Overall he seems clearly orthodox on abortion, euthanasia, contraception, LGBT, the appointment of bishops and the ordination of women, while his stance on communion for the divorced remarried and priestly celibacy seem difficult to know with certainty.
Robert Francis Prevost has become Pope Leo XIV. Before May 8, 2025, most people did not know the name Prevost, but now he is the chief shepherd of over a billion Catholics. Both orthodox Catholics and modernists have been celebrating, while there have been naysayers on both sides, too. This reflects the fact Prevost was touted as a ‘compromise candidate’ and pushed by strong prelates on both sides. Both the orthodox and the modernists seem to think, or hope, that the new Pope actually leans more in their direction, with orthodox faithful especially being optimistic after his more traditional choice of papal attire and his orthodox first papal mass. So, to put it crudely, the real question is: who got played?
To fully understand our new Pope it could help to look into his past statements, actions, and general career, starting with his recent rise in Rome.
The meteoric rise
A handful of excellent analysts did know to keep track of Prevost and to count him amongst the papabile since he was made a cardinal less than two years ago, shortly after he was made the new prefect of the Dicastery of Bishops. Before 2023 almost nobody had heard of him. Then, Francis suddenly appointed him to be the new prefect, replacing Marc Ouellet, who had served since Pope Benedict had appointed him in 2010.
Ouellet himself was originally a moderate ‘conservative’ and was one of the very few such prelates who was able to remain in office for a long time under Francis. Despite this ‘generous’ treatment Francis gradually eroded his ‘de facto’ authority, appointing his own loyalist, the Brazilian Ilson de Jesus Montanari, as the new secretary in late 2013, who served as Francis’ representative with outsized influence.
Sources indicated Francis wanted Montanari to become the new prefect for years, but he didn’t want the position. As such, Prevost was not Francis’ first, and possibly not even second or third, choice to be the new prefect (the same was rumoured to be the case for Fernandez as the new prefect of the Dicastery of the Doctrine of Faith), since insiders suggested Cupich, and possibly even McElroy, were being considered for the job.
Montanari remained secretary and was rumoured to have outsized influence. Additionally, American allies of Francis continued to sidestep the papal nuncio for the USA to push the promotion of radical bishops directly to Francis.
This is why it’s odd to see Prevost being blamed for the appointment of McElroy to Washington, when it were liberal cardinals Cupich and Tobin who had fiercely lobbied for it. If Prevost was a radical progressive, wouldn’t he push for such promotions without any need for Cupich to meet Francis?
It seems clear that Prevost was promoted in the final phase of Francis’ pontificate, when various powerful prelates were struggling for influence and he acted modestly and professionally. When Francis was recovering temporarily, after he was discharged from the hospital and only able to occasionally meet with prelates like Prevost, and not Cupich, two new archbishops got appointed to the USA (McKnight and McGovern) who both have moderate-conservative rather than modernist profiles.
Similarly, the persecution of the pro-traditional French bishop Dominique Rey of Fréjus-Toulon was started under, and supported by, Ouellet and pushed by certain inimical French bishops, as well as by Parolin. Prevost inherited that problem.
Finally, the sacking of Bishop Strickland, starting with an apostolic visitation in June 2023 is arguable the only example where Prevost may have had an important role. Sources varied on whether Pope Francis ordered the visitation or Prevost, but Prevost likely had little choice as he was very new to his position, and with Strickland sometimes being harshly critical of Pope Francis on Twitter. Strickland himself seems pleased, or at least not unhappy, with the election of Prevost.
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