WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS FROM NEW POPE

The name alone often speaks volumes. In choosing to reign as Francis, first of that name, Jorge Bergoglio signalled clearly the style of his pontificate, which aspired to the simplicity of the saint of Assisi while offering all sorts of ruptures with tradition.

- Ross Douthat

A successor who chose Francis II or, for that matter, John XXIV or Paul VII (after the popes of the Second Vatican Council) would have signaled a further push for liberalization; a successor who opted for Benedict XVII or Pius XIII would have been promising a traditionalist swing.

Whereas the name Leo XIV promises, perhaps, some version of the “peace” that former Cardinal Robert Prevost invoked in his first words from the papal loggia — peace between the church’s contending factions as well as in the wider world. The last Leo was long reigning and popular and remembered fondly by Catholics of varying theological stripes. He’s famous for his interventions in 19th-century debates over capitalism and socialism and his support for the revival of Thomist philosophy, a legacy that’s neither “left” nor “right” but simply Catholic in a way that a divided church struggles to achieve today.

Perhaps no pope can achieve it, and certainly there is an interpretation of Leo XIV’s election that just emphasises continuities with the Francis era: He's a Francis appointee who entered the conclave as a favored candidate of some of the previous pope’s allies; he’s an American who's also a critic, lately, of the Catholic vice president of the United States.