05/11/2025

What Pope Leo XIV Means for the U.S. Catholic Church

The new pope faces a divided church in his birth country

The new Chicago-raised Pope Leo XIV faces an immediate challenge in his native country: taming the brawling U.S. tribe of Catholics, riven by political divisions that have thwarted the will of his predecessors.

Because Pope Leo, earlier known as Bob Prevost from Chicago's south side, is an American better versed than past church leaders in the culture of his home country, some church-watchers and experts say, he may be able to navigate the U.S. Church in a way the Argentine Pope Francis could not. However, they said, it will still be a struggle to pry some American church members away from the now-deeply entrenched American habit of seeing faith through a tribal, political lens.

In recent decades the U.S. Catholic Church, like many of the nation’s religious groups, has been shaped by secular allegiances. Some who have followed the faith were hopeful that having a spiritual leader from the United States who can speak about the full range of church teachings — from Catholicism's demand to care for migrants, as well as the unborn — could bring some Catholics together.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.