El HuffPostUnder the shadow of Francisco
The Catalan journalist was one of the first to bet on the name Robert Francis Prevost, when the press ignored him in the Conclave odds, and defines the pope as a continuity of the dogma of his predecessor, Francisco. To explain this position, in a telephone conversation with El HuffPost, he recalls his first Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi te, in which he put at the center of his speech Christ and the poor, marginalized, refugees and immigrants. “[The new Pope] continues Francis’s movements, which invite the Church to leave the palaces and accompany the wounded of the world spiritually and in the material,” explains the Catalan correspondent in his conversation with this newspaper. “He will be a Pope of the 21st century.”
Unlike Lozano, Jesús Bastante, deputy editor of Religión Digital, and author of El aprendiz de Gaudí (Esfera de los Libros, 2026), explains in conversation with El HuffPost that the doctrinal line followed by the new pope is very different from that of Francisco. “He’s a pope very different from Francisco. He’s a much more contemplative, less explosive, less prophetic and more organized.”
“León’s will is to deepen the path started by Francisco, always prioritizing the unity of the Church.” This has a clear implication and “some issues can be cooled.” He believes topics such as “sexual morality, blessings of gays or issues related to liturgy” can be paused. “The more controversial issues either are cooling down, or are being left for later, when there is greater consensus,” he concludes on this.
That said, everything related to synodality, to participation within the Church, and to the push for openness will be maintained. “The more social topics. The issues relating to synodality, the participation of the Church… will be his bet,” Bastante continues.
First destination: Africa
His first pontifical trip is a test of the pastoral continuity that characterizes Leo XIV’s early steps as head of the Catholic Church. “It is deeply symbolic. Africa is experiencing a new resource colonization and, like Pope Francis, Leo XIV visits the peripheries, where Catholicism is minority,” Lozano explains. His past is revealing, having been Bishop of Chiclayo (Peru) for years: “He knows both worlds.”
During April, the pope Leo visited four countries in 11 days: Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea. The objective, clearly pastoral: to address the needs of the continent where more than a fifth of the world’s Catholics live. According to statistics published by the Vatican, Africa is today the main growth engine of the Church and provides the majority of new baptisms and a growing number of priestly and religious vocations, with countries such as Angola and Cameroon among the most notable in seminarians. The center of gravity of world Catholicism thus moves south.
For Bastante, this trip is “clearly foundational.” “It was personally decided by Leo XIV. The previous ones—to Turkey or the planned one to Spain—were already largely agreed upon,” he explains in his conversation with this newspaper. “He has shown that he is not afraid of big trips or contact with people. That said, his destinations are more predictable: Francis constantly improvised; Leo does not improvise. No surprises,” he ends.
“This trip is a before-and-after,” he continues. “Africa is today the great nursery of vocations in the world, which reinforces the symbolism of the trip,” he explains. In addition, “there is a personal dimension: Leo is Augustinian and Saint Augustine was born in Hippo, one of the first places he visited in Algeria.”
“An unprecedented tension”
History could not be more ironic, and once again it has surprised with a first North American pope and Donald Trump in the White House. Bastante is clear: “An unprecedented and inevitable tension.” In recent months, the relationship between Leo XIV and the U.S. president has plainly shown the differences that distance them. The volley of reproaches and Trump’s continual provocations, posting on social networks photos posing as God or similar, have dominated headlines in the media, and even sparked a rupture between the Trump administration and Giorgia Meloni’s government, his biggest ally in Europe, which stands with the Bishop of Rome.
During the pastoral trip to Africa, the Pontiff answered the American president after showing skepticism about his diplomacy. “I’m not afraid,” he said. “The gospel message is very clear: Blessed are the peacemakers. This is what I think I have to do, what the Church has to do. We are not politicians, we do not deal with international politics with the same perspective he may have. I believe in the gospel message that is the one about building peace,” he added in statements that circulated around the world.
“Trump crossed a line when he threatened to destroy ‘an entire civilization’ in Iran, an admission of war crime. That is when the Pope said: ‘I will not bow to anyone.’ Defending dialogue does not mean silencing those barbarities,” Lozano explains, recalling the “grotesque provocations” of the president: “Dressing as the Pope, messianic images… It was necessary to say enough.”
“He is not ready to broach that topic.”
Moderate progressivism has characterized the first months of Leo XIV in the Vatican and has been the subject of scrutiny by the Church’s more conservative voices. Before being elevated to the highest office, Robert Prevost did not depart from the Church’s traditional stance on issues such as mandatory priestly celibacy. As El País reports, on issues such as the mandatory celibacy of priests, the Pope has kept silent, but on others, such as the ordination of women, he has been firm: “Clericalizing women does not necessarily solve a problem; it could generate a new one,” he said when he was Cardinal Prevost in 2023.
On doctrinal advances regarding the rights of LGTBI+ people, under Pope Francis, which allowed the blessing of same-sex unions, the current Leo XIV stressed that the application of that declaration “should take into account the cultural differences of each religion.” But Prevost’s positions were even more radical. Then he lamented that the media and popular culture showed “sympathy for beliefs and practices that are in conflict with the Gospel,” such as “the homosexual lifestyle.”
“It is true that he has shown himself very much against changing doctrine. But he has also said something interesting: he warned that Catholics are very obsessed with sexual morality and that the Bible is much more than that,” explains the expert. That said, he confirms that he is against blessing homosexual people. “There is a lot left to do and I think Prevost is not ready to broach that topic.”
“He has withstood campaigns from the more conservative wing.”
Both Bastante and Lozano conclude that he has been the target of smear campaigns by the more conservative wing that have sought to discredit his authority. Especially with allegedly false accusations about his attitude toward sexual abuse when he was Bishop in Peru. “The recent accusations are fabrications by the Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana, a very powerful organization in Peru that Francis dissolved before dying and that now seeks revenge,” Lozano explains in El HuffPost.
“During the conclave they tried to reignite documentary forgeries against Prevost. All of it is false,” recalls the correspondent, who has an important list of sources beyond the gates of St. Peter’s. “These campaigns will be repeated, as happened with Francis: a dirty war driven by ultras. We’ll see them in the coming months,” he predicts.
In this first year, he believes the new Pope has pushed investigations worldwide and “has forced,” for example, “to compensate the Spanish victims.” A position he shares with Bastante, who thinks that “institutionally there is still much to do.” “In his speeches he has been clear, but there is always more that can be done,” he ends.
A look to the future
Lozano notes that Leo XIV is aware of many realities surrounding current events, such as the power of the media, social networks and artificial intelligence. In the past year he has denounced the instrumentalization of religion in politics and “has warned of the power of radical minorities supported by the international far-right, finance and the great technological magnates.” “A pope prepared for the problems of the twenty-first century.”
09 May, 2026
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