When Pope Francis died in 2025, more than 75% of US Catholics viewed him favorably and consistently gave him positive ratings throughout his papacy. In June 2026, 78% of US Catholics expressed favorable views of Pope Leo. If I have a very unfavorable view of Francis and Leo, it stems from what they did and failed to do, most of which is covered up by the mainstream and Catholic media.
Anyone who watched Sex Abuse in the Church: Code of Silence by French investigative reporter, Martin Boudot, knows that when Pope Francis was the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he covered up countless cases of sex abuse despite having lied by writing that clerical sex abuse “never occurred in my diocese.” Imagine a diocese with more than 2.7 million Catholics, and not one abuse case! I would estimate that less than one percent of Catholics in the world were made aware of Francis’ abuse cover-ups, and even less heard or read that he was accused by more than one source of having preyed on Jesuit novices in Argentina. Might this help you understand why I strongly disagree with the favorable ratings Francis received from 75% of US Catholics?
The very high favorability rating Pope Leo enjoys was helped by Pope Leo’s Peru, a one-hour Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) News Special Report that is the antithesis of Boudot’s documentary about “Pope Francis’ Argentina.” Maria Montserrat Alvarado, the former President and COO of EWTN News, was rewarded for her role in making this production possible by being appointed the new Prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication. The production, like much of EWTN’s one-sided reporting, avoided any mention of Leo’s record of mishandling sexual abuse in the Augustinian Order and in the Diocese of Chiclayo.
Having been born in Chicago, Leo was greatly influenced by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, whom Leo has quoted on more than one occasion. There is probably no American prelate who better demonstrates how American Catholics can be duped in their evaluation of a Church leader than Bernardin. Most American Catholics who heard of Bernardin and the sex abuse allegation made by Stephen Cook, a former seminarian, were led to believe that Cook recanted the charges before he died. However, the report that Cook was paid $3 million in hush money in an out-of-court settlement involving Bernardin was corroborated by other sex abuse victims who knew Cook personally, and by abuse advocates like the late Richard Sipe. Why pay someone millions of dollars in a settlement if the victim was lying about being abused?
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