With the first year of Pope Leo’s papacy coming to an end, American Catholics have had time to develop initial opinions.
In South Florida, a sampling of impressions proved largely positive, with a general consensus that Pope Leo XIV, who was elected on May 8, 2025, seemed calm and steady, if careful.
“I think it’s been a pretty quiet and fairly cautious first year, for the most part,” said Eric Knight, who’s working toward his master’s degree in history at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, and is also a member of the campus Newman Club, a Catholic organization. “I view him more as within a continuity of Pope Francis, rather than a rupture … I’m still kind of waiting to see what’s distinctively Pope Leo, and not just the greater church tradition.”
Florida Catholic students’ opinions on Pope Leo
Still, Knight said he likes the pope, and feels he’s been “standing firmly” on key issues, including his asking for more humane treatment of immigrants in the U.S.
“He’s being fairly cautious, trying not to ruffle too many feathers, but he clearly puts hard lines where he needs to — standing up for human dignity and these sort of things,” he said. “I’m a fan of that aspect.”
For Ryan Preston, a junior studying business management at FAU and president of its Catholic Newman Club, the pope is doing exactly “what [he] expect[s] him to do.” That is — “lead the church, lead the people.”
“This is who God has appointed through Rome to be our pope,” Preston said. “And I was confident that it will be good, and so far, it has been good.”
Knight said he was “surprised” by the reactions to Pope Leo’s calls for a ceasefire in the Middle East, though not by the pope’s opinions themselves.
“If there is one person on earth whose job it is to say, ‘Hey, can we not conduct wars?’ — it’s the pope’s job,” Knight said. “So, criticisms of religious figures calling for global peace always seem a little obtuse to me. He’s doing everything that I believe he should.”
Overall, Knight said that he feels many American Catholics are optimistic about Pope Leo’s future as pontiff.
“I’ve noticed that a lot of Americans are placing a particular hope in him,” Knight said. “This is our first pope, and I think it’s very special and beautiful.”
Who is Pope Leo?
Pope Leo was born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago, and is the first Pope from the United States. He is 70 years old and holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Villanova University, a master’s degree in divinity from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and a doctorate in canon law.
At the time of his selection, Prevost was a cardinal, the prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. Previously, he went on several mission trips to Peru, and was appointed Bishop of Chiclayo.
When was Pope Leo elected to the papacy?
Pope Leo, then Cardinal Prevost, was selected by the papal conclave on May 8 after two days of voting to succeed Pope Francis, who died at age 88 on April 21.
The College of Cardinals, responsible for electing the pope, selected Prevost on the fourth ballot with 108 votes. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, was the runner-up.
South Florida priest on politics and the papacy
Catholic priest Luis Pavon, director of Catholic Campus Ministry at Florida International University in Miami, said he feels Pope Leo has handled himself “masterfully” in the political arena.
“He’s not about to play the game, and politics is a game,” Pavon said. “He’s not about to reduce himself to that level. The Holy See is a spiritual force. It doesn’t have a military. This isn’t an army. It’s not trying to jockey for natural resources … whether it’s in regard to immigration, or whether it’s in regard to war, the church does have her understanding based on the scriptures, based on what God has revealed, in regard to what it means to love one’s neighbor, to love oneself, to love God. And so he is called to, obviously, as pope, preach on faith and morals.”
Pope Leo signifies somewhat of a return to form for the church, Pavon said, in terms of his attire and residence. Pope Francis, for instance, chose not to live in the Apostolic Palace apartments where Pope Leo has, and also dressed very distinctively.
“This isn’t about being unfaithful to the Gospel, because he’s going to be objectively faithful to the Gospel,” he said. “But in terms of style, Pope Francis’s style was to be very almost informal. And for some who were more formal, that was seen as like, ‘Why is he not wearing the traditional Papal Vestments?’ It’s interesting because Pope Leo has readopted that. So, it’s almost as if he’s extending an olive branch to those who have those leanings, and saying, ‘Hey, there’s continuity here.’”
Pavon believes Pope Leo’s main aim has been, and will continue to be, to “foster relationships.”
“Where he’s seen that there might be differences, he’s tried to be very much a bridge,” Pavon said. “The word ‘pontiff’ comes from that — the notion of being a bridge builder, of making connections.”
Sarah Perkel is a South Florida Connect Reporter for the USA TODAY Network’s Florida Connect team. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: What South Florida Catholics are saying about Pope Leo’s first year
Reporting by Sarah Perkel, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
