The first American pope is on a collision course with U.S. President Donald Trump. The latest fault line between the Vatican and the White House emerged on Sunday. Shortly after Trump suggested his administration could “run” Venezuela, the Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV appeared at the Angelus window overlooking St. Peter’s Square to deliver an address calling for the safeguarding of the “country’s sovereignty.” For MAGA-aligned conservatives, this is now part of an unwelcome pattern. While Leo is less combative in tone toward Trump than his predecessor Francis, his priorities are rekindling familiar battles in the culture war with the U.S. administration on topics such as immigration and deportations, LGBTQ+ rights and climate change. As the leader of a global community of 1.4 billion Catholics, Leo has a rare position of influence to challenge Trump’s policies, and the U.S. president has to tread with uncustomary caution in confronting him. Trump traditionally relishes blasting his critics with invective but has been unusually restrained in response to Leo’s criticism, in part because he counts a large number of Catholics among his core electorate. “[Leo] is not looking for a fight like Francis, who sometimes enjoyed a fight,” said Chris White, author of “Pope Leo XIV: Inside the Conclave and the Dawn of a New Papacy.” “But while different in style, he is clearly a continuation of Francis in substance. Initially there was a wait-and-see approach, but for many MAGA Catholics, Leo challenges core beliefs.” In recent months, migration has become the main combat zone between the liberal pope and U.S. conservatives. Leo called on his senior clergy to speak out on the need to protect vulnerable migrants, and U.S. bishops denounced the “dehumanizing rhetoric and violence” leveled at people targeted by Trump’s deportation policies. Leo later went public with an appeal that migrants in the U.S. be treated “humanely” and “with dignity.” Leo’s support emboldened Florida bishops to call for a Christmas reprieve from Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. “Don’t be the Grinch that stole Christmas,” said Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami. As if evidence were needed of America’s polarization on this topic, however, the Department of Homeland Security described their arrests as a “Christmas gift to Americans.” Leo also conspicuously removed Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Trump’s preferred candidate for pope and a favorite on the conservative Fox News channel, from a key post as archbishop of New York, replacing him with a bishop known for pro-migrant views. This cuts to the heart of the moral dilemma for a divided U.S. Catholic community. For Trump, Catholics are hardly a sideshow as they constitute 22 percent of his electorate, according to a poll by the Pew Research Center. While the pope appeals to liberal causes, however, many MAGA Catholics take a far stricter line on topics such as migration, sexuality and climate change. To his critics from the conservative Catholic MAGA camp, such as Trump’s former strategist Steve Bannon, the pope is anathema. U.S.-born Pope Leo XIV appeared at the Angelus window overlooking St. Peter’s Square to deliver an address calling for the safeguarding of Venezuela’s “sovereignty.” | Stefano Costantino/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Last year the pope blessed a chunk of ice from Greenland and criticized political leaders who ignore climate change. He said supporters of the death penalty could not credibly claim to be pro-life, and argued that Christians and Muslims could be friends. He has also signaled a more tolerant posture toward LGBTQ+ Catholics, permitting an LGBTQ+ pilgrimage to St Peter’s Basilica. Small wonder, then, that Trump confidante and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer branded Leo the “woke Marxist pope.” Trump-aligned Catholic conservatives have denounced him as “secularist,” “globalist” and even “apostate.” Far-right pundit Jack Posobiec has called him “anti-Trump.” “Some popes are a blessing. Some popes are a penance,” Posobiec wrote on X. PONTIFF FROM CHICAGO There were early hopes that Leo might build bridges with U.S. hardliners. He’s an American, after all: He wears an Apple watch and follows baseball, and American Catholics can hardly dismiss him as as foreign. The Argentine Francis, by contrast, was often portrayed by critics as anti-American and shaped by the politics of poorer nations. Leo can’t be waved away so easily. Early in his papacy, Leo also showed signs he was keen to steady the church after years of internal conflict, and threw some bones to conservatives such as allowing a Latin Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica and wearing more ornate papal vestments. But the traditionalists were not reassured. Benjamin Harnwell, the Vatican correspondent for the MAGA-aligned War Room podcast, said conservatives were immediately skeptical of Leo. “From day one, we have been telling our base to be wary: Do not be deceived,” he said. Leo, Harnwell added, is “fully signed up to Francis’ agenda … but [is] more strategic and intelligent.” After the conclave that appointed Leo, former Trump strategist Bannon told POLITICO that Leo’s election was “the worst choice for MAGA Catholics” and “an anti-Trump vote by the globalists of the Curia.” Trump had a long-running feud with Francis, who condemned the U.S. president’s border wall and criticized his migration policies. Francis appeared to enjoy that sparring, but Leo is a very different character. More retiring by nature, he shies away from confrontation. But his resolve in defending what he sees as non-negotiable moral principles, particularly the protection of the weak, is increasingly colliding with the core assumptions of Trumpism. Trump loomed large during the conclave, with an AI-generated video depicting himself as pope. The gesture was seen by some Vatican insiders as a “mafia-style” warning to elect someone who would not criticize him, Vatican-watcher Elisabetta Piqué wrote in a new book “The Election of Pope Leo XIV: The Last Surprise of Pope Francis.” NOT PERSONAL Leo was not chosen expressly as an anti-Trump figure, according to a Vatican official. Rather, his nationality was likely seen by some cardinals as “reassuring,” suggesting he would be accountable and transparent in governance and finances. But while Leo does not seem to be actively seeking a confrontation with Trump, the world views of the two men seem incompatible. “He will avoid personalizing,” said the same Vatican official. “He will state church teaching, not in reaction to Trump, but as things he would say anyway.” Despite the attacks on Leo from his allies, Trump himself has also appeared wary of a direct showdown. When asked about the pope in a POLITICO interview, Trump was more keen to discuss meeting the pontiff’s brother in Florida, whom he described as “serious MAGA.” When pressed on whether he would meet the pope himself, he finally replied: “Sure, I will. Why not?” The potential for conflict will come into sharper focus as Leo hosts a summit called an extraordinary consistory this week, the first of its kind since 2014, which is expected to provide a blueprint for the future direction of the church. His first publication on social issues, such as inequality and migration, is also expected in the next few months. “He will use [the summit] to talk about what he sees as the future,” said a diplomat posted to the Vatican. “It will give his collaborators a sense of where he is going. He could use it as a sounding board, or ask them to suggest solutions.” It’s safe to assume Leo won’t be unveiling a MAGA-aligned agenda. The ultimate balance of power may also favor the pope. Trump must contend with elections and political clocks; Leo, elected for life, does not. At 70, and as a tennis player in good health, Leo appears positioned to shape Catholic politics well after Trump’s moment has passed. “He is not in a hurry,” the Vatican official said. “Time is on his side.”

Pope Leo called on U.S. President Donald Trump not to “break apart” the transatlantic alliance after the Republican leader harshly criticized Europe in an interview with POLITICO.  Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Castel Gandolfo near Rome, the pontiff said Trump’s recent statements — in which he derided European leaders as “weak” and the continent as “decaying” — were an attempt to destroy the U.S.-Europe relationship.  “The remarks that were made about Europe also in interviews recently I think are trying to break apart what I think needs to be a very important alliance today and in the future,” Pope Leo said.    Trump slammed Europe as poorly governed and failing to regulate migration in an interview with POLITICO’s Dasha Burns that aired Tuesday in a special episode of The Conversation podcast.   “I think they’re weak,” Trump said, referring to the continent’s presidents and prime ministers, adding, “I think they don’t know what to do. Europe doesn’t know what to do.”  Pope Leo added the Trump administration’s peace plan for Ukraine “unfortunately” marks “a huge change in what was for many, many years a true alliance between Europe and the United States.”  Trump’s proposal to end the war, which sidelined Brussels and included several major concessions to Russia, including ceding vast swathes of Ukrainian territory and capping the size of its military, drew alarm from Kyiv and its European allies and led to frenzied negotiations in Geneva to come up with an alternative framework.  “It’s a program that President Trump and his advisers put together. He’s the president of the United States and he has a right to do that,” Pope Leo added.  But the Catholic leader said brokering peace talks “without including Europe” was “unrealistic.” “I really think that Europe’s role is very important … seeking a peace agreement without including Europe in the conversations, it’s not realistic,” he said. “The war is in Europe. I think in the guarantees of security that are also being sought today and in the future, Europe must be part of them.” Pope Leo — a Chicago native who was inaugurated in May as the first pontiff from North America — has hit out at Trump before, condemning Washington’s treatment of migrants as “inhuman” and urging him not to invade Venezuela.  Trump also tangled with Pope Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, who slammed the U.S.-Mexico border wall as “not Christian” and, months before his death, called Trump’s mass deportation plans a “disgrace.” Trump in turn branded him a “very political person.” Despite the current pontiff’s criticism, Trump signaled openness to talking or meeting with Leo in remarks to POLITICO.  “Sure, I will. Why not?” he said.   

DUBLIN — Independent socialist Catherine Connolly swept to a landslide victory Saturday to become Ireland’s next president, dealing a record-breaking rebuke to the two center-ground parties of government. Jubilant supporters of the 68-year-old Connolly, a lawmaker from the western city of Galway, embraced and kissed her as final results from Friday’s election were announced at the Dublin Castle count center. In her victory speech, Connolly struck an immediate note of unity. She stood side by side with Ireland’s government leaders — and pledged to challenge the far right and its anti-immigrant agenda. “Together we can shape a new republic that values everybody, that values and champions diversity … and the new people that have come to our country,” she said. “I will be an inclusive president for all of you.” Connolly won a record 63.4 percent of valid votes. Heather Humphreys of the government coalition party Fine Gael finished a distant second with 29.5 percent. Connolly’s triumph shattered the previous record set in 1959 when Eamon de Valera, the towering figure of 20th-century Irish politics, won his first term as president with 56.3 percent support. On Nov. 11, Connolly will succeed her fellow Galway socialist Michael D. Higgins, Ireland’s president since 2011, who was constitutionally barred from seeking a third seven-year term. Finishing in third and last place Saturday was Jim Gavin of the largest government party, Fianna Fáil, who won barely 7 percent of votes. Gavin, a political novice hand-picked by Prime Minister Micheál Martin, remained on the official ballot despite quitting the race midway after admitting he had pocketed €3,300 in excess rent from a tenant. Connolly won, in no small part, thanks to backing from Ireland’s five left-wing parties, most crucially Sinn Féin. All stood aside to give her a clean run on an anti-government platform, a political first for the normally fractious left. While the left celebrated from Dublin Castle to Galway, Ireland’s disgruntled conservatives left their own mark on the election — by vandalizing their ballots in unprecedented numbers. More than 200,000 ballots — or about one of every eight cast — had to be discarded. Many voters had written in the names of their own invalid choices, or drawn disparaging X marks across all three candidates. Others defaced their ballots, often with anti-immigrant messages expressed in nativist or racist terms. Their alienation reflects how the government parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, since the 1990s have largely ditched their previous bonds with Catholic conservatism and have become, like Connolly and the wider left, socially progressive and welcoming to immigrants. A Catholic conservative, Maria Steen, narrowly failed to qualify for the ballot, falling two short of the required backing from 20 lawmakers. Mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor, who often denounces immigrants in his social media posts, tapped out after attracting virtually no official support. Kevin Cunningham, managing director of the polling firm Ireland Thinks, called the volume of spoiled votes “enormous.” He found that more than two-thirds of protesting voters had expressed support for Steen. The final week of campaigning coincided with one of the biggest flare-ups of racist sentiment since downtown Dublin was wracked by rioting in November 2023. On Tuesday and Wednesday nights, crowds of up to 2,000 people clashed with riot police protecting Citywest, a hotel and conference center southwest of Dublin that has been turned into the state’s biggest shelter for asylum seekers. That area registered one of the highest rates of spoiled ballots. And on Friday, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, who had opted not to seek the presidency herself, was subjected to vulgar threats from an anti-immigration activist as she canvassed in her central Dublin constituency for Connolly. That man, who posted video footage of his verbal assault on McDonald and other Sinn Féin canvassers, was arrested Saturday. Humphreys — who had stepped into the breach when Fine Gael’s original candidate, former European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness, quit the race citing health problems — conceded defeat hours before the official result. Humphreys, too, expressed worries about the rising level of social media-driven harassment. Humphreys, a member of the Republic of Ireland’s tiny Protestant minority, said she hadn’t regretted running despite suffering a barrage of online insults belittling her family’s background. She said that vitriol had demonstrated that her country wasn’t yet ready to reconcile, and potentially unite as Irish nationalists want, with Protestants in the neighboring U.K. territory of Northern Ireland. “My family and I were subject to some absolutely awful sectarian abuse. As a country, I thought we had moved on from that,” Humphreys said. “If we’re ever to have a united Ireland, we have to respect all traditions.”

VATICAN CITY — The technicolor kaftan, leopard-print boots and silver, glitter-studded parasol suggested they were no ordinary pilgrims. An elderly and diminutive French nun, arm-in-arm with a statuesque Italian in cut-off denim shorts and a rainbow-hued handbag, helped lead hundreds of LGBT Catholics into St. Peter’s Square in Rome on Saturday. The group represents the first pilgrimage for gay and trans people to be hosted by the Vatican as part of a Jubilee Holy Year. The Vatican hosts a Jubilee Year for pilgrims about every 25 years, when Catholics come to Rome to ask for forgiveness. “This is a super-significant moment, the first LGBT jubilee in history, you can imagine how important that is for both LGBT Christians and the Church,” said Caterina, a health care worker from Padua carrying a rainbow fan and wearing a T-shirt that said “In love there is no fear.” As millions of Catholics wait to see how Pope Leo XIV will continue the legacy of his predecessor Pope Francis, who died in April, LGBT Catholics are particularly anxious about whether the new pontiff will echo the welcome extended by Francis. Catholic teaching states that same-sex relations are “intrinsically disordered,” a source of pain to LGBT Catholics. Francis promoted an inclusive stance. When asked about a gay priest, he famously replied “Who am I to judge?” and allowed priests to bless same-sex couples, which triggered a conservative backlash. Pope Leo’s outlook is more uncertain. At a synod or Vatican conference in 2012, Leo gave a speech about how Western media was promoting “anti-Christian lifestyle choices” such as same-sex marriage. When he became a cardinal in 2023, he said that the Church “wants to be more “welcoming and open,” but he emphasized that doctrine had not changed. At the conclave where he was elected, cardinals expressed concerns at some of Francis’ moves to greater openness, seen as ambiguous, and even threatening by some. Still the pilgrims were full of optimism for greater acceptance. “We have been overlooked for so long. It is very good to show it is possible to be both LGBT and Catholic,” said Kaitlyn, an activist from the diocese of Westminster in London. Guillermo, an El Salvadorean who travelled from London to attend, said that after Francis died group members were worried that the pilgrimage would be cancelled. “It’s a very special moment as it’s the first time the LGBT community has been invited — that is very meaningful. We all hope Leo will carry on the inclusiveness of Francis.” It has been a case of interpreting the smoke signals. Before the procession, the pilgrims attended a mass presided over by a high-ranking prelate. That is “a clear sign of change,” said American activist Father James Martin, founder of Outreach, a church ministering to LGBTQ people. “I cannot imagine that happening before Francis or Leo. And it generates great hope.” In another suggestion of possible opening, Leo personally received Father Martin. “The message I received is that he wants to continue the legacy of Pope Francis, which is one of openness and listening,” Father Martin told POLITICO, adding that the meeting was “deeply consoling and very encouraging.” But opponents of gay and transgender rights dismissed the event’s significance. Simone Pillon, an Italian senator with the far-right League party, said that welcoming LGBT people as sinners does not mean that Church teaching will change. Pope Francis didn’t change teaching, he said, but his gestures were misinterpreted by the media. It was “a clear signal, he claimed that Pope Leo decided not to meet the group of of gay and trans pilgrims. “The Jubilee is a moment of forgiveness, so I don’t have any problem with the event; we are all sinners,” he said. “What is frankly annoying is that anyone would use the Jubilee to promote an ideology which contains nothing of Christianity. … The church has always welcomed everyone, but to be in communion with God means following the commandments, also in sexual conduct,” he said.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday accused the European Union of sliding into irrelevance on the world stage, warning that the bloc must “do less, but do it better” if it wants to remain competitive. Speaking at the annual Rimini Meeting, a major event in Italian politics linked to a Catholic association, Meloni said the EU “seems increasingly condemned to geopolitical irrelevance, incapable of effectively responding to the competitiveness challenges posed by China and the United States. “Bureaucracy will not get us out of the storm, politics can,” she said. “Regulations will not make us stronger, ideas can. Ideologies will not liberate our societies, but values — when applied to the reality we live in — can. “We must know that returning to being protagonists of history and of our own destiny is not easy, it is not painless, and it is not free.” Meloni argued the bloc should refocus on core principles and national identities. “The real challenge is a Europe that does less, but does it better,” she said. “After all, ‘United in diversity’ is the motto of the European Union, and I believe it is a motto we should all truly draw inspiration from.” Her remarks echoed those of former European Central Bank President and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, who told the same audience last Friday that the EU must learn to defend itself in a world increasingly shaped by war and “great-power” competition. In the same vein, Meloni also called on the bloc to take greater responsibility for its own defense, warning that the continent can no longer rely on the U.S. “After decades in which we outsourced European security to the United States — at the cost of an inevitable political dependency — we must be willing to pay the price of our freedom and our independence,” she said. “Only those who are able to defend themselves are truly free in the choices they make.” Meloni said her political tradition had long raised the issue, even when it was unpopular. “We spoke of the need for a European pillar of NATO, of equal dignity to the American one, at a time when these issues were not fashionable,” she said. “It makes me smile a little that those who now claim the need to emancipate themselves from the United States are the very same who have always opposed a policy of independence in terms of defense and security.” Turning to Ukraine, Meloni welcomed recent “openings for a negotiating path” after years in which Russia had demanded Kyiv’s capitulation, crediting U.S. President Donald Trump, “the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people,” and Europe’s unified support. The Italian leader addressed the conflict in Gaza as well, condemning both Hamas and Israel. She said Rome had supported Israel immediately after the October 7 attacks, but she criticized the scale of its military response. “We cannot remain silent in front of a nation that has gone beyond the principle of proportionality, even involving Christian communities in the region, and jeopardizing the historic perspective of two peoples, two states,” Meloni said. She also denounced the killing of journalists in Gaza earlier this week, calling it “an unacceptable attack on press freedom.”

PARIS — A report into child abuse across France unveiled Wednesday found that French Prime Minister François Bayrou “failed to act” to stop abuse at a private school in the 1990s A report into child abuse across France unveiled Wednesday found that Bayrou, who was education minister at the time, “failed to act” to stop “physical and sexual violence against the students” at a private school near his hometown of Pau. The monthslong parliamentary inquiry investigated violence at schools in general, but the most eagerly anticipated findings concerned the allegations of abuse at the Notre-Dame de Bétharram school, which some of Bayrou’s children attended. While the allegations first surfaced about three decades ago, the case came into the spotlight last year, when prosecutors announced they would investigate dozens of new accusations stemming from a book written by a former student. The report’s authors alleged Bayrou did not do enough to prevent “physical and sexual violence against the students.” Bayrou’s own daughter said earlier this year that she had suffered abuse at a sister school and had not informed her father. The current prime minister and former education minister initially claimed to have been completely unaware of the allegations. He later admitted to learning about them through press reports, maintaining he was unaware of their full extent. However, his defense suffered a blow after testimony from an investigator and a judge involved in the case alleged that Bayrou had been aware of the details of the allegations. Appearing before the investigative panel in May, Bayrou decried the panel’s line of questioning as politically motivated and insisted he had “never hidden anything.” Bayrou’s office did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment following the report’s publication Wednesday. The report includes gruesome accounts of violence and degrading punishments inflicted against students. It concludes that, for decades, “Bétharram was the setting for an onslaught of violence that cannot be reduced to isolated incidents.” The scandal has dogged the prime minister since early in his tenure, dragging his polling ratings to historic lows. “When people think of Bayrou, they don’t think about his actions as prime minister. They think about Bétharram,” Fréderic Dabi, the head of the polling institute Ifop, said last month. An Ifop survey published last month found that 80 percent of French voters surveyed last month said they were unhappy with Bayrou’s performance — a figure the pollster described as a record. The inquiry’s co-chairs, hard-left lawmaker Paul Vannier and centrist MP Violette Spillebout — a member of Bayrou’s own coalition — heard a total of 135 people during their probe. They found that French schools “operate on a model that belongs to the past,” which overemphasizes “learning to submit to authority” and notes that the risk of violence is “accentuated” in Catholic schools, where there is “a tendency to manage matters internally.”

VATICAN CITY — The new American pope is looking to his MAGA compatriots to shore up the Vatican’s finances after decades of scandal and mismanagement. The conclave that brought Pope Leo to power was overshadowed by painful divisions within the Church, a war between modernity and tradition, and bitter reflections over his predecessor’s complex legacy. But more prosaically it was also plagued by angst over a serious fiscal squeeze that is forcing the spiritual leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics to moonlight as a fundraiser. Despite the Vatican’s vaults of priceless masterpieces, Leo has ascended to the papal throne amid a steepening liquidity crisis aggravated by a major downturn in donations from the U.S., making it increasingly difficult for the city state to function. Leo needs to fix it — but to do so he needs to keep traditionalist U.S. Catholics on side. Insiders say that Leo was elected in part because as an American he exuded an Anglo-Saxon financial seriousness. He was also seen as well positioned to bring back donations that have dried up thanks to persistent scandal and the hemorrhaging of support from powerful American Catholic conservatives.  Already, the gambit seems to be working. “Talking to some of the biggest donors in the country, they’re absolutely thrilled,” said one conservative Catholic leader in the U.S., granted anonymity to speak candidly. “I don’t know that they’re already writing their checks. I don’t see that necessarily yet. But as far as their optimism and excitement, it’s a 10 out of 10 — absolutely.” A boost to donations is desperately needed. According to Reuters, the latest internal figures show the Vatican ran a deficit of €83 million in 2024, more than double the €38 million reported in its last-published financial report in 2022.  The annual shortfall adds to liabilities including half-a-billion in pension obligations to the Vatican’s superannuated beneficiaries and past losses from the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), the Holy See’s scandal-riddled investment vehicle, also known as the Vatican Bank. The Vatican’s income is mainly derived from property assets and donations including from bishops and Peter’s Pence, the annual June collection by churches for the pope’s “mission” and charitable works. But donation revenue has fallen with increasing secularism and financial scandals. Donors from the U.S., the number one contributing country, were put off by Francis’ more liberal teachings on LGBTQ+ and marriage as well as corruption scandals including a botched investment by the Vatican’s top financial institution in London real estate, said John Yep, president of Catholics for Catholics, a conservative NGO.   ‘VERY EQUILIBRATED’ The momentum behind Leo as a bridge-builder emerged in pre-conclave lobbying sessions, when cardinals began to envisage that Leo’s alignment on hot-button conservative issues would help appease U.S. Catholics. Leo went on to secure more than 100 votes in the conclave, two well-placed insiders say, indicating that his support was broad and included right-leaning clerics.  A man holds a US flag in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City, 08 May 2025. | Angelo Carconi/EPA-EFE Pope Leo “is a very equilibrated person, and he can give something to the right, without shifting the pontificate to the right,” one cardinal told POLITICO.  According to the cardinal quoted above, his constituency even included several of the die-hard Francis critics led by the arch-traditionalist American cardinal Raymond Burke. Burke himself reportedly received Leo — then Cardinal Robert Prevost — in his Vatican-owned apartment before the conclave, and spoke with him again after, according to one person familiar with the matter. Burke’s office could not reached for comment. In turn, Leo has signaled a willingness to address traditionalist priorities, drawing particular praise for his decision to move back to the original papal residence from his predecessor’s basic lodgings, as well as for his penchant for singing in Latin. This year’s conclave also happened to coincide with an annual Vatican fundraising jamboree known as “America Week,” a week of lavish Rome parties, that saw €1 billion committed to the Vatican should the “right pope” be elected.  The upshot is — theoretically — more money from across the pond. “American philanthropists want to see that so they will open up their coffers again,” said Yep. Electing Leo “was a very smart choice because they absolutely need the American money. The church is in a terrible position financially,” said the Catholic leader in the U.S. quoted above. “They need the American money. And they were able to pick an American who’s not that American. It was kind of a perfect pick.” LEGACY OF CORRUPTION But restoring confidence will also require a credible overhaul of the Vatican’s financial plumbing and accounting after years of scandal that also tainted the Church’s international image. Insiders often blame the shoddy financial situation on the Vatican Bank’s alleged links to a sprawling money-laundering scandal in the 1970s that reportedly involved Italian freemasonry, the mafia, the CIA, anticommunist militias in Latin America and a Milanese banker who was found hanging dead under London’s Blackfriars Bridge in 1982. Creative accounting persisted over the years, and the shock resignation of Francis’ predecessor, Benedict XVI, was partly driven by a raft of financial scandals leaked to the Italian press. Under a transparency drive, Francis hired former Deloitte accountant Libero Milone to audit the Holy See’s finances. Milone’s first task was to draw up accounting for the various dicasteries that make up the Curia, the Vatican City government. What he found stunned him. “They created a proper framework to bring Vatican financial reporting into the 21st century,” Milone told POLITICO. “But when I was brought in to do the audit work, we were still operating in the previous century.” Newly elected Pope Leo XIV smiles from the central loggia of Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, 08 May 2025. | Ettore Ferrari/EPA-EFE Financial accounts were written in pencil by nuns on “pieces of paper” and stashed in drawers, Milone said. Theologians with rudimentary financial knowledge massively underestimated the future costs of the microstate’s pension obligations, he said. When Milone began to notice discrepancies in various ministerial budgets, he was accused of being a spy. He was eventually brought in for questioning and compelled to resign — then found that a resignation letter had already been prepared a month prior. Francis didn’t sit on his hands. The Vatican Bank is profitable again, after he ended some of its shadier practices, and he also presided over the conviction of Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, a powerful secretary involved in a €200 million scandal involving a botched London property investment in 2014. As well as a hiring freeze and salary cuts, Francis set up a new fundraising commission and centralized the Vatican’s budgeting.  But the broader reform effort was seriously derailed by the departure of Milone, as well as Cardinal George Pell, an Australian who had been brought in to head a new Secretariat for the Economy but was called back to Australia to face charges relating to the clerical abuse scandal. Officials describe an enduring lack of transparency as well as internal resistance to the slow-going reform efforts from entrenched interests in the Curia, with staffers complaining about the effort to mediate spending. Representatives for the IOR and the Holy See’s Secretariat for the Economy declined POLITICO’s requests for interviews. So far, Leo has hinted that he will prioritize fundraising over austerity, announcing a €500 bonus to curial staffers. He has also signalled that he wants to distance the Vatican from scandals of the past, sanctioning a new investigation into a key witness against Cardinal Becciu’s conviction which could help overturn his conviction at the appeal this fall. On top of that, he will look into ways to boost profits in the Holy See’s vast real estate portfolio, after prelates complained about underinvestment, said the cardinal quoted above.  How all this pans out will depend on not only American largesse but whether Leo can empower the growing caucus of Church pragmatists who recognize that even the Holy See must occasionally lower itself to earthly responsibilities like basic financial planning. For others, the divine mission still trumps all — whatever the cost. “There will always be a way to get money, just like there will always be the poor,” said one prelate in St. Peter’s Square last month. “Right now, my concern is lunch.”

PARIS — French Prime Minister François Bayrou faces a perilous moment in his premiership this week as he is expected to testify in a child abuse scandal that has dragged his polling numbers into the gutter. Bayrou will be grilled by lawmakers on Wednesday as part of a parliamentary inquiry, where MPs will seek to clarify just how much he knew about reports of abuse at a private Catholic school near his hometown when they first began surfacing in the 1990s. Bayrou has repeatedly said he did not know the extent of the abuse at the time. The case came back into the public eye last year when prosecutors announced they would investigate fresh allegations from dozens of former pupils at Notre-Dame de Bétharram, which some of Bayrou’s own children attended, obtained by a former student who authored a book on the scandal. The scandal then ensnared the prime minister in February when French investigative outlet Mediapart published witness statements and documents that purported to show that Bayrou “could not have been unaware of the accusations.” Bayrou was education minister from 1993 to 1997 and held multiple local executive mandates in the area. Bayrou continued to deny the allegations and even threatened to sue Mediapart, but his defense took a serious hit after testimony from an investigator and a judge involved in the case that Bayrou had been made aware of the details of the allegations. The drama took an even more shocking turn last month when Bayrou’s own daughter revealed she had been abused in 1987 by a priest working at a sister school, though the Bétharram congregation has since denied the priest was part of their community. She said she only told her father about the incident moments before the news became public. Emmanuel Macron, who holds exclusive powers when it comes to calling a referendum, is expected to weigh in on the subject in a scheduled TV interview on Tuesday. | Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA Polls show the Bétharram scandal has seriously affected Bayrou’s standing among a general public already angry with the intractable nature of French politics following President Emmanuel Macron’s ill-advised snap elections last year. Opinion polls show that Bayrou’s popularity took a nosedive in the weeks following the February reports. A survey by respected pollster IFOP found just 25 percent of respondents in April said they were satisfied with his leadership, while another poll found his support clocked in at an even more paltry 15 percent. SERIOUS DOUBTS “People were shocked by the affair,” said Frédéric Dabi, director general at IFOP. Dabi said the public appeared to have serious doubts about Bayrou’s version of events and questioned whether the prime minister was trying to protect powerful people around him at the time. Wednesday’s hearing will likely prove pivotal for Bayrou, especially with a looming budget crisis and an incensed far right nipping at his heels after Marine Le Pen was found guilty of embezzlement and barred from running for president. The opposition, it appears, is out for blood. “Not only did he lie, but he repeated his lies in front of members of the parliament and in front of the Bétharram victims,” said far-left opposition lawmaker Paul Vannier, who is co-rapporteur of the parliamentary inquiry and will be grilling Bayrou on Wednesday, referring to Bayrou’s denials. While Bayrou has been able to survive France’s gridlocked politics longer than his predecessor Michel Barnier, his minority center-right government is hanging by a thread and surviving thanks only to a fractured opposition, which could coalesce against it in the upcoming budget cycle. Bayrou is seeking €40 billion in savings — mostly through spending cuts — in France’s 2026 budget as part of his effort to bring down an unsustainable deficit, but he’s been criticized for failing to come up with a serious approach. His latest proposal to put the budget to a referendum raised eyebrows in his own coalition and among Macron’s inner circle. “We have a prime minister who kicks the can down the road, who only tries to buy time and doesn’t make decisions,” said center-right heavyweight Laurent Wauquiez from the conservative Les Républicains. Macron, who holds exclusive powers when it comes to calling a referendum, is expected to weigh in on the subject in a scheduled TV interview on Tuesday, adding more tension to an already treacherous week for Bayrou. Sarah Paillou contributed to this report.

Michael Kruse is a senior staff writer at POLITICO and POLITICO Magazine. Seventeen popes have presided over the Catholic Church since the founding of the United States. None of those men was from America. That changed Thursday when Robert Francis Prevost, son of Chicago’s South Side, emerged onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and spoke, in Italian, the words: “La pace sia con tutti voi.” Peace be with you all. The man who is now known as Leo XIV becomes the 267th Bishop of Rome and the successor to Francis, one of the most liberal and controversial Catholic leaders ever. Leo’s own politics are thought to be more moderate. On Thursday Leo, 69, spoke in welcoming terms: “We can be a missionary church, a church that builds bridges, that is always open to receive everyone.” It’s been said an American has never been chosen pope because the United States already holds such sway over the world politically, culturally and economically, that it would be too much to give an American immense religious power as well. No doubt, Leo’s global influence will be measured constantly by the church’s more than 1 billion adherents. It might be his domestic influence — including over one very prominent and very conservative Catholic official in the White House, Vice President JD Vance — that bears the most attention. In February, a social media account under then-Cardinal Prevost ‘s name challenged Vance on X, repeating a headline from The National Catholic Reporter: “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.” Here — culled from decades of articles, speeches, social media posts and interviews with family and acquaintances — is an intimate portrait of the new pope,who assumes power at a moment when the church’s role in modern life is as politically charged as it has ever been. 1. Robert Francis Prevost was born on September 14, 1955, at Mercy Hospital at 25th Street and Prairie Avenue on the South Side of Chicago. 2. His father, Louis Marius Prevost, is of French and Italian descent, and his mother, Mildred Martínez, is of Spanish descent. 3. His father’s parents were from France. 4. His mother’s parents had Creole roots in New Orleans and were described in historical records as “Black or mulatto.” 5. HE’S THE YOUNGEST OF THREE BROTHERS AND GREW UP IN DOLTON, ILLINOIS, JUST SOUTH OF CHICAGO’S CITY LIMITS. 6. His father was a school superintendent. His mother was a librarian. 7. His family attended St. Mary of the Assumption Parish. 8. He sang in the choir and served as an altar boy. 9. In grade school at St. Mary’s — where, in the days before the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, students attended daily Mass, which was still read in Latin — he was known as the best student in his class. 10. St. Mary’s is closed now. 11. “WE USED TO PRAY WITH OUR HANDS, YOU KNOW, OUR FINGERS POINTING TO HEAVEN, AND, AFTER A WHILE, YOU GET TIRED OF DOING THAT, AND YOU JUST WANT TO FOLD THEM OVER,” A FORMER CLASSMATE TOLD THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES. “ROBERT PREVOST NEVER FOLDED HIS HANDS OVER ….” 12. As a kid, the pope often played “pretend priest,” his older brother John Prevost told the Chicago Tribune. He would set up a table draped in a white cloth and recite prayers. “He did that all the time. He took it totally serious, it was not a game,” John said. 13. He graduated from Villanova University outside of Philadelphia in 1977. He was a math major and also studied philosophy. Villanova later awarded him an honorary Doctor of Humanities. 14. He joined the Order of St. Augustine in 1977. He made his first profession in 1978. He made his solemn vows in 1981. 15. He earned his Master of Divinity from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago in 1982 and was ordained a priest the same year in Rome. 16. The newly ordained Father Prevost was photographed shaking the hand of Pope John Paul II. He received a doctorate in canon law at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. 17. He obtained his licentiate in 1984 and was sent to the Augustinian mission in Peru in 1985. 18. He defended his doctoral thesis on “The Role of the Local Prior in the Order of Saint Augustine” in 1987 and was appointed vocation director and missions director of the Augustinian Province of “Mother of Good Counsel” in Olympia Fields, Illinois. 19. AUGUSTINIANS, THE ORDER LEO WAS SCHOOLED IN SINCE HE ATTENDED ST. AUGUSTINE SEMINARY HIGH SCHOOL IN MICHIGAN, CALL THEMSELVES “ACTIVE CONTEMPLATIVE” AND ARE KNOWN FOR THEIR WORK IN EDUCATION AND AS MISSIONARIES FOR THEIR DEVOTION TO COMMUNAL LIVING. 20. He is, according to the Vatican News, the first Augustinian Pope. 21. Leo began to climb the ranks of church leadership early in his career. He led the Augustinian order in the Midwest for several years beginning in 1999. 22. In 2002, he became prior general of Augustinians internationally, a position he held for a decade. 23. The new pope has lived only a third of his life in the United States, instead spending much of the rest of it in Europe and Latin America. 24. He became a naturalized citizen of Peru in 2015. 25. Also in 2015, he was named the Bishop of Chiclayo in Peru. 26. HE VOTES IN ILLINOIS. ACCORDING TO THE WILL COUNTY CLERK, HE VOTED IN THE GENERAL ELECTIONS IN 2012, 2014, 2018 AND 2024, AND HE WAS REGISTERED AS A REPUBLICAN IN THE PRIMARIES IN 2012, 2014 AND 2016, RECORDS SHOW. 27. In a 2012 address to bishops, titled the “Counterculture of the New Evangelicization,” he lamented that Western news media and popular culture fostered “enormous sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the Gospel.” He cited the “homosexual lifestyle,” abortion and euthanasia. “When religious voices are raised in opposition to these positions, mass media can target religion, labeling it as ideological and insensitive in regard to the so-called vital needs of people in the contemporary world,” he said. 28. “He was always friendly and warm and remained a voice of common sense and practical concerns for the Church’s outreach to the poor,” said the Rev. Mark Francis, who attended seminary with Prevost. “He has a wry sense of humor, but was not someone who sought the limelight.” 29. But like his predecessor, he has not shied from using mass media to articulate his concern for immigrants and the poor. Earlier this year, a social media account under his name reposted criticism of President Trump’s treatment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. 30. THIS PAST FEBRUARY, THEN-CARDINAL PREVOST CHALLENGED VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE ON X, REPEATING A HEADLINE FROM THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER: “JD VANCE IS WRONG: JESUS DOESN’T ASK US TO RANK OUR LOVE FOR OTHERS.” 31. On Thursday, Vance, who joined the Catholic church in 2019, congratulated Leo, saying on X, “I’m sure millions of American Catholics and other Christians will pray for his successful work leading the Church. May God bless him!” 32. In 2017, the same account under Prevost’s name retweeted a post by Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy (D), in which Murphy pressured his fellow senators to act on gun control and wrote, “your cowardice to act cannot be whitewashed by thoughts and prayers.” 33. Also in 2017, the account under Prevost’s name retweeted a statement from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops condemning hate in response to the deadly white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia. 34. The account also in 2017 reposted a pro-DACA tweet from Sister Helen Prejean. 35. In 2023, then-Cardinal Prevost expressed skepticism about ordaining women as Catholic clergy, repeating a line Francis often used about the risk of “clericalizing” women. 36. Like many high-ranking church officials, he has not escaped criticism for his handling of child sex abuse by members of the clergy. 37. The Augustinians were one of the last Catholic orders to publish a list of “credibly accused” priests. 38. PREVOST CAME UNDER MORE DIRECT CRITICISM AFTER A CHICAGO SUN-TIMES ARTICLE REVEALED THAT, IN 2000, AN ACCUSED PRIEST HAD BEEN SENT TO LIVE IN AN AUGUSTINIAN MONASTERY LOCATED NEAR AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AND THAT CHURCH OFFICIALS HAD NOT NOTIFIED THE SCHOOL. PREVOST WAS THE HEAD OF THE AUGUSTINIAN ORDER IN THE MIDWEST AT THE TIME. 39. Leo was elevated to cardinal by Pope Francis in 2023 and given control of the influential Vatican Dicastery for Bishops, the office tasked with advising the pope on bishop appointments around the world. 40. Along with English and Spanish, Leo speaks Italian, French and Portuguese. 41. He said last year that “the bishop is not supposed to be a little prince sitting in his kingdom.” 42. LEO TOOK HIS PAPAL NAME FROM A LINE OF POPES THAT BEGAN WITH LEO THE GREAT, WHO LED THE CHURCH FROM 440 TO 461. LEO XIII, THE LAST POPE TO TAKE THE NAME, PRESIDED FROM 1878 TO 1903. 43. “By selecting the name Leo, the new pope signaled his solidarity with working people and gave a nod to his South Side working-class roots,” according to Chicago Federation of Labor President Bob Reiter. “The previous pope to bear that name, Pope Leo XIII, was known as ‘The Pope of the Workers.’” 44. “Leo XIII is considered the father of Catholic social teaching,’’ said Margaret Thompson, an associate professor of history at Syracuse University. “This signals a potential emphasis on justice, labor and the church’s role in the modern world.” 45. Leo was not President Donald Trump’s first choice for pope. Trump had suggested another American: Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, a perceived ally of Trump’s who gave the invocation at his second inauguration. (Leo might not even have been Trump’s second choice, as Trump had also suggested he himself might want to be pope. Trump published a photoshopped image of himself in papal vestments.) 46. NEVERTHELESS, TRUMP CONGRATULATED LEO ON THURSDAY: “IT IS SUCH AN HONOR TO REALIZE THAT HE IS THE FIRST AMERICAN POPE,” HE WROTE ON TRUTH SOCIAL. “WHAT EXCITEMENT, AND WHAT A GREAT HONOR FOR OUR COUNTRY. I LOOK FORWARD TO MEETING POPE LEO XIV. IT WILL BE A VERY MEANINGFUL MOMENT!” 47. Former President Barack Obama congratulated him, too, writing on X: “Michelle and I send our congratulations to a fellow Chicagoan, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV. This is a historic day for the United States, and we will pray for him as he begins the sacred work of leading the Catholic Church and setting an example for so many, regardless of faith.” 48. The new pope frequents Aurelio’s Pizza when he visits home. 49. “I consider myself quite the amateur tennis player,” Prevost said in an interview shortly after he became a cardinal. 50. The new pope loves playing Wordle and Words with Friends. “It’s something to keep his mind off life in the real world,” said his brother John. 51. John Prevost, his older brother, said the idea to use Leo as a papal name “came up while the pair played the online games Words With Friends and Wordle,” according to WGN in Chicago. 52. HIS FATHER WAS A CARDINALS FAN, AND HIS MOTHER WAS A CUBS FAN, BUT THE NEW POPE IS A WHITE SOX FAN, ACCORDING TO MLB.COM, CBS NEWS CHICAGO AND ELSEWHERE. 53. Neighbors in Dolton predicted the papacy was in his future. “The interesting thing is way back when he was in kindergarten or first grade, there was a parent, a mom, across the street — one across the street that way and another down the street,” his brother John told WGN on Thursday. “Both of them said he would be the first American Pope, at that age.” 54. Still, he didn’t think he’d be pope. “He didn’t think so,” John said. “I kind of did, because what I was reading and what I was hearing that there were three outstanding candidates that were in first, second and third place: the cardinal from the Philippines, the secretary of state and him.” 55. As he climbed the ranks of the church, though, his posture started to shift, his brother John told The New York Times. “It was ‘absolutely not, absolutely not, God forbid,’” he said. “And then it became, ‘Well, if it’s what God wants, then we’ll deal with it.’” Dylon Jones contributed to this report.

Vice President JD Vance brushed off apparent criticism from Pope Leo XIV — formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost — downplaying any entanglement between the Catholic Church’s leader and modern American politics. After the white smoke on Thursday, a social media account with Prevost’s name lambasting the Trump administration’s immigration policy and directly calling out Vance exploded online. And while some MAGA influencers and Trump loyalists blasted Leo on social media — Steve Bannon called Leo the “worst pick for MAGA Catholics” — Vance, who is Catholic, did not engage. “I try not to play the politicization of the Pope game,” Vance told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Friday. “I’m sure he’s going to say a lot of things that I love. I’m sure he’ll say some things that I disagree with, but I’ll continue to pray for him and the Church despite it all and through it all.” The vice president added the church is “bigger than politics,” while not directly addressing the comments made by the account. POLITICO has not been able to independently confirm the authenticity of the Prevost account. The Vatican press office, the Vatican’s embassy to the U.S., the Midwest Augustinians and the dioceses in Chicago and Peru did not respond to questions. “And my attitude is, you know, the Church is about saving souls, and about spreading the Gospel,” Vance said. “And yeah, it’s going to touch public policy from time to time as all human institutions do, but that’s not really what it’s about.” The Trump administration has elevated Christian and Catholic leaders during his second term, signing orders to end “anti-Christian weaponization” in the government and loading his Cabinet with Catholics. But Vance had also faced criticism from the late Pope Francis on the administration’s hard-line immigration policies. His brief row with Pope Francis came after the pontiff sent a letter to U.S. bishops decrying mass deportations. Vance has justified the policy through the idea of ordo amoris, or “order of love,” which ranks or prioritizes love and duty. “The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan,’” Francis wrote in his letter. At a national prayer breakfast in February, Vance said the immigration policies will best serve the American people, and that he would not “litigate with him or any other clergy member” on the subject. Francis was known for his more pro-immigrant ideals — which some claim that Leo seems to share. The social media account bearing his name re-posted an op-ed by auxiliary Catholic Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala of Washington, D.C., on the suffering of the Venezuelan immigrants deported by the Trump administration. Another re-post was of an opinion piece from the liberal-leaning National Catholic Reporter, entitled “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.” But Vance said the papacy should not be viewed solely through the lens of American politics. “Most of the people are not thinking about whether the pope is a Republican or a Democrat, or a conservative or a liberal,” Vance said. Vance, however, did have one notable split with Leo: baseball. Vance, a Cincinnati Reds fan, joked how the pope’s affinity for Chicago baseball set him up well for his role leading the church. “I had a friend of mine that had a pretty funny take on this. He said, ‘if Pope Leo really is a Chicago White Sox fan, then he’s already actually faced the stress of martyrdom multiple times,’ so maybe we have a real winner in the new Holy Father,” Vance concluded.