WASHINGTON — Newly elected Pope Leo XIV spent years amplifying criticism of President Trump’s insurance policies on social media — with the Catholic Church’s first American chief taking specific goal on the Republican’s immigration insurance policies.
Leo XIV, till Thursday often called Robert Francis Prevost, 69, shared or retweeted the opinions of colleagues utilizing his verified account @drprevost on X, previously often called Twitter.
His last X submit earlier than being elected by the Conclave within the Sistine Chapel was a retweet of a message from Philadelphia-based Catholic commentator Rocco Palmo, who on April 14 slammed Trump’s partnership with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele on deportation of unlawful migrants.
The message reads: “As Trump & Bukele use Oval to [laugh emoji] Feds’ illicit deportation of a US resident… once an undoc-ed Salvadorean himself, now-DC [auxiliary bishop] Evelio [Menjivar] asks, ‘Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you stay quiet?’”
On Feb. 3, Prevost shared a hyperlink to a Nationwide Catholic Reporter article headlined “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”
That article took difficulty with remarks Trump’s vice chairman made throughout a Jan. 29 Fox Information interview, by which he acknowledged: “There is a Christian concept that you love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and then after that, prioritize the rest of the world. A lot of the far left has completely inverted that.”
Prevost was additionally an energetic commentator on US politics throughout Trump’s first time period — in 2017 retweeting a submit from Palmo that stated, “Calling refugee bans “a dark hour of US history,” [Chicago Archbishop] Blase [Cupich] says ‘the world is watching as we abandon our commitment to American values’.”
Additionally in January, 2017, the brand new pope retweeted a message from Jesuit priest James Martin, who wrote: “We’re banning all Syrian refugees? The men, women and children who *most* need help? What an immoral nation we are becoming. Jesus weeps.”
Prevost emerged as a shock choose to be the chief of the world’s estimated 1.4 billion Roman Catholics, as his title had not been floated as a chance previous to the two-day conclave.
The Chicago native’s preliminary blessing, delivered in Latin and Spanish, paid homage to Pope Francis’ tenure and burdened that the Catholic church ought to welcome “everyone” — much like the varied and worldwide crowd that gathered within the sq. of the Vatican.
His selection of title, Leo XIV, may be a sign that he desires to proceed the legacy of Leo XIII, who was often called the “Pope of the Workers” — and had the third-longest verifiable tenure, lasting from 1878 to 1903.
