Catholic Candle note: Catholic Candle normally examines particular issues thoroughly, at length, using the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas and the other Doctors of the Church. By contrast, our feature CC in Brief, usually gives an extremely short answer to a reader’s question. We invite every reader to submit his own questions.
Below is a Question Asked by an Incarcerated Catholic Candle Reader Who Receives Catholic Candle Intermittently When the Mailed Copy Is Allowed Through by the Prison Censors.
Q. What is your opinion on the new American Pope Leo 14? Do you think he will be a pope who preaches Traditional Catholic Teaching? I know Vatican 2 and the last four popes were leftists, Pope Francis (R.I.P.) being the most Woke!
A. Let us pray hard for Pope Leo XIV. His pontificate is just beginning, and yet there seems sufficient evidence this this reign will be one of continued destruction and revolution.
The Slim
“Positive Side”
But first, on the positive side, Pope Leo is not the attention-grabbing showman that Pope Francis was.
Also, on the positive side, he follows certain customs of his office more than Pope Francis did. For example, Pope Leo wears certain customary papal attire that is appropriate to his office, more than Pope Francis did. (This is good. This is like the fact that a civil judge should wear judicial robes in court as a sign of his office and not wear a tee shirt, shorts, and flipflops.)
But
there is Much on the “Bad Side“
On the bad side, Pope Leo XIV has shown many signs that he is a leftist. Below are a few examples.
Pope
Leo’s Environmental Alarmism
Pope Leo is the first one to use the newly-issued “mass” for the care of our planet. (This “mass” was an initiative of Pope Francis.) At this “mass”, he preached a sermon which was as extreme in environmental alarmism as any discourse of Pope Francis. This sermon clearly showed he has a “Green Peace” leftist agenda. In this sermon, the pope stated:
We hear the cry of the Earth. We hear the cry of the poor because this cry has reached the Heart of God. Our indignation is His indignation. Our work is His work.1
Pope Leo
Condemns National Borders
Pope Leo has echoed Pope Francis in condemning national borders:
Where there is love, there is no room for prejudice, for “security” zones separating us from our neighbors, for the exclusionary mindset that, tragically, we now see emerging also in political nationalisms.
It was on the feast of Pentecost that Pope Francis observed: “In our world today, there is so much discord, such great division. We are all ‘connected’, yet find ourselves disconnected from one another, anesthetized by indifference and overwhelmed by solitude” (Homily, 28 May 2023). The wars plaguing our world are a tragic sign of this. Let us invoke the Spirit of love and peace, that he may open borders, break down walls, dispel hatred and help us to live as children of our one Father who is in heaven.2
Pope Leo
has “Canonized” Pope Francis
Pope Leo strongly praises Pope Francis and has declared several times that he is in heaven. For example, in May 2025, Pope Leo declared:
During Mass, I strongly felt the spiritual presence of Pope Francis accompanying us from heaven.3
Pope Leo
Promotes the So-Called “Synodal Church”
Pope Leo showed clearly that he plans to continue Pope Francis’ error of a “synodal church”:
Aware, moreover, that synodality and ecumenism are closely linked, I wish to assure you of my intention to continue Pope Francis’ commitment to promoting the synodal character of the Catholic Church and developing new and concrete forms for an ever stronger and more intense synodality in the ecumenical field.4
Pope Leo Continues to Promote the False Conciliar “Union” with the Jews
Pope Leo showed clearly that he plans to continue the promotion of a false and merely apparent unity with the jews which does not involve their conversion to the only True Faith:
In a special way I greet our Jewish and Muslim brothers and sisters. Because of the Jewish roots of Christianity, all Christians have a special relationship with Judaism. The conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate (no. 4) emphasizes the greatness of the spiritual heritage shared by Christians and Jews, encouraging mutual knowledge and esteem. The theological dialogue between Christians and Jews remains ever important and close to my heart. Even in these difficult times, marked by conflicts and misunderstandings, it is necessary to continue the momentum of this precious dialogue of ours.5
Lastly, Pope Leo has mostly continued the same programs and legislation implemented by Pope Francis. This further indicates that Pope Leo is no conservative.
Let us watch vigilantly and pray fervently for him!
Catholic
Candle note: We ask all Catholic Candle readers
to please pray for this incarcerated man, who is trying to discern
the truth and save his soul under very difficult circumstances.