply involved in its local parish. Though his career has included long stints in Peru and Rome, he has returned to Illinois several times as an adult, including for graduate school and for postings with the Midwest Augustinians.

Susan C. Beachy and Jonah Smith contributed reporting.

Francis connected with Leo long ago and boosted his career.

Father Moral Antón said he would do well.

“I also think he will,” Francis answered.

He did better than most would have imagined. And on Thursday, he followed Francis as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, becoming its 267th pope.

But the quiet conversation in the Apostolic Palace was the result of years of a longtime connection between the present and future popes.

The two first met in Buenos Aires, when Francis was Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

“Not all my encounters with Cardinal Bergoglio were always in agreement,” the future Leo said at a 2023 event.

But over the years, Leo also expressed admiration and warmth for Francis, according to people close to the pope.

“Pope Leo spoke of Pope Francis as a good friend,” said the Rev. Tony Pizzo, one of the new pope’s friends and a former schoolmate.

By 2013, Francis had become pope, and the future Leo had become the prior general for the Augustinian order in Rome, a role he was about to leave. Then Francis accepted an invitation to preside over a private Mass at the Basilica of St. Augustine in Rome.

“Bob nearly fell over,” said the Rev. Anthony Banks, another Augustinian. Usually, he said, “popes don’t have the time or the energy to spend” at congregational Masses.

At the Mass, Father Prevost called the pope “a great gift” and praised his compassion and outreach to the faithful.

It was not long until Francis named him bishop of the Peruvian diocese of Chiclayo.

Francis was encouraged by reports about how close he stuck to his flock in Chiclayo, according to Father Moral Antón, who said he continued to have conversations with Francis about the new bishop. In 2023, Francis appointed him to lead the Vatican’s office overseeing bishops, one of the church’s top jobs, and named him to be a cardinal.

“I have mixed feelings,” the future pope said at the 2023 event, held just before he left Peru for the Vatican. He said his preference would be to stay in Chiclayo, and that “the pope knows that too.”

Still, he added, “I am grateful to the Holy Father for this great demonstration of trust.”

In Rome, Francis kept closer tabs on future Leo, meeting with him every Saturday. And after a major meeting of church leaders, Francis expressed admiration for his work ethic. “Prevost’s preparation,” Father Moral Antón said Francis told him, “was amazing.”

Elda Cantú contributed reporting from Mexico City and Rosa Chávez Yacila from Lima, Perù.

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The pope’s Creole ancestry has drawn expressions of solidarity among some in Africa and the African diaspora.

The revelation that Pope Leo is descended from Creole people of color from New Orleans, including some with potential ties to the Caribbean, has excited Father Ndlovu and other Catholics around the world, particularly those in Africa and other places with deep African ancestry. Several have said they saw him as one of their own — someone they could better relate to and who may champion their causes.

“He’s not foreign to us,” Father Ndlovu said. “There is a part of him that is also us.”

There remains some uncertainty around Leo’s racial ancestry.

Various records listed his maternal grandfather’s birthplace as the Dominican Republic, “Hayti” or Louisiana and describe his maternal grandparents as Black or “mulatto.” They once lived in the Seventh Ward in New Orleans, an area that is traditionally Catholic and a melting pot of people with African, Caribbean and European roots.

Edwin Espinal Hernández, the director of the law school and a genealogist at the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra in the Dominican Republic, said he and other experts had found some indications that the pope’s grandfather was born in Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.

Leo’s brother John Prevost, who lives in the suburbs of Chicago, said the family does not identify as Black.

But that has not stopped some from embracing him as being of African ancestry.

Robson Querino do Nascimento, a church maintenance worker in Rio de Janeiro, said he believed the new pontiff’s ancestry made him more likely to work to better the plight of Black and poor people.

More than half of the population in Brazil identifies as Black or mixed-race, and the country’s long history of slavery means racial identities are often complex.

“He knows what human suffering looks like,” Mr. Nascimento, 52, said. “Because there are people of color in his family as well.”

Leo’s ancestry brought a sense of ease to some South Africans who had feared that he might be like President Trump and that his selection represented a consolidation of American power, said Father Ndlovu, who runs the main Catholic cathedral in Johannesburg.

In Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, many Catholics had hoped that their archbishop, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, would become pope and chart a new course for the church in Africa, where it is growing faster than anywhere else. But some saw Leo as possessing the background to represent African interests, said the Rev. Léonard Santedi, the chancellor of the Catholic University of Congo.

“Given his multicultural background,” Father Santedi said, “we also hope it will help him embrace and represent global diversity.”

Reporting was contributed by Ana Ionova from Rio de Janeiro, Frances Robles from Florida, Jack Buunda from Kinshasa, Lynsey Chutel from London and Ruth Maclean.

On the role of women in church leadership, Leo has followed Francis’ lead.

“It isn’t as simple as saying that, ‘You know, at this stage we’re going to change the tradition of the Church after 2,000 years on any one of those points,’” he said, according to The Catholic News Agency.

Now, as Pope Leo XIV, he is sure to face more questions about women’s role in the church. In his years as a Vatican administrator and as a bishop in Latin America, he appears to have followed the lead of Francis, who expanded their role, but only up to a point.

In the Vatican, Cardinal Prevost ran the office that vets, selects and oversees bishops. He endorsed Francis’ efforts to give women new leadership roles, including in the office that the cardinal led.

The involvement of women had made “a noticeable difference, if you will, I think a very fine addition” to the office, Cardinal Prevost told The Catholic News Service in 2023.

Those who knew Leo when he was a bishop in Chiclayo, Peru, say he also supported leadership roles for lay women in social organizations.

Before Bishop Prevost arrived in Chiclayo, the diocese had been led for nearly half a century by more conservative bishops from the Roman Catholic organization Opus Dei. A local priest, the Rev. Pedro Vásquez, said by phone that Bishop Prevost had helped bring about change, slowly, for girls and women.

Yolanda Díaz, a teacher in the Chiclayo diocese who helped lead a group that assisted migrants and trafficking victims, also said that Bishop Prevost had expanded the role of women.

“Little by little the church has allowed us some involvement,” she said by phone. “There is a group of women leading social pastoral work here.”

Elisabetta Povoledo contributed reporting.

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The future pope liked to play priest as a child, his brother says.

But it came as a bit of a shock when Robert Francis Prevost — Rob to his family — was in fact elected to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Roman Catholics.

“My brother’s the pope,” Mr. Prevost, 73, said, sitting on his porch. “Yikes.”

The three Prevost brothers — Louis, Rob and John — grew up in Dolton, Ill., just south of Chicago, and attended church and school at St. Mary of the Assumption on Chicago’s South Side. Their father, also named Louis, was a school superintendent and their mother, Mildred Prevost, was a librarian.

The future pope was always a peacemaker, Mr. Prevost recalled, even though the siblings could be a bit rough-and-tumble in their youth. “Jeez, it was like just yesterday, I was throwing him down the stairs,” Mr. Prevost said. “And now he’s pope!”

Mr. Prevost, who has been living on the Gulf Coast of Florida since 2020, said that he could only guess at what kind of pontiff his brother would be. “I think he’s going to be similar to Francis, but maybe not quite as liberal-minded, you know, flexing the church rules quite so much,” he said. “I think he’d be a little more conservative.”

Mr. Prevost described himself as a conservative and a Catholic, adding that he and his brother disagreed on some things. For one, they had different ideas about conflict and war. Mr. Prevost, who was serving in the Navy when the future pope was ordained as a priest in Rome in 1982, said that he was not as pacifistic as his brother.

“You come at me, guess what? You’re going to feel the wrath,” he said. “I’m of that mind-set. Rob, not so much.”

Mr. Prevost — who enjoys line dancing and, based on his cellphone ringtone, the band Led Zeppelin — said that he had spoken to his brother by phone early this week, shortly before the conclave began. Now, he wonders when, or whether, he will talk to him again. “I don’t know that you can just pick up the phone and call the pope,” Mr. Prevost said. “It’s like calling the president or something.”

He added, “I don’t expect we’ll see the Popemobile pulling up outside.”

But he feels certain that Pope Leo belongs at the Vatican. “He’ll do a bang-up job,” he said.

Here are 6 times when popes shaped history, for better or worse.

Here are six eras when the papacy helped to shape history:

The fall of Rome

Catholicism became the official religion of the Roman Empire nearly a century before the fall of Rome. But the authority of the Pope actually increased when the Western Roman Empire began to decline in the 5th century.

In 452 A.D., Pope Leo I is said to have met Attila, the ruler of the nomadic Huns, at the gates of Rome when Attila was planning to sack the city. While historians debate the veracity of the story, many believe the pope’s pleas kept the Huns, who were most likely from Central Asia, from destroying Rome.

The influence of the papacy grew when Romulus Augustulus, the last Roman emperor, was deposed in 476 A.D. Pope Simplicius filled the void left by the imperial administration, and defended the city of Rome from Germanic invasions until his death.

Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire

Charlemagne, a medieval emperor who ruled much of Western Europe in the 8th and 9th centuries, was known for his brutal military campaigns and his steadfast defense of Christianity.

Charlemagne gave financial resources and land to the church and conquered the Lombard kingdom, which increased the power of the pope. In turn, Pope Leo III made him the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

It was a mutually beneficial coronation, and reinforced the strength of both Charlemagne’s influence and the pope’s imperial power. That authority would be wielded by the papacy for centuries.

The Crusades

In 1095, Pope Urban II gave a sermon in France calling for a military expedition to help the Greek Orthodox Church of the Byzantine Empire reclaim Jerusalem, which was then ruled by a Muslim caliphate. This began the first of a series of crusades that continued into the 13th century.

The military campaigns were extraordinarily bloody and fundamentally reshaped Europe and the Middle East.

The Age of Discovery

The papacy was a driving force in colonialism in the Americas.

A year after Christopher Columbus made landfall in North America in 1492, Pope Alexander VI, who was from Spain, issued a document titled “Inter Caetera,” which urged that “the Catholic faith and the Christian religion be exalted and be everywhere increased and spread.” That official decree became a justification for Christian colonization around the world.

The Vatican formally repudiated the decree in 2023 after decades of demands from Indigenous peoples.

The Reformation

The Protestant Reformation posed a direct challenge to the Catholic Church, which had held sway in much of Western Europe for hundreds of years. The movement is said to have begun in 1517 when Martin Luther, a monk, nailed a thesis denouncing elements of Catholic religious practice to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany.

The reformation gained ground in England in the 1530s when King Henry VIII — unable to get papal approval for his divorce from Katherine of Aragon so he could marry her lady-in-waiting, Anne Boleyn — broke from he Church.

Decades of conflict swept across Europe in the wake of the Reformation, in part fueled by disagreements between the Catholic Church and Protestant denominations over interpretations of the Bible and religious practice.

The fall of Communism

Joseph Stalin put his finger on the limits of papal authority when he asked derisively: “How many divisions has the pope?”

But even without military power, or any formal political power, the Catholic Church played an important role in the end of Communism. Pope John Paul II is credited with helping to create the conditions for the rise of Poland’s Solidarity labor movement, which led to the downfall of the Communist regime in that country.

This helped initiate the collapse of other Communist governments in Eastern Europe and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

Pope John Paul II was the first pontiff from Poland, a deeply Catholic country, and during his first visit there as pope, in 1979, he electrified the nation with his message that people should not be afraid. On the night he died in 2005, Poland’s former president, Aleksander Kwasniewski, said on national television, “We wouldn’t have had a free Poland without him.”

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The election of a pope from Chicago, a proudly meme-able city, brought a wave of jokes online.

These and other whimsical suggestions started popping up on social media moments after Robert Francis Prevost’s Chicago roots came to light on Thursday.

“Canes nostros ipse comedit,” the marquee at Wieners Circle, a famous Chicago hot dog joint, joked in Latin. “He has eaten our dogs.”

Chicago drips with personality and has larger-than-life cultural figures and its fair share of corrupt politics, all of which are mixed with a touch of little-brother syndrome, making it a uniquely meme-able city. The food is polarizing, the history is stranger than fiction, and the traditions — like dyeing the river green on St. Patrick’s Day and playing softball without gloves — are somewhat bizarre.

“We definitely don’t take ourselves too seriously,” said Shermann Thomas, 43, a Chicago historian who also goes by the name Dilla. “The only rule is we don’t want anybody else talking crap about us.”

If the new pope found himself scrolling through social media, he would perhaps get a chuckle at the memes that ribbed Chicago for its quirks and poked at the paradox of a modern city entwining with a 2000-year-old tradition.

The jokes were so plentiful that people started posting their drafts of jokes that didn’t quite make the cut.

“The existence of Chicago Pope implies the existence of MLA Pope and APA Pope,” a user posted. Another user joked, “Chicago Pope, Tuesdays on NBC.”

In a city filled with diehard sports fans who have had little to celebrate of late, the sports jokes wrote themselves. Could this be the first time a pope has ever listened to “The Super Bowl Shuffle” or screamed at Steve Bartman? What is his opinion about the Chicago Bulls trading Elton Brand for Tyson Chandler?

“Daaaaaa Pope,” the Chicago Bears’ quarterback Caleb Williams posted on X.

Artificial intelligence, which is usually contributing to brain rot or helping high school students cheat, was working overtime at making some quality memes. Fake images of the pope baptizing an Italian beef sandwich and wearing a Chicago Bears cassock circulated.

For Mr. Thomas, the city historian, a lot of the city’s humor comes from how many different cultures fit themselves inside such a small area. Only Chicago could be home to Al Capone, the Latin Kings and the pope, he said.

This story could go on for another 500 words, filled with silly Chicago pope jokes. And it would be delightful. But we’ll leave you with perhaps the most relatable meme of the day:

“The Popemobile just cut you off on I-94.”

Leo XIV’s first words set a pastoral tone, acknowledging tradition.

But he also broadened his reach, saying that he wanted peace to “enter your hearts, reach your families and all people, wherever they are; and all the peoples, and all the earth.”

That, suggested historian Gian Maria Vian, was a reference to Pope John XXIII, a hero to many liberal Catholics for opening the church to the modern era with the Second Vatican Council. In 1962, in the final months of his papacy, John appeared on the balcony and delivered off-the-cuff remarks now known as the “moonlight speech,” in which he told his listeners to hug their children when they got home and say, “This is a hug from the pope.“

As Leo addressed a rapt crowd in St. Peter’s Square on Thursday, he twice urged them to be “without fear,” an echo of John Paul II’s message at his 1978 inauguration Mass, one that expressed a central theme of his pontificate: “Do not be afraid. Open, I say open wide the doors for Christ. To his saving power open the boundaries of states, economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture, civilization, and development.”

Leo also reprised a reconciliation theme dear to Pope Francis, who died on April 21. Leo urged his listeners “to build bridges with dialogue and encounter so we can all be one people, always in peace.”

Mr. Vian pointed out that the word “pontiff,” a frequently used alternative to “pope,” derives from the Latin “pontifex,” meaning “one who builds bridges.”

“The pope IS the builder of bridges,” he said.

(Francis used the idea in reverse, as well. In 2016, returning from a visit to Mexico, he responded to a reporter’s question about President Donald J. Trump’s promises to deport more immigrants and force Mexico to pay for a border wall by saying: “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.”)

In his comments on Thursday, Leo repeatedly stressed the importance of outreach and connection, saying: “We have to look together how to be a missionary church, building bridges, dialogue, always open to receiving, with open arms for everyone, like this square, open to all, to all who need our charity, our presence, dialogue, love.”

Indeed, according to the Vatican, the Baroque architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini conceived of the colonnade that embraces the central piazza of St. Peter’s Square to “welcome with maternally open arms, Catholics, so as to confirm them in their faith; heretics, to reunite them to the Church; and infidels, to enlighten them in the true faith.”

Leo concluded his remarks by referring to the special prayers Catholics dedicate on May 8 to Our Lady of the Rosary, honored by a pontifical shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Pompeii. “Let us pray together for this new mission,” Leo said, “for the whole church, for peace in the world, and let us also ask Mary, our mother, for this special grace.”

In a statement, Msgr. Tommaso Caputo, the archbishop of Pompeii, said he was touched that the new pope “had a thought for our virgin” in his first moments on the balcony. Monsignor Caputo noted that the current pope’s namesake, Leo XIII, had written multiple encyclicals dedicated to the rosary, the Catholic prayer series invoking Mary that is counted out on beads.

Leo XIV, the 267th pope of the Roman Catholic Church, concluded his comments by leading the assembled in the Hail Mary.

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An American pope emerges as a potential contrast to Trump on the world stage.

When he was introduced to the world, the new pope — who speaks five languages and is a naturalized citizen of Peru — emphasized his pluralistic background, making a point of speaking in Italian (representing his new constituency) and Spanish (his old one). He spoke no English and made no reference to the United States, even as some Catholics in St. Peter’s Square excitedly waved U.S. flags. (On Friday, he spoke briefly in English when he delivered his first homily.)

There are indications that the first American pontiff disapproves of some of the Trump administration’s hard-line stances. A social media account under his name has reposted messages critical of the president’s positions on issues including immigration, gun control and climate change. In February, the account shared a link to an article in The National Catholic Reporter titled “JD Vance Is Wrong: Jesus Doesn’t Ask Us to Rank Our Love for Others.”

“We have this powerful moral voice that is going to be able to potentially confront the other most powerful American voice,” said Charlie Sykes, an anti-Trump conservative who is Catholic. “Donald Trump bestrides the world as the ugly American, and now we have another prominent American who is able to confront him.”

Mr. Sykes said Pope Leo’s advocacy on behalf of migrants, in particular, could challenge Mr. Trump, who has pursued an aggressive campaign to deport them as quickly as possible.

“Part of Donald Trump’s appeal is that he is the great champion of Christendom and now he’s going to have to explain that to a fellow American who is the pope,” Mr. Sykes said. “There are very few, if any, figures that have the platform and the voice of the Holy See.”

John Prevost, the pope’s brother, told The New York Times in an interview that he did not think his brother would shy away from voicing his disagreements with the president.

“I know he’s not happy with what’s going on with immigration,” he said. “I know that for a fact. How far he’ll go with it is only one’s guess, but he won’t just sit back. I don’t think he’ll be the silent one.”

Still, Vatican analysts say Pope Leo is more reserved than his predecessor, and while they expect him to continue to defend migrants and the poor, some do not expect him to do so in as outspoken a manner as Pope Francis.

Mr. Trump and his supporters have also found aspects of the new pope’s background that excite them, including his ardent anti-abortion advocacy and his opposition to a government plan in Peru to add teachings on gender in schools.

“He’s said and done some mixed things in the past,” said John Yep, the chief executive of Catholics for Catholics, a group that supports Mr. Trump. “Let’s see how he does. I don’t want to rush to judgments right off the bat.”

In the hours since Pope Leo’s selection, the president has had only praise for the church’s new leader. Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance both congratulated him in posts on social media and celebrated his American heritage.

“The president made his reaction to Pope Leo’s announcement yesterday very clear,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters on Friday when asked about the pope’s comments. “He’s very proud to have an American pope.”

It is unclear if either Mr. Trump or Mr. Vance had been aware of Pope Leo’s criticism of their policies, but some of the president’s most strident supporters have already registered their displeasure.

“He is anti-Trump, anti-MAGA, pro-open Borders, and a total Marxist like Pope Francis,” Laura Loomer, the far-right activist who has persuaded Mr. Trump to fire some of his aides for not being loyal enough, wrote on X. “Catholics don’t have anything good to look forward to. Just another Marxist puppet in the Vatican.”

Representative Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker and a devout Catholic, praised Pope Leo’s commitment to the poor and said she hoped he could unite American Catholics across partisan divides.

“His values-based vision for the church is quite different from what we’re seeing from some leaders, if you call them that, in our country, but I don’t expect him to be engaged in a political debate with the president of the United States,” she said in an interview.

Even though Pope Leo is an American by birth, he has spent most of his adult life outside the country, and now as the head of state of another nation, it remains to be seen what relationship he will have with the United States. Pope Francis, who hailed from Argentina, never returned to his place of birth after becoming the church’s leader.

American cardinals said at a news conference on Friday that Pope Leo’s American identity was not a factor in his selection. When he was announced, the Vatican made no mention of his U.S. nationality, instead introducing him as the second pope from the Americas.

Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop emeritus of Washington, D.C., said the conclave was not seen as a “continuation of the American election.”

“It wasn’t an election conclave,” he said. “It was a desire to strengthen the Christian faith among God’s people.”

Joe Donnelly, the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See during the Biden administration, said Pope Leo’s selection transcended any nationality, but would also serve to demonstrate American values on the world stage.

“I think Pope Leo will be a wonderful reflection of America, of Chicago and all of our hardworking people,” Mr. Donnelly said. “He is a prototype of the American success story, working hard, studying hard and being kind to others.”

The cardinals’ selection of an American pope defied the prevailing belief that the church would not choose a leader from the global superpower. In the days leading up to the conclave, Catholic commentators speculated that Mr. Trump’s disruption of the global political and economic order made a U.S.-born pope even more unlikely.

Indeed, some spectators gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Thursday were bewildered when his identity emerged.

“Un Americano?” several muttered in Italian.

“I am surprised and disappointed,” said Adam Mocarski, 31, from Poland.

The immediate disillusion was not directed at the new pope himself, but appeared to reflect how much Mr. Trump has roiled international sentiment toward America.

“Trump wants to divide,” said Francesca Elicio, 29, a theater producer from Rome. “Trump has a negative effect not just on America, but on other countries. Perhaps the idea was to have an intermediary who can save not just the church, but the whole world.”

Some analysts have posited that the cardinals selected Pope Leo precisely because of Mr. Trump. The president agitated many Catholics, even some of his allies, when he posted an A.I.-generated image of himself dressed as the pope after Pope Francis died.

“The president might well be right to claim credit for the selection, at least in part, given the photo he posted on social media,” said Rocco Palmo, a Catholic church analyst. “The choice of Leo is the cardinals’ way of saying, ‘This is our process and we decide what is Catholic, not the White House.’”

Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Elizabeth Dias contributed reporting from Vatican City.