As Pope Leo XIV begins his papacy, some 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide will be looking to him for guidance on important issues like immigration, abortion, capital punishment, and the Church’s relationship with the LGBTQ+ community.
“He's going to be talking, I think, about these most difficult issues with a voice that is confident but also welcoming,” Gary Adler, a sociology professor at Penn State University, told The Associated Press.
Many followers have been mining the X account under the former cardinal's previous name, Robert Prevost, to learn more about his potential stance on issues and whether his positions may have changed over the years.
In 2015, for example, Prevost’s account posted photos of an anti-abortion March For Life rally in Peru, and in a separate, unrelated post, the account published the statement “It’s time to end the death penalty.”
Prevost’s account frequently reposted articles and statements made by other religious leaders, expressing strong opinions about other issues, including immigration.
In 2018, for example, the account reposted comments that were critical of some of the first Trump Administration's policies. One of those comments, attributed to Cardinal Blase Cupich, said, “There is nothing remotely Christian, American, or morally defensible about a policy that takes children away from parents.”
When it comes to his relationship with members of the LGBTQ+ community, his statements over time appear to have changed. According to the New York Times, the Pope delivered comments in 2012 that questioned the “homosexual lifestyle” by criticizing “sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel.”
However, in 2023, he told the Catholic News Service the Church should be more open. “Given many things that have changed, I would say there’s been a development in the sense of the need for the Church to open and to be welcoming,” he said.
