This is a series of essays about the election of the first pope born in the United States. NCR asked notable Catholics and Americans from various perspectives within the faith community to write about their hopes, dreams and expectations for Pope Leo XIV.
As the fall semester kicks off, Villanova students report continued excitement on campus over the election of alumnus Pope Leo XIV, alongside other members of the Villanova community who have known him for years.
Pope Leo XIV has stated he will continue the path of Pope Francis regarding LGBTQ+ ministry. Loretto Sr. Jeannine Gramick, longtime minister to the community, hopes his actions will affirm his hospitable words.
Leo XIV begins his papacy with a historic opportunity to close the growing gap between what the church teaches about sex and gender, and the lived experiences and values of a majority of U.S. Catholics, writes Tom Fox.
While the work of affirmation of Catholic-Jewish friendship remains ongoing, moving beyond Augustine's condemnation of Jews to suffer in exile could deepen the theological work that the pope's forbearers began decades ago.
The American identity of Pope Leo XIV has potential for the renewal of American Christianity in particular by calling us beyond polarized politics toward the reconciling peace of the reign of God.
Pope Leo XIV seems to have come at just the right time. A pope capable of listening to a global, synodal church may be able to bring us together to think with the expansiveness of the revolutionary systems now in our world.
CBS News senior correspondent Norah O'Donnell is watching and waiting to see how Pope Leo XIV widens Francis' legacy of elevating women within the church.
In this dizzying moment, we can turn to the voices that have guided us through upheaval before. How fitting, then, that Pope Leo XIV has brought forth the wisdom of Pope Leo XIII into our digital age.
I have, after 80 years, felt something that I never thought I would in this century as a Roman Catholic. I feel optimistic. I feel renewed. I feel bright about the future of the Catholic Church.
Sen. Tim Kaine, a Catholic, writes about his hopes for the pontificate of Leo XIV. As a servant leader, the new pope can orient us toward unity and affect the world far beyond the confines of the Catholic faith.
