Newly elected Pope Leo XIV, known as Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost and the first American Pope in history, has a history of speaking up about some very hot-button political and social issues.
Now, his stance on many of these issues are coming to light as he now will shape the future of the Catholic Church.
The 69-year-old Chicago native’s views on several controversial topics, including gender ideology in schools to climate change, have surfaced from past social media posts (and reposts), public remarks and interviews with media outlets.
Here’s where Pope Leo XIV stands on the issues, in his own words.
Climate change
Like Pope Francis, Leo XIV is a strong believer that the faithful have a responsibility to take care of the planet.
While serving as the then-president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, he argued in November last year that it is time to move “from words to action” on the “environmental crisis.”
Prevost also cautioned against the “harmful” environmental impacts of technological development and highlighted the Vatican’s installation of solar panels and use of electric vehicles.
Gender ideology and homosexuality
Pope Francis famously told reporters, “Who am I to judge?” gay people and said homosexuals “must be integrated into society.”
But Leo XIV may not be as accommodating.
In a 2012 address to bishops obtained by the New York Times, Prevost accused the news media and popular culture for encouraging “sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the Gospel.”
Among those “beliefs and practices” Prevost cited were the “homosexual lifestyle” and “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children.”
While bishop of Chiclayo in northwestern Peru, Prevost opposed a government initiative to promote gender ideology teachings in schools.
“The promotion of gender ideology is confusing, because it seeks to create genders that don’t exist,” he told local news media at the time.
Abortion
Perhaps the biggest social-political issue in the Catholic Church, Prevost has expressed strong support for the Catholic Church’s anti-abortion stance.
In 2015, Prevost posted a photograph from the March For Life rally in Chiclayo, exhorting his followers: “Let’s defend human life at all times!”
Prevost also retweeted a 2017 Catholic News Agency article on New York Archbishop Cardinal Timothy Dolan condemning abortion at a Mass ahead of the March For Life rally in Washington, DC.
In his homily, Dolan urged Catholics to “reclaim the belief that the mother’s womb is the primal sanctuary, where a helpless, innocent, fragile, tiny baby is safe, secure, nurtured and protected.”
Gun rights
While not a highly contested issue amongst the church, back in October 2017, Prevost retweeted a call for new US gun control from Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) after a gunman murdered 60 people in Las Vegas.
“To my colleagues: your cowardice to act cannot be whitewashed by thoughts and prayers. None of this ends unless we do something to stop it,” Murphy wrote in the tweet shared by the new pope.